Read Memories of Ash (The Sunbolt Chronicles Book 2) for Free Online Page B

Stormwind’s name-spell, mine can only kill. It has killed.
    She knows me well enough to gauge the path of my thoughts. “In a time of need, your first casting will come to your fingertips. You must learn what to do with it so that you do not destroy yourself a second time.”
    “I won’t use it.”
    She purses her lips. “Practice. Start very, very small.”
    I lean toward the mirror. Stormwind would never suggest I practice my sunbolt without her, not unless… . “How long will your trial run, exactly?”
    “A week, perhaps less. Should I not return… . ”
    “Mistress—”
    “The cabin is yours. Stay there. The wards will keep you protected until you are ready to leave.”
    I take a slow breath. “What will your sentence be?”
    “Imprisonment, most likely,” she replies. “But I may sway the Council. Of the ten regular members, four are strongly in my favor, and two more appear undecided. If I can get five, Talon will give her vote to me.”
    But she won’t get the fifth vote. If they’re undecided, Blackflame will find a way to influence them. I have no doubt of it. “You need to leave,” I whisper. “This won’t be justice. You know that.”
    “I know. But there’s no running now.”
    Of course there is , I want to cry.
    “If I run, I will be admitting my guilt. I will not do that. I am sorry. I meant to see you through your studies.”
    I shake my head, a sharp, jerky motion. I don’t want her apologies, nor do I want the implication that my worst fears will be realized. “You can’t accept this.”
    “I have no other choice.” Her eyes bore into me. “I want you to open the fourth trunk and use what you need from there.”
    I duck my head guiltily. “Uh, yeah. I’ll do that. But—”
    “I dare not use this mirror again. There are too many people watching. We cannot risk them learning about you.”
    “Wait.” I reach toward the mirror. “I need to know what happens to you.”
      She glances up, past her own mirror. “Someone’s coming. If I can, I will try in three days. Farewell.”
    “Farewell.”
    She fades from view, leaving me staring at the mirror. My own face looks back at me, my features shadowy blots on paler skin, all subtleties lost in the darkness of the loft.
    Three days, and then what? The future yawns before me, dark and cold and ready to swallow me whole, just as my past stretches out behind me, bleak in its emptiness.
    I killed a man, a fang, a monster , with the magic that thrums through my veins. I left another to die, himself held prisoner by a demon of a different tenor, when I might have helped him.
    Is this what I am, what I will always be? Does Stormwind expect that I’ll forget her, her friendship and kindnesses, and go on as if she had not existed? Go on hiding who and what I am, abandoning those I cannot or will not help?
    I clasp my hands, resting them on my bent knees. This is not the life I want. Some of it will always be mine; I cannot escape the threat of the Council no matter where I go or what I do. Nor can I change my past. Gazing at the pale outlines of my hands in the darkness, I know I must decide soon just what I’m willing to do — what fears I’m willing to face and what truths I’m willing to fight for.

    The next day spreads out long and lonely, with only the necessary chores and my studies to fill them. It seems a long time from dawn to darkness. I keep the mirror nearby throughout the day and lay it beside my pallet at night, even though I don’t expect to hear from Stormwind. I fall asleep easily, tired from the worries plaguing me, and slip into a land of murky dreams.
    “See anything?”
    I wake with a start, my heart hammering in my chest.
    “Nothing,” a second voice responds. I turn my head, careful to keep my movements small. On the floor beside my pallet, the mirror glows. The voices coming from it are distinctly male.
    “There has to be someone there. She wouldn’t have brought it along otherwise. Can you get its