The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas Read Free Book Online

cynic, so she asked how could she be certain that she wasn’t looking at Atlantis’s own stockpile. At which point she wasblindfolded again. But this time, she was only led around on foot for about thirty minutes. When the blindfold was taken off, she stood on the side of a heavily wooded slope. And through the trees she glimpsed the Right Hand of Titus in the distance.”
    The Right Hand of Titus was a set of five mage-made peninsulas jutting out into the Atlantic from the coast of Delamer, the Domain’s capital city. The Citadel, the Master of the Domain’s official residence, sat upon the ring finger of the Right Hand of Titus.
    â€œShe was shown the facilities under the Serpentine Hills?” asked Titus, a speculative look in his eyes.
    â€œYes—she took a long, hard look at her surroundings to make sure she hadn’t been tricked. Then she asked how could she be sure that she was actually dealing with someone with the power to deploy the war machines, and not just a lowly guard who had the password to the storage facilities.
    â€œThat was when she was informed of a diplomatic reception at the Citadel. She was told to walk in behind a cluster of late-arriving guests—and that she would have a five-minute window before she was discovered. Actually her instruction was to turn around and leave as soon as she got inside, to avoid discovery. But the matter of the new great elemental mage had been weighing heavily on her mind—it was an unknown that could change everything—and she resolved to speak to the prince directly about it.”
    That was how Titus had first met Amara, at that reception. She had asked him for his elemental mage and had escaped quiteelegantly when the palace guards realized there was an intruder among the guests.
    Kashkari sighed. “She is braver than any of us, but at times she can be quite impulsive. She regretted her action immediately, but it was too late. She had angered her contact, who saw her willfulness as a breach of faith. That potential alliance went no further.
    â€œShe returned to the base hours before I left for Eton. We discussed everything she’d seen—and her ultimate failure. That was when I decided to take the matter into my own hands. At that time we all thought that perhaps it was the Master of the Domain himself who was behind the overture.”
    Titus was not—he had always been adamantly against anyone knowing anything about his work. Nor were war machines his modus operandi.
    â€œIn any case,” Kashkari went on, “it seems that Amara has been forgiven. It must have been the same mages who contacted her just now in her two-way notebook—that was how they had always got in touch with her, even though she had never matched her notebook with theirs.”
    â€œDo you think it might be Dalbert?” Iolanthe asked Titus.
    â€œNot Dalbert himself—he is careful not to be mixed up in something like this. But it might have been mages he considered trustworthy.”
    â€œGood to know,” said Kashkari.
    â€œTrue, we are not entirely alone,” replied Titus.
    But his face was troubled, even as he uttered his apparently hopeful words.
    They settled in a deep curve of a dune that undulated for miles.
    Once Iolanthe discovered that the battle supplies they’d grabbed from the rebel base contained sachets of tea, she cleared a small space for them inside the dune, where she could summon a fire without being seen.
    Over Titus’s objection, of course. “You will overtax yourself,” he said, shaking his head.
    â€œPlease, Your Highness, show some respect for the great elemental mage of your time.”
    They didn’t have any cooking vessels, so she heated the sphere of water she’d summoned as it spun lazily a few inches above the fire. When she judged the water hot enough, she dropped in a pinch of tea leaves to steep.
    The battle rations also came with pastries that had