Jade Halvern's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

The runes had faded, but the boy's face had not. Jade stepped back through her portal at first light. She knew one thing: by now the boy had run to someone. If his story reached a magistrate, the tournament would be closed to her before her first bout. She needed eyes faster than her own. She pulled a dark mourning dress over her glowing gown. The heavy veil hid her face and her silver hair. No one would see a noblewoman now, only a widow in grief. Then she sent for the one person in town who owed her a favor. Kael Forne found her in the alley within the hour. He was an ambassador from a rival court, sharp-jawed, his coat glowing faint at the seams. He bowed with perfect grace, then ruined it. "You drag me from a treaty table for a street urchin?" He crossed his arms. "I argue borders, not chase children." "You chase whatever keeps my secret," Jade said. "If I fall, your court loses the leverage I promised. Find the boy before he finds anyone who matters." Kael's scowl held. Then he gave a short nod and went. He found the boy near the market, already tugging a sleeve. The sleeve belonged to a broad-shouldered royal bodyguard in battered silver armor, her hand resting on her sword hilt. Juno Wrath. She guarded the royal house itself. Her eyes flicked to the boy's wild pointing, then narrowed. Jade's chest tightened. If Juno believed the tale, it would reach the crown by noon. Jade crossed the square in her veils. She reached them as the boy was saying, "A wall of light, I swear it, she walked straight through—" "Child," Jade said softly through the veil. "You saw my lantern trick." She drew a hand from her sleeve. In it sat a small thing of glowing iron, bars and strange ornament, runes crawling along its length. She turned it, and the light shifted and twisted, throwing bright shapes on the wall behind him. "A toy. Mirrors and cold fire. It fools the eye in the dark." The boy stared. His certainty cracked. "But it looked... it looked like a door." "It is meant to," Jade said. She pressed the glowing iron into his hands. "Keep it. Show your friends the lantern that tricked you." Juno watched the runes dance across the boy's palm. Her hand left her sword hilt. "Market's full of foreign toys this week," she muttered. She turned and walked on. The boy ran off grinning, his wall of light now a cheap trinket in his fist. Kael stepped close. "He'll repeat your story for the rest of his life," he said. "And no one will believe a word." Jade let out a slow breath. The secret held. But she had spent a favor on an ambassador who argued everything, and he now knew exactly how much her silence was worth.