Free All Spell Breaks Loose by Lisa Shearin Page A

floor was completely smooth with no loose paving stones or chipped walls to trip on. The tunnel looked well maintained and well… used. A lot. And it stood to reason that they were maintained by city workers, which was part of the government, all of which was King Sathrik Mal’Salin. To my overactive and paranoid imagination, every new curve and turn in the tunnel was a Khrynsani ambush waiting to happen.
    Piaras was staying every bit as close to me as Vegard always had. I didn’t want Vegard to be here, but at the same time I missed my big Guardian bodyguard. My shadow was definitely feeling lonely without Vegard’s solid and reassuring presence to keep it company. I didn’t want to think about what he was going through right now. From my bodyguard to acting paladin on Justinius’s proclamation, and then, on top of that, dealing with a probable dress rehearsal for a goblin invasion. Was Vegard’s biggest problem invading goblins or pigheaded Conclave mages questioning his authority? Had the goblin soldiers stopped streaming through mirrors and mini-Gates once we’d dived through Carnades’s mirror? Or had they seen an opportunity and taken it?
    Along with any students and mages they could get their hands on.
    Mychael’s knights were good; they were the best, but outnumbered was outnumbered, and with attacks coming from all over the city—
    “They’re going to be fine,” Piaras said quietly.
    I gave him a sidelong glance. “So now you can read minds, too?”
    “No, I’m just worrying about the same things.”
    “Is Katelyn evacuating with the other students?”
    Piaras nodded once. “I put her on Phaelan’s ship myself. She didn’t want to go, and neither did a lot of the other girls.”
    Katelyn was Katelyn Valerian, Piaras’s girlfriend—and Justinius Valerian’s granddaughter. I’d met some of Katelyn’s friends. Those girls could sling spells faster and fight better than half of the Guardians’ cadets. Ever since their inception when the Isle of Mid was founded over a millennia ago, the Guardians had been an all-boys club. Since coming to the Conclave college, Katelyn had been a thorn in her granddaddy’s side about changing the rules to let girls compete for places in the Guardians’ cadet corps. If I made it back to Mid in one piece, I’d be having a chat with Justinius on those girls’ behalf. They deserved the chance.
    Piaras was smiling. “And I told Phaelan if he didn’t keep his hands off Katelyn, I’d fix it so he’d turn into a sea slug at every high tide.”
    “You don’t know how to do that.”
    “Phaelan doesn’t know that.”
    “He bought it?”
    Piaras flashed a grin. “Hook, line, and sinker.”
    Priceless. I’d loved to have seen Phaelan’s face.
    If my cousin so much as looked at the girl wrong, he’d better hope Piaras got to him first. Justinius actually could turn him into a sea slug.
    “He’s too quiet,” Piaras murmured.
    I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know he wasn’t talking about Phaelan.
    Carnades hadn’t uttered a word since we’d left the cave. Surrounded as he’d been the entire time by armed goblins who knew how to use what they carried, even Carnades must have realized the smartest thing he could do was to keep his mouth shut. I didn’t know if being manacled and surrounded by armed goblins was his worst nightmare, but it had to rank up near the top, though you’d never know it to look at him.
    Carnades saw me looking at him. His eyes glittered, then reverted back to studied neutrality. If the elf mage was shaking in his designer boots, he’d decided he was the only one who was going to know about it.
    Piaras was right. A quiet enemy was a bad enemy. Quiet tended to mean plotting, and eventually one way or another, plots bore fruit. I knew that Carnades Silvanus was hoping to harvest an entire orchard.
    A piece of dark peeled away from the shadows just ahead.
    I sucked in a breath and held it like it was my last. Considering what