Page 85 of Sword & Shadow
“We were conversing in public. It isn’t as though you had much choice.”
“Still. . . .”
She smirked playfully at him. “You’re too much of a prude, Jonn. I’ve no qualms about discussing my love life with anyone. And that’s not just because it’s nonexistent.”
“I can appreciate your candor, but my mother raised me to respect people’s privacy,” he said good-naturedly. “So I’ll beg your forgiveness anyway.”
Ilain shrugged. “It isn’t needed, but I’ll grant it to make you feel better.”
Deckard found himself smiling. “I accept it wholeheartedly.”
Her usually jovial countenance returned. A teasing glint lit her jade green eyes. “Do you want to know more about Bonding?” she asked slyly.
Deckard’s jaw tightened instantly. A part of himdidwant to know more. If they had more information, they might feel better about their almost certain future, be it together or apart. But he feared that showing even the most remote sign of interest would give the Calders hope he couldn’t afford to offer.
“No,” he said decisively. “As Evylin and I told you, we’ve no interest in the subject.”
“That’s not what your reaction last night indicated,” she remarked.
“Pardon me?”
Ilain met his gaze knowingly. “When you held your breath, it was because of the word ‘Bonding.’ You didn’t care to discover more about Ethenn’s feelings for me. You cared to learn what I had to say about Bonding.”
Though she was correct, Deckard kept his expression placid. “You’re mistaken,” he said.
She smirked. “So you were simply keen on hearing Ethenn all but proclaim his affections to me?”
“Of course not. I was merely . . . uncomfortable.”
Ilain allowed his lie to pass. “That makes two of us.”
Having more knowledge than he wanted on the subject, Deckard chose to distract from Ethenn’s interest in Ilain. “How can we be sure you’re correct?” he asked. “About my...my magic.”
“I thought we already proved that to you last night,” she said incredulously. “Jonn, when a Relic lights up all glowing and bright like that, the facts are what they are. And as I said, I suspected all along. There was just something about you... The only reason I didn’t suggest it sooner was because Auden talked me out of it. He’s dreadfully cautious.”
Deckard frowned inwardly. “But I’ve never used magic. What if I’m not a Mage but something else?”
Ilain leveled a bored glare at him. “Do you live on the continent of Allund?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Then you have three options,” she said, holding up a finger at each item on the list. “One, you can be a Mage. Two, you can be a Warrior. Or three, you can be neither without a speck of magic in you. As you have magic, it’ll be one of the first two.”
“And if I didn’t live in Allund?” he asked ruefully.
Ilain shrugged. “Technically, you’d still be one of the three. However, magic gets funny the farther it goes from the Relics.”
“It does?”
“Mm. You know the Warriors who defected to Schon?”
“There are Warriors in Schon?”
“Didn’t we tell you that?” Ilain pursed her lips in thought, then shrugged. “Well, yes. When the Mages turned on the Warriors in the late twelfth century, determined to kill them all to shore up power and establish the tyrannical rule of Auld, the few remaining Warriors had a decision to make: stay and be slaughtered or defect. Nearly all of them left the continent for the Empire, though I believe they’ve spread across the continentby now. I’ve even heard that some traveled to the islands surrounding Matteire.”
Deckard nodded slowly, taking that in. “And what happened to their magic?” he asked.
“Not much,” she admitted. “But they aren’t quite as impressive as those here on Allund. If they return, theymayregain their full power. However, magic tends to get twisted when it’s away from its source. Mages who have left the continent have seen their powers strangely and irrecoverably altered.”
