Free Black Magic by Megan Derr

ghost?"
    "You don't!" Koray said, sounding frantic—dangerously close to panicked. "The only one who can properly banish a ghost and purify the space is a necromancer. To remove it without purification … that can only be done by a demon." He looked at Sorin with haunted eyes, and Sorin realized he'd been wrong about Koray and fear. It was not that Koray had no fear—it was that he had seldom known anything else. "Someone in this castle is using black magic and slipping closer and closer to becoming a demon."
    Terror clouded Sorin's mind as the ramifications of a demon traipsing undetected through the castle ran through him. "Please tell me you're mistaken."
    "I wish," Koray said bitterly. "But the ghost is gone. That means black magic, which always means demons."
    "Goddess grant us mercy," Sorin whispered. "How could such a person be in our midst with everyone, even me and the High Priest, unaware?"
    "It's because you're not looking for a demon, not yet," Koray said. "It is merely someone who can use black magic. A … demon novice, you could say. Have you never encountered one?"
    Sorin grimaced. "I have, in a small village some days south of here, close to the border with Navath. Children too far gone to be saved, though we tried anyway. It was—still is—a nightmare."
    Koray nodded, but did not say anything, for which Sorin was grateful. "We are looking for someone like that. They are not yet strong enough in power to stand out. Whoever it is knew that leaving the ghost would mean leaving a way to identify him, so it is someone familiar enough with necromancers to know the threat we posed to him. So it's someone smart enough to know how to hide."
    "Marvelous," Sorin said with a sigh. "I have no idea what to say to the castle inhabitants. I guess we'll leave it alone for now, though Alfrey's absence will have been noticed." He sighed again. "We need to go speak with the high priest. He will know how to search out such magic."
    "Will he?" Koray asked. "Why bring me here at all if I was never going to be of use?"
    "I don't know," Sorin replied. "But I am used to not knowing where the Goddess is concerned. We can only move forward and wait for Her to guide which way to turn next."
    Koray said nothing, only grimaced and led the way from the room. Sorin sealed the room again, silently sending apologies and prayers to poor Alfrey, who no doubt waited somewhere cold and miserable until he could at last move on to the Goddess' Hearth. He stepped back and made to head back down the hall when Koray stepped forward and added a seal of his own. "Smart," Sorin said. "One seal might be overcome, but not both of them—not easily, anyway. Merciful Goddess, I hope we find the culprit soon."
    "We need the motive," Koray said.
    "We need to discuss this somewhere else," Sorin replied. "Come on, to the high priest we go."
    They were halfway there when panic and anguish filled Sorin's chest, a pulsing, pounding pain that made him wince and falter.
    Koray frowned at him. "What's wrong?"
    "I don't know, but it's much worse than Alfrey," Sorin said—ran.
    His heart dropped into his throat as the Goddess guided him into the royal cathedral. Slamming through the doors, chest pulsing so hard it was hot, Sorin bolted through the Sanctuary, through the doors in the back—
    And burst into the High Priest's office to find him dead on the floor, his throat so deeply cut his head was only barely still attached. Angelos. "No!" Sorin said and suddenly found it hard to breathe. Alfrey. Angelo. He couldn't—what in the name of the Goddess—
    He jerked in surprise when a cool hand took his, whipped around—and froze, breath bursting out of him as he took in Koray. "He's dead."
    Koray stared up at him, beautiful, haunting. The cool touch of his hand slowly permeated the haze of heat and grief that had threatened to overwhelm Sorin. "I'm sorry," Koray finally said.
    Sorin shook his head. "His ghost?" he asked quietly.
    "Not here," Koray replied, voice