Star Mage Exile
It’s time for the final snippet before my new dark space fantasy, Daughter of Discord, goes live on Monday. Enjoy!
It must have been around three in the morning when Bryce made his move. Carina wasn’t sure how long he’d been awake. Perhaps he hadn’t slept at all and had been searching her room for anything valuable, or waiting until she was deep in slumber. She only realized he was a thief when she felt his fingertips at her side.
Disappointment and frustration at her own stupidity were her first reactions. She wasn’t afraid of what Bryce might do. Her dagger was under her pillow and her fingers rested on its handle. It was how she’d slept for months. But she was bitter and disillusioned at his betrayal of her trust and she cursed herself for being so gullible.
Never again, she promised herself. She must learn to never trust others’ better natures.
Bryce’s fingers were slowly inching into her pocket, the one that held her pouch. He was taking his sweet time, understandably wary of waking her. The fact that he’d chosen that pocket meant he knew something valuable was in there. He must have watched her push it in deep before she lay down. He’d been setting her up to steal from her right from the start. Maybe he’d even deliberately punched that merc who hassled her in the tavern, if he punched him at all.
Carina mentally cursed again. Served her right for drowning her sorrows.
She debated whether to kill him. It would be easy enough. She could yank out her knife and draw it across his throat in one move. It had to be death or only kick him out. If she wounded him he might fight back and things would get loud and messy. Then again, killing him would be messy too, and Carina’s landlady would charge her extra to clean up the blood.
Bryce’s fingers worked their way steadily deeper.
Decisions, decisions.
The fingers hooked around the drawstring of the pouch and the bulky shape shifted. Carina deliberately also moved, as if she were about to wake up. Bryce froze.
He was stuck now. Carina felt a modicum of pleasure. If he moved his fingers again, he might wake her up and be caught red-handed. But he had to move his fingers at some point because she would wake up eventually anyway.
After a minute or so, Carina tired of the game. She was still suffering the effects of her drinking and really wanted to sleep. “Yeah,” she said, “I’m awake.”
Bryce snatched his hand away and jumped to his feet.
When Carina sat up and turned on the light, his face was a red beacon.
“How dumb are you?” Carina asked. “After I nearly killed you tonight, you pull a stunt like that? What’s wrong with you?” She rubbed her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Bryce replied, hanging his head. “You were kind to let me stay. I guess I should leave.”
“Yeah,” Carina said, “I guess you should, and be happy you’re leaving with your throat intact.”
Avoiding her gaze, Bryce left without another word. Though she regretted her poor decision-making, Carina couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt as the door closed. It was the middle of the night, Bryce apparently had nowhere to stay, and judging from the thrum of rain against the window, it was pouring outside.
Carina turned off the light, thumped her pillow into shape, and thrust her head into it as she lay down. She couldn’t afford to care about others. Look where that had led just that night. If she hadn’t had her wits about her, she could be dead. If Bryce had seen where she kept her valuables, he’d also known about the knife under her pillow. He could have gone for that first. If he’d been quick she wouldn’t have stood a chance. He might have oh-so-gently slipped her knife from its sheath and inserted it in her back.
He hadn’t, though.
Carina turned over and stared at the ceiling as the rain steadily pounded the window. She couldn’t shake the young man from her mind. She wondered what was wrong with her. She hadn’t done anything to feel guilty about, yet she did. Was it something to do with the fact that, despite what he’d done, Bryce seemed intrinsically good?
She sighed and sat up. It didn’t look like sleep would be returning to her that night. She would meditate, as her grandmother had taught her, to refresh and retain her powers. She closed her eyes. First came the Elements: earth, air, fire, water, metal. Next came the Seasons… Five minutes later, her eyes opened. She couldn’t stop thinking about Bryce.
She went over to the window. Her view was obscured by the river of rain running down the glass, but she thought she could make out a figure standing in the scant shelter of a wall. Was it Bryce? She couldn’t tell.
A small Cast was needed. Carina picked up her plain, battered metal canister from the table and swallowed a mouthful of the contents. She closed her eyes and wrote the character, Clear, in her mind. When she opened her eyes, a circle of glass repelled the rain so that it ran around the sides, leaving the center open and transparent.
I hope you enjoyed this snippet from Daughter of Discord. Read part 1 here.