Free The Darkest Magic (A Book of Spirits and Thieves) by Morgan Rhodes Page A

dull edge to it that even he could hear.
    Camilla was at the stove cooking
kaana
, a familiar breakfast dish created from mashed yellow beans. When she heard Maddox, she turned around and fixed a bright smile on him. Maddox had to suppress his instinctual flinch at seeing her now, the first time he’d been truly lucid since she’d arrived.
    Poor Camilla—she was kind and smart and a gifted witch, but she had not been blessed with the beauty her sister, Sienna, had. Her eyes were lopsided, the few teeth she had were widely spaced and crooked, and her chin was a village of warts, black hairs springing forth from the majority.
    Maddox smiled back at her.
    “Hungry, my boy?” she asked.
    “I suppose so.”
    She brought him a bowl and spoon and patted him on the back. “There you go.”
    “Thank you.” He stared down at the bowl of
kaana
.
    Barnabas sat down in the chair across from him, eyeing him warily. “Camilla and I can go in search of Valoria’s scribe. You don’t have to join us for this part of the journey. I understand if you’re not feeling quite up to it.”
    “I’m fine,” Maddox said calmly.
    “Are you sure?”
    “I’m
fine
,” he said, louder this time. “What’s the plan?”
    Barnabas raised his brows. “Well, all right then. The plan is simple. We will go to Valoria’s palace, locate the scribe, bespell him with Camilla’s scented oils, and remove him from the palace to question him at our leisure. He’ll tell us how to most effectively bring an end to the goddess’s reign, and then all will be well and right in the land.”
    Maddox glanced at Camilla, who was back at her station at the stove. “Scented oils?”
    She stirred a second pot that was simmering next to the
kaana
. “I just need to infuse this with some air magic and a few other useful ingredients I picked up on my way here. Then it’ll be potent enough to knock out any man or woman for at least half a day with just one whiff.”
    “Your skills impress me more every time I see you,” Barnabas told her.
    Maddox eyed the brew warily. “A half a day, huh?”
    “Any longer would need much more simmer time,” Camilla said. “I’ll pour a little of this in a vial, and we’ll be ready to leave. Nothing to worry about.”
    He appreciated that this witch, who was brewing a knockout potion to aid in a kidnapping, was assuring him that all was well. Then again, both she and Barnabas had been treating him like a fragile object, ready to shatter at any moment. But he wasn’t fragile; he was strong. Every moment, every day, getting stronger.
    Maddox knew he would be a major asset in this journey. And he knew he would soon avenge the death of his mother. The deaths of both of his mothers: Damaris and Eva too.
    • • •
    Maddox remained mostly silent and introspective for the first day of their three-day journey by foot to the palace. On the second day, Camilla managed to coax conversation from him, telling him she wanted to know more about Damaris.
    “Was she a good cook?” Camilla asked as they ventured out thatmisty morning from a small inn that had served them a barely palatable breakfast of burnt eggs and runny
kaana
.
    He nodded. “The best cook. She made a lamb stew that was so phenomenal she could have sold the recipe for a couple years’ worth of coin. She always managed to get bread—still warm, with a crisp crust, but soft in the middle, and it melted in your mouth—for us every day, no matter how rough our circumstances. Sometimes we ate it for breakfast with honey.”
    “I’m getting hungry just hearing about it,” Camilla said kindly. “She was a very good mum, it seems.”
    Maddox nodded. He let a peaceful silence settle between them before he worked up the courage to ask a question that had been on his mind for a while. “I’ve been wondering a lot about . . . well, about what my birth mother was like. Did you know her?”
    “Eva?” Camilla asked. She cast a cautious glance toward Barnabas, who