Page 74 of Daemon Master

Adrian shuffled a couple paces to the side, suppressing a grin. He supposed that had been one more good thing to come out of their time in the Enclave so far—his and Seymour’s rekindled friendship. While their previous animosity had begun to fade months ago, it was only now since Kali’s defeat and their subsequent reunion that he felt as if they’d finally reached a true accord.

Catching himself staring at the watcher’s sweat-slicked face, Adrian flushed and turned away. An accord he dared not threaten by entertaining any budding feelings he might be developing for the difficult, grouchy, arrogant, yet decidedly loyal, honorable, and brave man.

The next week began much like the last. At least this time, Adrian felt like he was accomplishingsomething, even if it wasn’t what he truly wanted. While Seymour committed to strengthening his bond with Shadowlash, Adrian devoted himself to exploring the mysteries of aetherforging—or, at least, giving it a valiant effort.

Without a teacher, even the basics confounded him. He knew it involved imbuing aether into an object. But he didn’t have a clue how to do that while keeping the flow of aether stable.

Kali’s strange relics were of little help, the badge and containment devices too advanced for him to pick apart even after hours of study. Her aetherforged daggers, however, proved more useful. Using his aethersense, he mapped the delicate network of aether flowing through the metal. Yet, his own pitiful attempts to mimic them failed, his aether refusing to stick.

By the fifth day of their second—and potentially last—week in the Enclave, Adrian was close to abandoning aetherforging as a lost cause. While he attempted to enchant yet another rockfrom his scavenged pile, Freya chatted with his daemons. Adrian could tell they only understood about half of what she was saying, but they seemed to appreciate the attention regardless. Especially when it involved scritches, back pets, and treats of aether.

The aetheric pattern he’d been carefully weaving into his rock flickered, unraveling. He tried to wrestle it back into position, but it was too late—the aether dissipated uselessly into the air.

Sighing, he leaned back and rubbed his eyes. Another attempt at aetherforging literally gone up in smoke. He lowered his hands and found Freya studying him, her brow knitted with concentration. He quirked an eyebrow, and she blushed, turning away.

“Sorry,” she said. “Mom tells me it’s rude to stare.”

“It’s fine. I’m just mourning another failed experiment.”

She perked up at that. He’d learned over the past two weeks that pretty much anything related to daemons was a surefire way to grab her attention. She would’ve made a fantastic seeker someday…had her people not rightly turned their backs on Serenity Corp.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

He held up the rock and glared at it. “Well, I’mtryingto get a basic aetherforging to stick to this stone.” He shrugged helplessly. “But, as you can see, I’m not making much progress.”

“An aetherforging?”

“It’s when you infuse aether into an object to enhance it.”

Her face brightened. “Oh, like what we do with the daemonsbane.”

His heart stuttered to a stop as the whole world seemed to slow. “Daemonsbane?” he asked, trying to rein in his initial surge of excitement.

Something in his face or voice must’ve given him away because Freya frowned. “It’s a local herb. On its own, it’s a mild sedative.But when you brew it with aether, it greatly heightens the potency. We use it to make Suprimera tea.”

“So that it also suppresses aether!”

She nodded. “It’s handy for calming upset daemons, stopping children from losing control, or…” She trailed off, refusing to meet his eyes.

Or weakening daemon masters to imprison them.

The bitter thought did little to dampen his enthusiasm. “Can you show me how to make it?”

Freya bit her lip, considering. He burst into a wide grin when she shrugged. “I guess. It’s not like it’s a big secret or anything.”

He waited impatiently while she fetched a pot of water, a ladle, and a sprig of some herb that smelled vaguely like lemon and mint. She stoked the fire, then added the herb to the water, stirring as she worked. So far, she hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary—no aether involved at all. His excitement dimmed. Had she exaggerated the process?

All at once, aether flowed from her hand through the ladle and down into the water. He watched eagerly through his aethersense as the magic swirled into the brewing tea. Freya’s movements grew increasingly erratic. Rather than stirring in smooth, concentric circles, she started to form zigzagging patterns through the water.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

She gave him a look. “Making Suprimera tea, like I said I would.”

“Imeant, why are you stirring it like that?”

“Oh,” she said, continuing to stir. “You have to follow the flow.”

“Follow the…flow?”