He needed control.
Which meant that he would have to go to the El’aras.
Eventually.
He’d been avoiding it all this time, wanting to steer clear of the El’aras when he had committed to helping Yoran, but now…
Now Gavin didn’t know anymore. He didn’t know what he would have to do to fully gain control of that power. The more he thought about it, though, the more he began to feel as if he would have to.
He glanced over to Gaspar. The old thief watched him, as if he recognized the struggle Gavin was having.
Gavin forced a smile. “Get going. I need to bury Cyran.”
“We can help,” Wrenlow said.
“This is something I need to do myself.”
Wrenlow opened his mouth to argue, but Gaspar grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him away. They left Gavin alone in the clearing, in the darkness, in the center of the forest. Everywhere around him was an energy, but one that Gavin didn’t fear.
He wasn’t sure if it came from within him or if it came from some external source like the Toral ring. Either way, Gavin recognized that there was something in that energy he might need to tap into, some aspect of power that he might need to call upon, to stop Tristan.
He reached Cyran’s body and leaned down, running his fingers over the fabric of his jacket. He would bury him, giving him dignity he probably didn’t deserve, but Gavin thought maybe it would be better for him to remember Cyran the way he once had been—not the way he was now.
And then he would go after Tristan.
Somehow, all of this was still tied to Tristan. All of this was still bound up in what Gavin had been when he was younger. He’d thought that by leaving Tristan, he would no longer be beholden to his old mentor. But with everything that had happened, it felt as if Gavin was being pulled deeper and deeper into a past he wanted to forget, something he’d believed he was beyond.
He found himself still indebted to Tristan after all this time. He wasn’t all that different from Cyran, despite how he’d taunted him.
Gavin moved Cyran’s body and prepared to lift it, wanting to carry it to the center of the clearing to bury it. “I’m sorry that it came to this.”
“Why do you feel remorse at this?”
He spun. Anna stood in the clearing, watching him.
“How did you know I was here?” he asked.
“I felt the summons,” she said.
“There was no summons.” Gavin reached into his pocket and pulled out the marker.
“Not that one,” she said, nodding to the marker, “but that one.” She tilted her head toward his other hand.
He held out the ring. “Did you know that the ring was here?”
“The ring has been missing for many generations,” she said softly. There was a note of concern in her voice.
He understood.
The t’ranth. A Toral ring.
And now he wore it.
“It is an El’aras Toral ring, isn’t it? The t’ranth.”
She nodded. “Something like that. The El’aras would not refer to it as a Toral ring, but it does connect to a different sort of power. Similar to the kind of power the Toral ring taps into.” She smiled at him. “You have been avoiding your calling, Gavin.”
“I haven’t been avoiding it. I’ve just known I have others that depend on me.”
Despite the constables and enchanters now working together, Gavin still couldn’t shake the feeling that he needed to be in Yoran, that he needed to offer a measure of protection. Without him, Gavin worried that something terrible would happen to the city.
“I’ve suggested to you the opportunity that you could go to the El’aras to learn.”
Gavin nodded. “You have.”
“But you have not wanted to.”
“It hasn’t been for me.”
“No,” Anna said. “You’ve been determined to take a different path, though perhaps that is just as well. Had you gone to the El’aras, then we may have had a different difficulty.”
“What is that?”
“They would have demanded that you serve them.”
“They would have demanded?”
“Not like your mentor had, though they would have required service. I understand why you would choose not to serve, but you would’ve found it difficult to refuse.”
“I doubt that,” Gavin said.
“More difficult than you can imagine.” She looked around the clearing and shook her head. “Such darkness here.”
“What do you mean?”
“This place. There is so much darkness here. Don’t you recognize it?”
“Should I?”
She tilted her head. “Perhaps not. But that does not change that it exists. It is why he would’ve used this place to call to the Sul’toral.”
“Would he have been able to steal that power?”
Anna frowned. “It is possible, though I wonder if there was a different motivation.”
“What other motivation would there have been?”
She took a deep breath. “You’ve tapped into a dangerous power.”
“The ring? Or my own?”
“Perhaps both,” Anna said in a whisper. “It seems that fate conspires to bring us together, Gavin Lorren. I had hoped that…” She shook her head, and the sad smile that he had seen several times from her returned. “Perhaps it doesn’t matter what I had hoped. All that matters is that we serve our purpose. But maybe there is something else.” She regarded him for a moment. Gavin had no idea what she was going on about, but it seemed that she had come to some considerable decision. “And since you cannot travel to study, I think a different plan must be hatched.”
“What plan is that?”
She arched a brow at him. “I think that I must stay and teach you. Since you now have the ring, you are a part of something much greater than you have learned, but I fear you will learn what that means soon enough.” She took a long breath. “And it is time that you know your magic. It is time that you learn to be more than the Chain Breaker.”
Want to read more about Jayna and Eva? Their story continues in Festival of Mourn, The Dark Sorcerer book 1.
Gavin’s
