“Hang on.” I’d attuned the first charm by touching it to a place where Chelsea’s magic had been used, and I attuned the second charm by touching it to the first. Feeling only slightly foolish, I leaned forward and tapped the charm against Etienne’s shoulder.
The purple flared, and turned back to the familiar neutral shade of frozen starlight.
“It knows who you are now,” I said. “That means we can keep using it to look for Chelsea and not worry about you throwing it off.”
Etienne eyed the charm. “Do you understand how it works?”
“Nope,” I said, with more cheer than necessary. “I usually don’t know how magic works. I use it anyway. Are you feeling up to casting a don’t-look-here over the both of us? I lost a lot of blood getting out of my room, and I’m not sure how many of those I can cast.”
That wasn’t strictly true: losing the blood slowed me down for a few minutes, but it didn’t seem to be doing anything to slow me down now. At the same time, if I was going to be the one picking every lock we came to, I couldn’t also be the one putting up and taking down the don’t-look-here spells. I would exhaust myself before we accomplished anything useful, and then I wouldn’t be able to do anything for anyone. Not Chelsea, not Quentin, and not Tybalt.
Assuming Tybalt was even alive. Samson could never be King. He could still kill the man who held the throne.
Etienne paused, apparently seeing the change in my expression. “October? Are you all right?”
No. “I’m just worried about the others. Can you cast the spell or not?”
“I believe so.” Etienne took a breath before raising his hand and sketching a quick series of motions in the air. The smell of limes and cedar smoke rose, and the spell settled down on my shoulders like a veil. Etienne lowered his hand. “That should hold.”
“Good. Come on.” I turned to head back toward the door. Etienne followed, and I did my best to match my pace to his. Don’t-look-here spells are a form of illusion. This one would work best if we stayed close to one another. Besides, I didn’t trust him yet not to fall.
His clothing hid most of the evidence of the beating he’d received at the hands of Riordan’s guards, but I could see the signs of it in the stiffness when he moved and the way he was favoring his left leg. I was just glad they’d satisfied themselves with blindfolding him, rather than putting his eyes out entirely. That probably meant Riordan thought he might be useful later and wanted him intact when later came. Maybe that was an upside to dealing with sane people. They’d kill you just as dead, but they understood how to conserve their resources until they didn’t need them anymore.
Etienne’s pace was slow enough that we moved through the rest of the floor at about half-speed. The Luidaeg’s charm continued to glow a neutral white the whole time. Eventually, we came to a flight of stairs, spiraling both upward and downward from where we stood.
I paused at the doorway to the stairs, and then motioned for Etienne to remain where he was. He nodded, stepping back. I went six steps up toward the next floor, breathed in, and retreated. I did the same with the floor beneath us. Then I returned to Etienne, stepping close as I murmured, “Definitely Folletti on the floor below us. None I can spot on the floor above, although that doesn’t mean they’re not there.”
“Then we go up,” he murmured back. I nodded, and together, we began making our way up the stairs.
Nothing stopped us as we climbed to the next landing, where another floor like the one we’d been kept on was waiting. Again, I motioned for Etienne to remain where he was while I stepped forward and checked for Folletti; again, if they were present, they weren’t close enough for me to detect them. I waved Etienne forward, and together, we made our way down the hall, looking for doors.
Ashes of Honor: An October Daye Novel
Seanan McGuire's books
- Bed of Roses
- Son Of The Morning
- Cover Of Night
- Affairs of State
- A Profiler's Case for Seduction
- Because of Rebecca
- Conflict of Interest
- Eclipse of the Heart
- Flames of Attraction
- Illusions of Love
- Keeper of the Moon
- Keeper of the Shadows
- Legacy of Love
- Love Proof (Laws of Attraction)
- Miles of Pleasure
- Of One Heart
- Off Limits
- Off Sides
- Out of the Dark (The Brethren Series)
- Out of the Depths
- Pool of Crimson
- Prince of Wolves
- Rules of Entanglement
- Shadow of My Heart
- Sins of a Ruthless Rogue
- Something of a Kind
- Son of a Preacher Man
- Taste of Desire
- Taste of Love
- Translation of Love
- Web of Deception
- Words of Love
- The Lady of Bolton Hill
- The Scars of Us(Scars Series)
- Dreams of Lilacs
- House of Ivy & Sorrow
- A Question of Honor
- The Owner of His Heart
- The Heir of the Castle
- Tower of Glass
- The Last Prince of Dahaar
- Terms of Engagement
- Secrets of a Bollywood Marriage
- David Lord of Honor
- Return of the Prodigal Gilvry
- Killing Me Softly(A Broken Souls Series)
- Starting Over(Hart of Seattle)
- The Resurrection of Aubrey Mill
- OFF SIDES
- Confessions of a Royal Bridegroom
- Stolen: Warriors of Hir, Book 3
- The CEO Buys in (Wager of Hearts #1)
- The Law of Moses
- A Pound of Flesh (A Pound of Flesh #1)
- Arouse: A Spiral of Bliss Novel (Book One)
- Awaken: A Spiral of Bliss Novel (Book Three)
- The Art of French Kissing
- Leo (A Sign of Love Novel)
- Echoes of Scotland Street
- Jesus Freaks: Sins of the Father
- Stinger (A Sign of Love Novel)
- Ten Days of Perfect (November Blue #1)
- The Song of David
- The House of the Stone
- The Weight of Feathers
- A Man for Amanda
- Dance Upon the Air
- Moon Island(Vampire Destiny Book 7)
- A game of chance(MacKenzie Family Saga series #5)
- Death Angel
- Loving Evangeline(Patterson-Cannon Family series #1)
- A Changing Land
- A Clandestine Corporate Affair
- A Gentleman Never Tells
- An Inheritance of Shame
- And Then She Fell
- Anything but Vanilla
- Anything for Her
- Anything You Can Do
- A Rancher's Pride
- A Stranger at Castonbury
- An Act of Persuasion
- An Unsinkable Love
- Angel's Rest
- Be Good A New Adult Romance (RE12)
- Beauty and the Blacksmith
- Beauty and the Sheikh
- Blood and Kisses
- Captain Durant's Countess
- Cardwell Ranch Trespasser
- Cavanaugh on Duty
- Chances Are
- Cinderella and the Sheikh
- Currant Creek Valley
- Cowboy Enchantment
- Dance With Me
- Dangerous Refuge
- Dicing with the Dangerous Lord
- Down and Dirty (Dare Me)
- Ein Mann fur alle Lagen