The Sartious Mage (The Rhythm of Rivalry) Read Online Free Page A

at the sound of my sigh. “They’re both sixteen and very beautiful.” His voice was getting more argumentative, now at the point of lecturing. “Here’s the best part for you.” He leaned toward me. “Once you’re married, in addition to the money and the land you’ll gain, my team of chemists will find a way to cure your darkness while making sure your magic ability does not wane. They just need more time, Jek. Your darkness will still be cured as I promised.”
    He leaned back and folded his arms. “Even the richest men would say yes to that opportunity. I don’t see how you couldn’t.”
    I felt myself shaking my head. I didn’t trust any of it. I didn’t trust that my darkness could ever be cured without losing my magic ability. I didn’t trust his chemists. I didn’t trust him. And I certainly didn’t feel right about him offering his daughter to me like some sort of prize.
    Rage pumped hard, pressing my teeth tightly against each other. I knew I should just politely decline, but I wanted to curse at him instead. I wanted to scream that his daughters shouldn’t be used to buy his way out of a promise. I compromised and said something in between.
    “No, just give me the cure you promised!” A mistake—I realized so when he jumped to his feet. I had shouted it and pointed—another mistake.
    Horror took me as the King ripped the contract in half. It felt like I was watching Harwin’s throat being slit. Danvell slapped his chalice from his armrest.
    “I said one more word! Now you get nothing!” His finger shot toward me just as mine had been aimed at him. “Guards, get him out of here!” he bellowed, his face now stained scarlet.
    “Where is it?” I screamed with more desperation than I wished to reveal. At some point I’d drawn my wand, now aiming it at the King. “I’m not leaving without my cure!”
    My teeth were clenched harder than my fingers around my wand. Rage had assumed control. The guards crept toward me hesitantly.
    “Put down the wand,” a guard’s voice behind me said.
    Turning toward him, I was reminded of the two guards blocking the door I’d forgotten about. It also made me realize that these guards didn’t know a mage at my level no longer needed a wand. Yes, it helped with many spells, but I was willing to trade that for the element of surprise.
    I knew I just had to conceal my rage for a few seconds for my plan to work. “I’m putting my wand down and leaving.” I let it drop…or I tried to. My hand wouldn’t let go. I could feel my plan changing then and there. That’s the thing about rage—it’s volatile and consuming, making me unpredictable even to myself. No, I’m keeping it, I decided.
    “Let it go,” another told me. They were closing in with swords pointed at my chest.
    I focused to draw in hot Bastial Energy from the room. The guards were ripe with it and had little to no control over what I did with it. My chest and stomach itched to use the newfound energy as it tingled inside me.
    In the span of a breath, I let it explode from my hands in all directions. It was enough to knock them off their feet, and that’s when I kicked open the door and rushed out, leaving a smoky green trail of Sartious Energy behind me to cloud their vision.
    “Stop him!” Danvell shouted as I ran.
    I wondered which way to go while I sprinted down the hall. Doors were in every direction, and I knew what was behind none of them. I wanted the cure and Harwin before I left. If the King didn’t follow through with his promise for the cure, he probably wouldn’t with his promise to keep Harwin safe, either. He had to be saved.
    Where was I now? At a flight of stairs leading down. I looked over the twisting balcony. Three new guards were walking up casually, obviously still not aware of Danvell Takary’s order to stop me, but they would be soon. The whole Takary Palace would be soon.
    I didn’t want to go that way. I twisted the doorknob of the nearest door. Locked. I