Knight of Wands (A Steampunk Fantasy Adventure Novel) (Devices of War Book 2) Read Online Free

your name.” I had to know if I could trust her as my soul told me to. “Why are you here?”
    “To help you.”
    “To what end?”
    She opened her mouth, the pale veil sucked against her lips before fluttering away again.
    “What are your motives? What do you hope to gain?”
    She moved to rise. “I will get Queen Dyna.”
    My hand snaked out and caught hers. Heat radiated up my arm, mimicking the feel of my Mark being called. “What game are you really playing, priestess?”
    She stared at my hand. “There is no game, Synn.”
    “With the Hands, there is always a game. The stone chamber? That wasn’t some sort of torture?”
    She flinched as she attempted to pull her hand out of my grasp. When she failed, she let out a long breath. “I needed your walls down. You are very strong.”
    “You needed in my mind.”
    She nodded. “For what I do? Yes.”
    “And what do you do?”
    Her big, brown eyes met mine. “I extract information. Synn.”
    I breathed, trying to decipher just how bad that could be.
    Her hand shook.
    My arm went cold. “And what information did you extract?”
    “I do not trust my queens with everything.” Her breaths were shallow. “I only give them the information they request.”
    I clenched my jaw. “What information did she request?”
    The priestess pulled away, tucking her hands beneath several folds of purple and blue scarves. “The information you held dear is still protected. I did not share it.”
    That didn’t tell me much. I had a lot of information I held dear.
    “We had to sedate you.” She took another step back. “We don’t understand your Mark, so we didn’t know how to prepare for it. But I’m confident you won’t use it to hurt us.”
    I licked my lips, anger seething within me. “And how are you certain of that?”
    She blinked rapidly and took another step back. “I searched your memories,” she whispered. “Your Mark is still being blocked by drugs. I tried to tell Dyna that you were not a threat, but she will need proof of it herself. You will have to do that.”
    I watched her for a long, cold moment. I could only determine that my heart had gotten it wrong yet again. This woman was just as good at playing games as all the Hands’ women seemed to be.
    She shook, the bells at the ends of her scarves jingling softly.
    Would I be able to trust anyone ever again? “Do I scare you?”
    “No,” was her immediate answer.
    I raised my eyebrows. “Really. Then why are you shaking?”
    Her large eyes fluttered up to meet mine. “I—” A frown flickered between her dark eyebrows. “I am afraid of the future you bring.”
    It was time for me to sit up. For dirt’s sake, it was time for me to stand up, but whatever drug they’d dosed me with hadn’t left me with a lot of energy. That didn’t win them any points in the trust department. “What future is that, priestess?”
    There was movement under the veil that covered her mouth. I could see the slight shadow of her lips part, her tongue peeking out before disappearing again. “Change.” She turned with a flurry of scarves and disappeared through the large door.
    I had enough time to get out of bed, remind my muscles how to actually move, bathe using the bowl of water beside the window, and get dressed. Uniforms for the House of Wands had been left in the chest at the foot of the bed.
    I looked at myself in the mirror. The stubble along my chin grew in itching patches. It would have to be removed, but there were no shaving instruments in the room. Surprise.
    That wasn’t what had me disgusted.
    The man in the mirror’s blue, slanted eyes were chilling. The scar over my one eye was nearly gone, but still there, making my expression harder than I thought it would have been. Gone was the carefree smile of the boy I remembered. How long ago had it been when I’d looked in the mirror and thought only of trying fill my father’s clothes? My dark brown hair curled around my shoulders. My cheekbones were