The Silver Pear by Michelle Diener Read Free Book Online Page B

providence. And I always suspected . . .”
    She trailed off, and he sensed her discomfort, her unease.
    “You think he stole it, like Eric did?”
    She nodded. Her hair brushing his arm in a quick up-down caress.
    “What does the silver pear do?”
    “You’ve touched the golden apple?”
    It was his turn to nod. “My brother’s betrothed brought it with her to rescue me. I was being held for ransom by Jasper of Harness. He wanted my brother to bring him the golden apple in exchange for me but my brother was enchanted by Eric the Bold, and Kayla came instead. I was in a dungeon—”
    “Another one?” She half-laughed.
    “This one is pleasant by comparison,” he said, his voice dipping lower. “I was hurt. Even though there was a spell in the cave where I was kept, one that stripped magic from anyone who entered, the golden apple healed me when Kayla touched it to my skin.”
    “My father told me the golden apple was immune to sorcery. The silver pear, too. The power that forged them is way beyond what even Eric and Nuen are attempting these days. Although they are certainly trying to bend the rules of magic.”
    She still hadn’t told him what the silver pear did. They sat in silence, and he didn’t push her any further.
    She sighed. “When a sorcerer creates a spell, there is usually a little power left over. It’s hard to judge exactly how much power is needed. If the spell is big enough, the excess magic forms into a purple ball of light. What people call— ”
    “Wild magic.” Soren didn’t bother hiding his bitterness.
    “You know?” She curled tighter into her ball.
    “Wild magic killed my father. I made a point of finding out what it was.”
    She was quiet for a long time. “The silver pear absorbs that left-over magic as long as the sorcerer is touching it when they cast their spell. So no wild magic. Before I used the silver pear, it was my father’s. He insisted on giving it to me when I became a full sorcerer.”
    Soren thought about it. “Can you draw on the magic it absorbs later?”
    “Yes,” she whispered. “That is why someone like Eric must never get hold of it. I don’t need to call sky magic for most small spells, I just draw from the store of magic in the silver pear. And for the big spells, nothing is wasted, there is no wild magic, threatening havoc and needing to be banished to the Great Forest. It is all contained, and ready to be used later.”
    Soren thought of what Nuen would do with something like that. The havoc either he or Eric could wreak.
    “We need to make sure your silver pear is safe.”
    “Yes.”
    Soren had waited through the whole night and day for Mirabelle to wake up, looking for a chance to steal the keys to the cell, but the guards had kept hold of them, and done nothing more than check she was still breathing and then left.
    He would have to be a bit more forceful about it, now.
    “Scream,” he said to her.
    “What?”
    “You heard me. Scream as if you’re dying.” He looked toward the small, barred window. “We need someone with a key to come running.”

Chapter Seven
    M iri shook her head . “Even without the silver pear, I should be able to open the lock without creating a lot of excess magic. We won’t get wild magic forming, but there will be a flash of blue light. I won’t be able to hide what I’m doing.”
    “You can open the door?” Soren frowned.
    “I think so, if I use just enough power. I’ve recovered a little from the fight in the courtyard. I don’t have an oak staff, though. I’ve always used the silver pear instead of a staff to draw sky magic.”
    “I can’t believe you haven’t already opened it, then.” He tried to keep his voice neutral, but the incredulity sneaked through. As if he couldn’t understand why she’d stay in the cell a moment longer than necessary.
    Of course, he’d been kept in a dungeon much worse that this one, helpless and alone, whereas she was neither. It explained the scene in the