The White Forest (Mages and Kingdoms Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

spotted?" she asked.
    "You won't be. Many mages wear these cloaks in the villages. Some powers are physically displayed on the body or do better submerged by cloth. You'll see them everywhere."
    "But what of the Royal Readers?"
    "They attend births. There's not enough of them to continuously check every mage in all the villages. Most villages do have injury seekers, though. A very common secondary power. They can feel old pains, kind of like remnant healers. A nuisance power to have in the past but one the queen has found use for. They report any abdomen pains from women. This is how they discover secret births."
    “Will they discover your secret birth?”
    Henna’s smile was thin. “No, dearest. I’m an old woman with many seasons to erase what they otherwise would have detected. They wouldn’t even bother expending the energy to read an old crone like me. I did have to hide for years after having my son for his safety and my own.  And I spent my time in service at the Draeden palace. But I’ve been able to come back for short periods of time, to the outer villages. No one knows this wrinkled face now.”
    Amelie mulled over this bit of information as they rode. The queen has had three centuries to perfect her rule. It appeared she had every scenario accounted for. Every loose end tied up. Amelie feared the children at the cottage would never be able to live peacefully among their people. Was Henna creating more mages like Rankor? Would they fill with the same bitterness he'd harbored, being forced from their home simply because of who they were? But the alternative was unthinkable.
    Amelie shuddered when she thought of the horrors Crispin had witnessed. Given the choice, she's certain she would have made the same decisions as Henna.
    The village was much like the ones found in the outside realm. Cobblestoned paths, smells of sausages and spices, fountains spraying mists, and carts upon carts of wares were lining the streets in an open market rich with fabrics, metals, trinkets, and potions. Only these potions were more than the bit of novelty fluff sold at the markets she was accustomed to. These were more dully colored. No bright greens and purples to dazzle buyers where effectiveness could not. No, these were straightforward, magical vials of liquid with the promises they carried breathed into them through practiced mage spells.
    When Amelie sniffed one, a strong metallic odor filled her nose and made her eyes water.
    "To cure the heartsick," an old woman said, turning briefly to her while she finished a sale with another customer. The pang Amelie felt at her words was sharp and the old woman narrowed her eyes in response. "Yours runs deep. You will need double."
    Henna removed the vial from Amelie's hands and firmly pulled her away. "A temporary relief, dear," she clucked. "And not appropriate for curing the kind of broken heart you have for him."
    "What is appropriate?" Amelie demanded wanting to go back and empty her purse in the old woman's coffers. The pangs would not release her. His face floated in her mind.
    "Time," Henna answered gently. "And even that is not a guarantee. He carries part of your heart now. You can't have it back.”
    She said nothing more and Amelie was glad, preferring to soothe her ache silently. At first, she hovered near Henna, glancing frequently at the other mages as they milled through the alleys.
    “Calm yourself,” Henna whispered as she moved away from a cart of fabrics. She needed spools of wool so Serena could fashion new pants for the children. “No one will detect anything out of the ordinary unless you give them something to notice.”
    Amelie forced her heart to slow and took more time looking at her surroundings. As she allowed more than the furtive glance, she began to relax. No one looked her way. They behaved much like the citizens of Candor save for a few floating objects and one mage who used a bolt from his hands to roast ears of corn. This amount of power