He realized Karen had been watching him for several minutes without speaking, so he glanced up at her. “Helo.” As his eyes took her
appearance in, he noticed she wasn’t wearing her usual clothes. She had been wearing the dresses that were favored by the young noblewomen of Lothion, but today she was clad in the enchanted leathers he had given her before her last trip to his world, tough trousers and a tailored leather jerkin that managed to display her feminine frame despite its masculine connotations.
He thought she looked good, and he had never been overly concerned with what others had considered ‘proper.’ The look on her face told
him that there was more to it than that, though.
She met his eyes with her own for a moment, then looked down at his project. “I came to say goodbye.”
His mind went blank. Not a single word suggested itself to him.
After waiting a while, she leaned in and gave him a light kiss. She looked at him again, watching his reaction, but when he didn’t reply, she started to turn away, “Wel, thanks for everything. I mean that.”
“Huh?” His first word was anything but articulate.
She stopped. “I said I was leaving. Is ‘huh’ al you can think of?”
“What?” He was improving; he had managed a real word, and one that might even be considered a proper question.
Her expression was suspicious. “Were you even listening to what I said?”
He knew the answer to that one. “You said goodbye.” After a moment, he even came up with his own question: “ Why?”
Exasperated she responded, “Because I’m leaving.”
“I got that,” he told her. “What I mean is, why are you leaving?”
Karen smiled; she had his ful attention at last. “Because I need to. Since coming here, I’ve been completely dependent. That’s not who I am.”
“I don’t think anyone thinks that about you,” countered Matt. “I don’t.”
“I know you don’t,” she reassured him, “but it’s how I feel. Your world is completely new to me. It’s an opportunity to rewrite my life, to be someone new, but I can’t do that by just accepting your family’s generosity. I need to go out and make my own way.”
“Couldn’t you make your own way—here?”
She shook her head. “You’re sweet, but no. I need to do this on my own. Besides, I won’t be so far away. This talent I’ve inherited means I can be anywhere I want to be, provided I’ve been there before. I’l come back to visit regularly, or for baths if nothing else.” The twinkle in her eye told him the last part was only a joke.
“My gift could be incredibly useful,” she added. “But I need to travel, to develop it. The more places I go, the better it becomes. Think about it
—I could wake up, have breakfast in one place, and then later have dinner on the other side of the world. My life here could be extraordinary, but only if I travel to make it a reality. I need to discover what’s out there.”
“Alone? The road can be a dangerous place, especialy for a woman,” he cautioned.
Karen laughed. “I may not be the most powerful wizard, but I’m one of only a handful, or so you told me. Who could threaten me? And if I did meet someone or something too dangerous to face, how could they keep me from escaping? With just a thought I can be back here, where most of the world’s most dangerous mages are gathered.”
“Won’t you be lonely?” He surprised himself with that question. He had never felt a particular need for company, yet now he was suggesting it to her.
“At first,” she admitted. “But that’s also partly what this is about. I need to make my own friends. I want to meet people. Being able to traverse the world in a blink of an eye means I can always visit any new friends or acquaintances whenever I want, but I have to make them first.”
“What about Gary?”
“He can stay here,” she told him. “I think he’s happiest here, helping you. It gives him a sense of purpose. Besides, who wants a parent along on their first road trip?”
“It sounds like you’ve done a lot of thinking about this,” he observed.
She nodded.
“Just be careful. Remember, even a nutjob isn’t invincible. If you trust the wrong people, you could be hurt. Poison affects us just like everyone else.”
Karen began to laugh, long and hard.
“What?” he asked, somewhat nonplussed.
When she finaly stopped, she answered, gasping for air, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. That word doesn’t mean what you think it does.”
He was rather annoyed when he discovered what it actualy meant , and slightly embarrassed when he recaled the various times he had used it without knowing, back in her world. It cast his final monologue with his adversary in an entirely different light.
She left after that, and he stared at the spot where she had stood for several minutes before returning to his work. Or at least he tried to. He found himself unable to concentrate properly for the rest of the day. It wasn’t until the folowing afternoon that he was able to focus on what he was doing.
But he did. His work was enthraling, and nothing held his attention the way a complex problem could. In his mind, he was already moving
ahead to the one after it. He had no lack of ideas.
As the days went on, he perfected his hand design and then he began constructing a replacement for the Fool’s Tesseract, though this would be an improved version. Now and then he stopped, and found himself wondering what Karen was doing or what she was seeing, but after
daydreaming a while, he always returned to the project at hand.
Coming Late in 2017:
Mordecai
The world that began in the popular Mageborn series continues with a new series focused once again on Mordecai; the son of a blacksmith, a nobleman by birth, and heir to a magical legacy; in a story that will unite characters from all three series, Mageborn , Embers of Illeniel, and Champions of the Dawning Dragons. Mordecai, his children, and even his distant ancestor, Tyrion, will come together to face the ancient enemy that once drove even the She’Har from their homeworld .
For more information about the Mageborn series check out the author’s website:
www.magebornbooks.com
Or interact with him more directly on his Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/MagebornAuthor
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 40
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Epilogue
Document Outline
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 40
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Epilogue
Table of Contents