Asunder Read Free Page A

"No."
                "Then . . . who are you?"
                "My name is Cole."
                That was hardly the answer she was looking for. She stared expectantly at him, but he said nothing. "But . . . if you're not a mage," she finally asked, "then what are you doing here? What do you want from me?"
                "I came because you can see me." He reached under his leather vest and drew a dagger from its sheath. It was an ornate blade with an elaborate brass hilt carved in the shape of a dragon's head. The length of it gleamed in the blue light, and the girl's eyes fixed upon it in stark disbelief. "I felt it when they brought you here," he continued. "I knew you would, even before I met you."
                The girl's mouth opened, and then clicked shut again. When she spoke her voice was very small. "Are you . . . going to kill me?"
                "I think so. Yes."
                A small gasp escaped her. "Because I'm a mage?"
                "No, it's not that."
                "Then . . . why? What have I done to you?"
                "You haven't done anything to me." Emotion welled up, a desperation that he had pushed deep down inside him now fighting to escape. It left him breathless, and for a moment he cradled his head on his knees and rocked back and forth. Part of him wondered if the girl would use her magic on him while she had the chance. Would she conjure fire, like the templar warned? What would that be like? Could she kill him?
                But she did nothing. Cole fought to regain his center and exhaled once, long and slow, before looking up again. The girl was frozen. She couldn't look away from his dagger, and perhaps hadn't even considered she could do something to stop him.
                "I'm . . . fading away," he muttered. "I can feel myself slipping through the cracks. I have to do this, I'm sorry."
                "I'll scream."
                But she didn't scream. He saw the idea crumble inside with the realization that doing so would only call the templars back, if it brought anyone at all. Even faced with an armed man directly in front of her, that possibility was still worse. It was something he understood all too well. Slowly she slumped to the ground, defeated.
                Cole inched forward, his heart thumping madly in his chest. He reached out and touched the girl's cheek, and she didn't flinch away. "I can make it go away." The words were gentle, and he held the dagger up to prove his promise. "The pain, the fear. I can make it quick. You don't have to stay here and see what they have in store for you."
                She studied him, eerily calm. "Are you a demon?" she finally asked. "They say that's what happens to mages. The demons come and turn them into monsters." Then she smiled, a lifeless grimace that matched her dead eyes. "But you don't need to do that. I'm already a monster."
                He didn't respond.
                "I said I didn't mean to burn it down. That's what I told them, too. But I lied." The confession spilled out of her like cold venom. "I listened to my mother, my father, all of them screaming, and I did nothing. I wanted them to burn. I'm glad they're dead."
                Her secret told, the girl took a deep breath and blinked back tears. She looked at Cole expectantly, but he only sighed. "I'm not a demon," he said.
                "But . . . what are you, then?"
                "Lost." He stood and offered his hand. She hesitated, but then numbly nodded. He brought her to her feet, where she stood only inches away. There in the glowstone's blue light, a strange intimacy enveloped them. He could see every mark on her skin, every stain the tears had left on her cheeks, every strand of hair.
                "Look at me," he asked