Free The Silver Pear by Michelle Diener

sorcerer, so other sorcerers didn’t notice one of their own building up a stockpile.
    He had never come close to the truth. That Ylana had taken on the guise of Jisuel to buy up as many wild magic items as she could, to keep them out of sorcerer hands.
    “How many sorcerers do you think are up to a fight for control against Eric the Bold?” If they were going to stop Eric, they had to stop the other sorcerers he was competing against, as well.
    “Two.” Ylana moved restlessly, and he rose to his feet, stepped back so she could stand. Sooty stared at her, unmoving.
    “I’d hoped there was only one.” Rane gripped his knife at the thought of two more like Eric.
    “If Nuen of Harness wasn’t injured, it would be three, so it’s better than it could be.”
    Rane hunched his shoulders at that. “Nuen isn’t injured anymore. When Kayla rescued Soren from Jasper, the golden apple was knocked out of Soren’s hands inside Jasper’s stronghold moments before Kayla got them out. There is no question Nuen has it, and has used it to heal himself by now.”
    Ylana stared at him with such horror, he forced his shoulders back. Looked her straight in the eye.
    “What are you going to do about it?” Her voice was flat.
    “I thought, if Kayla was busy here with you for a few days, I could spy on the sorcerers you think are up to Eric’s level. Get a feel for their weaknesses. As that includes Nuen, if I get the chance to steal the golden apple back, I will.”
    She gave a derisive laugh. “And how likely do you think that will be?”
    Rane shrugged. “I’ve gotten the better of Jasper and Nuen before, and so has Kayla. You never know.”
    She looked as if she wanted to attack him again, clenching her fists as green light danced over her knuckles.
    Time for a distraction, because no matter how he’d love a good, hard fight with her, in whatever form she chose to take, that wouldn’t help Kayla.
    “I have your gem.” He slipped a hand into the leather purse at his belt, drew out the gem covered in a small piece of cloth.
    She hesitated, then put out her hand to take it, the magic she was pulling to her fading away. “Ever since Kayla took it, I’ve wondered what Eric could have wanted with it. It isn’t even wild magic-made.” She pushed back the cloth carefully.
    He frowned. “Not wild magic? But . . . the light when it’s touched is purple.”
    Her lips twisted. “And just because a thing shoots out purple light, it must be wild magic, eh? So a sorcerer wanting to make people believe a thing is wild magic-made, need only imbue purple light into it, instead of blue, and everyone is fooled.”
    Rane grimaced. He’d been so sure it was wild magic-made, he hadn’t realized it didn’t call to him as wild magic always did.
    “One of my other suppliers—Jisuel’s suppliers, I should say—found a sorcerer’s stash in the forest. There were a few wild magic items in it, but most were sorcerer-made, and this was one of them.”
    “Is it Eric’s? Is that how he knew you had it? I’ve heard sorcerers’ things can call to them.”
    Ylana shook her head. “I’ve stolen things from Eric before. This isn’t his. It doesn’t feel like his magic. But it could belong to a sorcerer he’s killed or stripped of power. If he used their staff, he could get an approximate idea of where it was.”
    “And if it’s sorcerer-made . . .” Rane had thought Soren was lost to him. Wild magic was capricious, unpredictable. He’d thought if Soren wasn’t dead, he was most likely in a place no-one could reach him, or turned into something else entirely. But now . . . “The people who touch this or get caught in the blast of light from it when it’s touched disappear. What use would a sorcerer have for something like that?”
    Ylana looked down at the stone, glinting in the last of the evening light. “A quick escape, perhaps. Touch it, and get taken to a safe place. Even if you’ve fought hard and your power is depleted,