Free Dark Light of Day by Jill Archer Page A

had been born without magic and were living as Hyrkes. I think I’d actually met one of them during my last year at Gaillard.
    But I’d never met Sasha. I would have remembered. Andnow seemed an odd time for a family reunion between two distant relatives who’d never met and didn’t want to. Sasha’s face said it all. He’d been forced to come talk to me. But by who? Aurelia? Livia?
    “Ari thinks we should talk,” he said.
    “About what?” I said, narrowing my eyes.
    Sasha arched an eyebrow. “Oh, you know—evergreens, gardens, babies—the usual.” He snorted. “What do you think he wants us to talk about?”
    I stared blankly back at him, proud that he couldn’t see how hurt I was that Ari had betrayed my trust.
    “And if I refuse?” I whispered fiercely. “Another tree for me tomorrow?”
    Sasha shrugged. “Where do you want to meet?”
    I gritted my teeth, staring down at my books.
    “Timothy’s Square, after our last class.”

Chapter 6

    C lass after that was excruciating. Feeding off my hurt and anger, my magic flared up for the first time in weeks when I walked past Ari. He looked up at me with a stone-cold expression on his face, which I gave right back to him. Marching up the aisle, I sunk down in a seat next to Ivy and spent the rest of the time alternately sweating and clenching my fists. I did not take one note. Thank Luck I wasn’t called on. It was all I could do not to burn the place down. I knew I had control issues but it felt like Peter’s spell was barely working. When class ended, I bolted to the ladies’ room.
    In the mirror, my face looked flushed but otherwise all appeared normal. I splashed cool water over my cheeks and waited for my natural pallor to return. When it did, I walked out to the square. Sasha was already there, waiting.
    The sun was sinking, but I couldn’t see it. It was hidden somewhere behind all the buildings. Moments like these, I missed Etincelle.
    Sasha sat on a bench facing the Joshua School. A few inches of his chin-length thick blond hair stuck out of thedark red knit cap he was wearing. He turned to face me when I sat down, his full lips nearly as red as his hat from the cold. He raked his gaze over me, top to bottom, and then pursed his lips together disapprovingly. I tucked a stray piece of hair back into my hood and stuffed my hands deeper into my pockets. A few other students crossed the square, scurrying through the cold on their way to dinner.
    “Ari’s obsessed with you, you know. And I don’t understand why. I mean, look at you. All I feel from you are weak bursts of magic. It’s like you’re sputtering.”
    Peter’s spell must finally be in tatters from all the abuse I’d heaped on it.
    “He wants you to declare,” Sasha said peremptorily. When I didn’t respond, he continued. “He thinks we could use someone with your…
talent
.” He cleared his throat and flicked a piece of imaginary lint from his trousers to show me what he thought of my “talent.”
    Beside him, I stewed.
    “Ari took last month’s demon attack on one of his old girlfriends personally. As if it was directed at him.” Sasha scoffed. “I think that’s why he wants
you
to declare. He’s convinced that every scrap of waning magic in Halja can be useful. Even waning magic found in the most unlikely and unwilling places.”
    I bristled, but elected not to rise to Sasha’s bait. Instead, I asked a question I’d been wondering about since I saw Beauty’s burn marks that first night I’d met Ari weeks ago.
    “Where was she attacked?”
    Sasha looked at me like I was a Gorgon with snakes coming out of my head. “Where was she… You don’t actually think you’re going to track that demon down, do you?” Sasha laughed, a great big belly burst of laughter that sounded like a hole opening up in the ground. “Ari just wants you to declare. He didn’t mean you should start hunting demons
now
.” He laughed again and shook his head. “He said you were