Chapter 405 (1/2)

Chapter 405

Chapter 403: A Match forheavy was grabbingtoagainstlife and texture to the sickly-sweet onion s

I thrashed suddenly, certain that I was being devoured A heavy blanket, which had been draped across my face, slid off the side of the bed and onto the floor

I gasped, sucking in cold air thatonto e of the bed in case I got sick

I wasn’t alone

Standing at the foot of the bed, now staring down at ered next to hiht between nervousness, dismay, and erona said, his ruby eyes turning on Cecilia “No ”

“Yes, High Sovereign,” Cecilia said as she bowed deeply “I’hts led to understand what the tere saying A spark cut through the sluggishness, however, bringing ue was thick and unwieldy, ain “What happened during the bestowal?”

Agrona gave me an unreadable look, then stepped up to me and rested his hand on the top of my head I felt a thrill at the contact, but bitterness immediately oozed up, a counterpoint to the initial en of affection frorona said, his voice vibrating in ed to fail in the most incredible fashi+on” He didn’t sneer the words They weren’t filled with bitterness or insult It was said simply, a statement of fact “I had hoped perhaps your recent experiences would instill in you the sort of drive which you have always lacked But alas, this new regalia is a perfect match for your talents”

His hand pulled away, and his brows rose a fraction of an inch in a silent question, asking, Do you have anything to say about that, idiot boy? When I didn’t reply, I seerona had expected, because he nodded his head, then htly

When the door clicked shut, Cecilia hurried forward to the edge ofsweat-damp hair from my eyes “Oh, Nico Are you okay? You’ve been unconscious for a whole day”

I rolled ontoso I didn’t voers laced into mine, and she rested her head on the rona said you’re leaving,” I ventured after a coupleyou?”

She sat up, releasing ray hair out of her face as she did so “I’rona wants me to put on a show of force to assure this rebellion doesn’t spread”

I closed ue It was the news I had been expecting, and yet I was still having trouble drawing breath “You sound…pleased”

I heard Cecilia shuffle as she got to her feet, then the ain to find her sitting next to“I’ve been training for this since I was brought to this world It’s finally a chance for iven me—us” She met my eyes and held them “This is hoe earn our lives back, Nico”

I sed hard My tongue felt swollen, and I was suddenly afraid I ht choke on it

She leaned in closer, still staring deep intoanywhere without you So rest up, all right? I’ll be back in theto kill a traitor”

With a big sh my hair, then jumped off my bed She stopped to look back froot”

Froon’s rona would have been very happy if he’d found this You need to be more careful” Despite the admonishment, she smiled as she set the sphere next to one

I blew out a gusting, frustrated breath “shi+t”

A few hours…that was all the ti to war And I’d be right beside her, protecting her

A dark laugh bubbled up unbidden fro to do that?”

I let ht as if on a spring “Idiot,” I cursedout of bed

Mana poured out of alia that rested across my spine just below my shoulder blades I didn’t knohat to expect, which was an odd sensation in itself Normally, the officiants would explain the runes, but froy alia was

It was so thatin Agrona’s voice

The light of alia activated It was a subtle thing, hardly noticeable at first, like clouds slowly creeping in overhead while the lighting artifacts activated in the street

I followed these new points of brightness as I scanned the roo hting artifacts glowed htly There was a subtle shi+ne to the low at all froon core

I picked the sphere up and rolled it around in les, but it was di as s desk burned inparch some of the materials for my new artifact

As my mind touched upon the staff, I hurried to the door into my workspace and opened it Inside, it was much the saloith various potency

It was h I could feel them, almost as if they were connected to ic iteical but had the capacity for being Ihtly of all in this altered form of perception was the charwood branch itself, inset with a single fitting The silver ht black wood On the table, set aside for further experis htly

Curious, I set down the core and picked up a fitting Nothing changed As I moved it closer to the twisted branch, however, both sources of this connection shi+fted, but the change was less a glow andshared between the, world-shi+fting realization, I knehat rin broke acrossthatthe specialized carving tool in one hand and holding fir I had only a few hours to ht had only barely turned the horizon gray-blue behind the distant nored it at first, so engrossed in ency The knock caain, louder and more insistent, and ti me back to reality

“Come in,” I shouted from the workbench, certain Cecilia had come to collect me for our mission to Sehz-Clar

The door opened, then closed again, and I heard her soft footfalls cross to the inner door “I’m sorry, Nico, I—where are your clothes? Have you rested at all?”

I looked down at myself

When I’d woken after the bestowal, I had been stripped down to rossed bythat I hadn’t even dressed myself

“Here, look at this,” I told her, too excited to care about any of that

Grabbing her hand, I pulled Cecilia to the workbench and grinned proudly down atbranch had lay before, now there was a smooth and polished staff of purest black The head of the staff flared outward subtly, and where it widened, four gereen as a viper’s eyes, a sapphire bluer than the deepest depths of the ocean, a topaz bright as a flash of lightning, and a ruby rich as crystalized blood

The trueness of color was ieth of alia did It connected my mind to the truth of the materials that I worked with I could see, feel, even taste the way the different materials fit into the world

But that was just the beginning, I was certain Theit becareater the results With tiin to conceive of ould be possible with the regalia

“—it do?”

“Sorry?” I asked, realizing that Cecilia had been speaking

“It’s beautiful! What does it do?” she repeated, eyeingthe nearly ilyphs, runes, and connective elements that had been carefully scored into nearly every inch of the charwood surface Taking it in both hands, I imbued mana directly into the staff My mana was drawn across the surface via the circuitry of silver inlaid into the invisible grooves before being absorbed into a specially-designed ems

Cecilia’s eyes followed the trail of ain I was an of the staff was intended to shroud its abilities After all, it would be a poor aave away exactly what I was doing Despite this, however, Cecilia had no trouble following the h its journey

Around the staff’s head, the at the staff I could sense it, but I knew she could see the individual particles being drawn into the respective geertips stretching out toward the wood but not touching it

“The purified ic, which then draws from the stored at a spell,” I said, pride swelling within ave me the idea for the structure, but I couldn’t have reforalia Here, let ed for less than a h the connective circuitry, I could still feel and manipulate my stored e steam billowed from the staff, out my open , and off into the distance

“That ater, fire, and air mana,” she noted with some curiosity

“With this, I can hone my own spells the way they do in Dicathen,” I said, breathless with excitement and the flush of victory “Shape therin widened—“I can utilize all four standard ele dark passed over Cecilia’s face for just an instant Then, she was grinning with me, her hands on , Nico But…” She hesitated, and soled around in ? We’re going to war What if…” Her words trailed off, and she bit her lip

“What?” I asked, ice now seeping out frouts Can’t you see I did this for you?

“Your core is still recovering,” she said finally “I don’t want you to get hurt by pushi+ng yourself too hard What if the staff fails? What if it hurts you somehow, or…or doesn’t work like you hope?”