by Lynn Kurland
He considered, then felt a bit of his old vim return. Léige was a terrible place to find oneself trapped underground, but he had extricated himself from worse places before. He might not have his magic available at the moment, but he had his wits, his fearlessness, and a horse miss who might likely burn the whole place to the ground before she found the means to apologize for starting the fire.
He looked at Léirsinn. “This might be a bit messy.”
“A bit?”
“Very,” he corrected. “But I’m going to teach you a few spells.”
She looked like she might have preferred to be learning the location of the nearest cesspit so she could begin shoveling, but the woman was nothing if not courageous. He’d seen that for himself before.
He thought he just might love her for it.
Well, that, and a few other reasons.
“Acair, are you daydreaming?”
He looked at her seriously. “Actually, I was wondering where to go after we’re free of this place. I believe it should be somewhere so drenched with romance that you’ll be in the proper frame of mind to listen to me offer up a few maudlin sentiments.”
Her mouth had fallen open, but she shut it with an audible snap. “You’re daft.”
“Besotted, as I said before.”
“Mad,” she corrected. “Absolutely barking. I don’t want any maudlin sentiments, I want spells.”
“And later?”
“I’ll think about other things later.”
He couldn’t argue with that. He preferred not to think about what might come later, though he had the feeling it wouldn’t be pleasant.
Léirsinn was full of magic she couldn’t control and would likely pay a very steep price for, he was minus his very handy spell of un-noticing and definitely worse for the wear of his recent attempt to use even the most innocent piece of his own power, and they were both sitting in a dungeon completely impervious to any sort of digging. He knew that because he’d made a visit or two there in times past to taunt and annoy inmates who had run afoul of the king’s sensibilities and found that the only exit was up the stairs.
It was, in a word, hopeless.
But hopeless was his fourth favorite thing, mostly because when he managed what was slathered in that sort of business, it made the rest of his accomplishments all the more glorious.
He looked at Léirsinn and smiled.
“Let’s begin.”
Lynn Kurland is the New York Times bestselling author of Ever My Love, Stars in Your Eyes, Dreams of Lilacs, All for You, and the Novels of the Nine Kingdoms, as well as numerous other novels and short stories. Visit her online at lynnkurland.com.
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