Swift Magic (The Swift Codex Book 2) Read Online Free

future, you are called to answer for your actions. Please enter the Verdant Wildwoods upon receiving this summons. You may take with you one other living being. Choose wisely. Failure to respond to this letter will result in exile and a place on the Hunter's List.'” My brow narrowed. “It is signed by thirteen members of the Wildwoods Council. I'm lucky I have a relationship with the Hunters, or they would be here by now. In force.”
     
    I thought of Lyall Limber and the woman. Good thing they'd come. If they hadn't, I'd have been easy prey for Blackwings.
     
    "Doesn't that mean they should have given you more leniency?" asked Lilly.
     
    "Thirteen names is leniency, usually they call it good at one or two," I said, rubbing my forehead. What else had my mother talked about with the feys? The scattered snatches of conversations I could recall weren't doing me any favors. Chief among my concerns were what happened next. A nagging voice trembled through the air, invisible lips mouthed on my ear, Go now.
     
    I paused at the feel of the paper and the raised surface of the ink. I smelled it. “Cottonwood fluff? And is that sap?”
     
    Barnes said, “Yes, that is cottonwood. The paper also has spider silk, nettle, and dandelion seeds. It is pressed with other seeds, too, which sprout after you bury the letter in your garden. What comes up depends on how well they like you.”
     
    I raised a brow at him. How did Barnes know all of this? Not that it mattered right now. I'd always thought that Mother had been a mother-earth-style hippie, the way she planted letters.
     
    When I looked up at Leif, I studied his face for signs of guilt as I said, “My uncles take names off the Hunter's List. It's not a first-time offense that gets someone listed there. How many other letters have there been?”
     
    Leif stared at me, straight-faced. “You needed to answer to the sorcering community first. It was one of their members who died. I wrote to the Wildwoods Council explaining the situation.”
     
    I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “Leif?”
     
    “This is the third.”
     
    The third letter? It was a miracle they weren't pouring in through the windows! The two Vanguards had been a polite invitation compared to what I'd earned. I tapped the letter in my hand, trying to not be angry. The others watched me. At last, I said, “I have no time to lose, then.”
     
    “Fera, you aren't supposed to have that. I can't say that I gave it to you, and neither can Lilly, nor Barnes,” Leif said, implying that the Judicial Division had not approved of me receiving even this letter.
     
    “I could claim it,” Barnes grumbled.
     
    “And you'd be reassigned,” I said, my thoughts clear and calm even while my blood simmered and my gut twisted. “No, you three must deny all knowledge of this. It also means you can't come with me.”
     
    Not that they'd want to volunteer. Barnes had once ventured that he would rather walk a mile over hot coals without magic than spend ten minutes in the Wildwoods, and the rest were even less inclined.
     
    “I'll go with you,” said Mordon. His words surprised me, in large part because his other form was a fire drake, and that particular combination was heavily disliked by the feys. I eyed him, frowning. Was it wise to take him with me? Would I be better off arriving by myself?
     
    Mordon took my hand in his, rough callouses scraping over my knuckles. I closed my eyes and let out a breath. How could I tell him no? Mordon's voice held a smile in it when he said, “I haven't met your parents yet, after all.” Then he cocked his head to the side. “Fera?”
     
    “Hmm?”
     
    “Might I ask why you're wearing Barnes' constable coat?”
     
    I glanced down at the blue sleeves wrinkled up about my forearms so the cuffs wouldn't flap off the ends of my fingers. “Oh, it's because I didn't have time to get dressed between the Fey Vanguard rousing me and the Blackwing mercenaries attacking them while