He opened his mouth but then paused. “Good point.”

Progress! “I’m also thinking we need…something to bring everyone together.”

“Something?”

They’d discussed this before and Jayden had gotten angry, but she was tired of worrying about Jayden’s moods. “Yes, a new oath for a new archive of the Invisible Sword.”

“A new archive?”

“Yes, since the organization has gone through a major change, it’s a new era.”

“I like that.”

She put her hand to the wall as if to keep from falling over. “Whoa. Next time warn me before you agree with me.”

He flashed her a smile, and damn, the frustrating man was handsome. “Don’t get used to it.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Jayden huffed in amusement. “Are you going to gather everyone or do it individually?”

“I think everyone should be together. But I’m still working out the details. For now, I’m going to concentrate on testing everyone.”

Over the rest of the sun jump, Shyla examined the remaining members. Or she tried. A few kept dodging her, and she assumed they didn’t wish for her to test them but were too polite or too scared of her to say no. At least she found one more person with potential. Lamar, a quiet young man, told her the trauma of the priestess’s ambush and seeing his friends in the Invisible Sword killed by the deacons must have caused him to crack.

“Up until then, I was lucky and didn’t think anything would harm us.” He hunched his thin shoulders.

“You were lucky to escape,” she said.

“I guess.”

One thing she’d learned was that magic came with a cost. She wondered why the other survivors of the massacre hadn’t also tapped into their power. They had to have been traumatized as well. Did that mean they didn’t have the potential? Or were they stronger and hadn’t needed to tap into their inner reserves? She wished there was a way she could connect to that closed lantern that was supposed to be inside those people born with magical potential, but, so far, only the ones that had been cracked open were visible. At least Jayden had been right about Aphra, though. She didn’t pass, and she wasn’t happy about it either.

Overall, Shyla was pleased with finding three more. Including Mojag, that would bring the total number of wielders to nine if the new ones could access their full power. Perhaps a few lessons would do the trick. Or would she need to fully engage their magic? Once Mojag and Gurice returned, she’d talk to all four and discuss options.