Free Blaize and the Maven: The Energetics Book 1 by Ellen Bard Page A

for some Circle business. He’ll be back in the next couple of days. Sorry, I’m sure he wanted to see you. He gets called away sometimes. In the meantime you can hang out with me and get settled. Come on, let’s take you over.”
    Blaize felt a stab of disappointment. She hadn’t even met the man yet, and he was annoying her.  
    Tierra cleared the table while Blaize fetched her luggage from the hall. Tierra led her to a back door, and they headed into the gardens.
    The weather was sharp, cold and biting. Blaize was glad of the token warmth from the scarf she’d thrown back on. They walked a short way before a small cottage appeared out of the falling dusk. It was next to the woods, but the other three sides looked out onto the main house and the view respectively. Not that there was much of a view at this time of night, but she could see the lights of the big house from here, which was comforting in this foreign place.
    Tierra pushed open the door and tugged in Blaize’s big suitcase. Blaize trailed in behind her, laden with everything else. The cottage had a small hallway, and Blaize was surprised to see that it was a proper self-contained house. It had one large room downstairs, with a toasty looking fire — lit and smouldering, the fire guard up — a comfy sofa, and a table with a couple of chairs. The front window even had a window seat, which Blaize immediately fell in love with.
    At the back of the big room was a galley kitchen. A microwave, a small oven, a hob with two rings, and a tiny fridge.  
    Tierra went ahead of her up the steep stairs. The doors of the two rooms on the first floor were directly off the stairs, opposite each other with barely a square yard between them.  
    Tierra plumped up the cushions on the bed, brushing imaginary fluff off the duvet.  
    “It’s small but it’s cosy, and it means you can have privacy when you need it. But I hope you’ll join us for meals whenever you like — I’m so excited to have someone else here to chat to and spend time with.” Her tone was a little wistful.  
    Is she lonely? Tierra was a gentle, warm person, with a curvy but strong body —
    she’d managed to lift Blaize’s suitcase after all. Earth energetics needed people around them to nurture and look after. “Does Cuinn often go away?”
    “Sometimes. He’s been here a lot more recently. He’s a good man. But he gets rather caught up. And his work is important.”
    Blaize nodded. She built a picture of Cuinn in her mind. Stern, cold and aloof, indifferent to his cousin’s problems. And most probably indifferent to Blaize as well. After all, he wasn’t here to meet her, so she couldn’t be that big a priority for him. Thank Source for Tierra.
    ***
    Cuinn was in Athens, sitting in front of Minh, the head of Cuinn’s Minor Guild, Ajna-Muladhara Guild, and two of the other Ajna Minor Guild Leaders.
    These energetics together were highly skilled in understanding and predicting prophecies, these were the farseers of Ajna: Past, Present and Future.  
    Three of the most powerful energetics alive.  
    “Minh, I’m concerned,” Cuinn said. “These prophecies feel unlike any I’ve come across before. They have a sick, twisted quality to them. There’s danger coming for all of us, and I can’t tell what it is.”
    Minh’s dark eyes appraised him. “At the moment you are the only one receiving such prophecies, and you know we have our eyes open in many areas. We have spoken to all the strong Ajna dreamwalkers, and nothing has struck us as unusual. We three, also, have tried specific dreamwalks to see if we can pick up any of the strands of the prophecy you have made. We have found nothing that matches what you say you have seen.”
    Cuinn was frustrated. He and Minh had a difficult relationship because Minh couldn’t understand why anyone with Cuinn’s power — which both of them suspected was stronger than Minh’s — wouldn’t want to be Guild Leader. Cuinn had the power, but no