Asunder by David Gaider Read Free Book Online

set this room on fire? I wonder just how cute you'd think I was then."
                He chuckled lightly. "Well, I' d still think it was cute. The templars, on the other hand, might not agree."
                "It would bring them running," she fumed. "I'm tired of being ignored."
                "Well, why don't you tell them? They’re right in there, after all."
                "You think I won't?" She spun around to face the office door. "We've been waiting over an hour! They can't treat us like this!"
                Rhys didn't know whether to laugh or be horrified, and settled for a little of both. "Maker's breath, woman! Calm down, will you? You know why they've brought us up here. Don't plant more ideas in their heads."
                "You think those ideas aren't already there? They’ve decided that one of us is guilty. Now they're just trying to prove it." She marched over to the empty chair beside him and sat down. Then immediately leapt back up, as if sitting was a concession she wasn't willing to make just yet. "For all they know, it could be a templar doing these murders! Have they considered that? Who else has keys to the dungeons?"
                Rhys sighed, rubbing his temples. It was, of course, only the fifth time in the last hour that Adrian had mentioned her favorite theory, as if he were the one who needed convincing. "You're giving me a headache with all the yelling, you know that?" he complained.
                "You're as mad as I am, admit it."
                "If you mean mad as in crazy, then certainly. We're both of us completely insane." He gave her a sly wink, and though she rolled her eyes, she also chuckled ruefully. It worked to calm her down a little, as it always did. "I heard not all the victims were in the dungeons, actually. One of them was an apprentice."
                "You don't mean Jolen, do you? I thought he failed his Harrowing."
                "That's what everyone thought, but I overheard some templars talking about it in the courtyard a few days ago. They mentioned Jolen by name."
                "They talk where you can hear them?"
                He winked at her. "You'd be amazed at this spell I know that involves looking really busy while actually listening. It's amazing, and works even on templars."
                She ignored his jest, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Jolen was doing so poorly with his lessons. Enchanter Adria said all he wanted to do that last week was hide in his cell, he was that terrified of his Harrowing. When he didn't appear as a Tranquil, I just assumed . . ."
                "So did I." He nodded. It wasn't unusual for apprentices to simply vanish. The templars gathered you for your Harrowing in the middle of the night, without warning. Succeed at the test and you were a mage in full. Fail and you were dead. If you refused the test, you were put through the Rite of Tranquility and rendered an emotionless neuter. It was a preferable fate for some, but Rhys found that hard to believe— he couldn't get near a Tranquil without shuddering. He would rather be dead than spend the rest of his life looking at the world through those dead eyes.
                When someone failed their Harrowing, however, the rest of the mages weren't told. The apprentice was just gone. It happened frequently, and considering a mage's life was never his own— you could be transferred to another Circle or whisked off to some duty assigned by the Chantry without so much as a by- your- leave— one became accustomed to people coming and going. You didn't question it. There could have been many more murders than any of the mages suspected, and only the templars would know for sure.
                "They should tell us." She seethed, her thoughts obviously mirroring his own. "They should at least tell the First Enchanter. They can't