Excerpt, Nadira & Blackwell
“Move it. Blackwell doesn’t like to wait.”
To say those words shook her to the core would be an understatement. Never in her life had she imagined coming face to face with that man. For him to recommend her, he had to know about her prior unsavory activity. It was disturbing to think about. When exactly did he catch on?
What makes it worse was that Aurora Brightweaver was one of the few Mages to have mastered teleportation. It was a miraculous display of talent, but not one that made things any easier for Nadira. They were sudddenly and violently transported into a strange room. *spoiler*. In one word, it was creepy. Nadira prided herself on not scaring easily. Yet even she found herself just disconcerted.
“I’m going to leave this one in your hands. Don’t scare her off Blackwell, you're the one who wanted her here.” Brightwweaver said, a strange emotion in her voice that Nadira couldn’t place.
With that the only comforting presence in the strange room teleported out of sight, leaving Nadira alone with someone she never wanted to be alone with. He looked her up and down in the same examining manner as Brightweaver. It wasn’t malicious, or goddess forbid, lecherous. But, it was uncomfortable. Brightweaver had been looking at her. Blackwell? He was looking through her. He said not a word, simply handing her a full venetian face mask.
“Do you think this is strange?” Blackwell said. “A criminal becoming an enforcer of justice.”
Nadira tried very hard to keep her emotions off her face. “I’ll admit that I find it ironic. I was wondering if this was all some elaborate stunt to trick me into a jail cell.”
“Trust that I don’t need any tricks to get you into a jail cell. Or I wouldn’t have, seeing as I’m officially out of a job.” Blackwell sighed, seeming slightly more human than a minute ago. Nadira took a second to appraise him. He was clearly aged, wrinkles of all sorts were etched onto a weary face. His figure was lean and wiry. Which for anyone but a mage would make him an easy target. Looks could be deceiving. She let herself question what brought him to this state. Had the decades of locking mages in that fly away prison of his weighed on him?
Would it weigh that heavily on her?
“I believe as much. Which makes me all the more curious. Forgive me, but the rumors say that you never let a criminal go.” For anyone looking on the outside, she would appear to be confident. Blackwell didn’t seem intimidated in the slightest, but intimidating him would be a dumb thing to try. Nadira just had to create an unbothered image. She would take advantage of the opportunity granted to her. Even if it was a truly terrible oppurtunity.
“The rumors are just rumors. I’ll teach you the power of those another time.” Blackwell chuckled, but it wasn’t a lighthearted one. No, it was the chuckle of a man who was not smiling on the inside. When Nadira didn’t respond Blackwell continued. “I’m sure you’re wondering what the mask is for. I’ll answer your question. You’re about to mingle with your fellow cabinet members for the first time. We found that it would be best if you could talk without discerning your faces.”
That was curious. What would be the trouble in letting them see each other's faces. Nadira said as much, “Wouldn’t hiding our faces make us trust eachother less?”
"It’s for a few people's sakes, you and three others. Of course everyone will have a mask, but you four will probably be the only ones that need them. Officially, the mask are required for your entire training period and must be removed once it ends. I’m sure you’ll understand the need eventually.” Blackwell made a hand motion around his face, insinuating it was time to go.
Nadira donned the mask she'd been given before asking a final question “What will you do to stop me from dropping my mask before the training is over? Are these enchanted?”
“No, we won’t stop you from removing the mask; it's all about trust,” Blackwell told her.