Page 32
Story: 40 Ways to Alibi
“I didn’t say he was a non-magickal. I said he neglected his craft. That’s a different matter. Yer girl, though, she’s got an angel riding her arse. He’s on a mission to train her in powers she doesn’t respect but she won't be rid of him until it's done. If the angel fails, he becomes completely mortal and therefore powerless. Angels would never risk losing their powers so failure is not an option. They’re as full of themselves as any other immortal.”
I shook my head. “Why did no one teach me these things before you?”
“Ya aligned yerself with males who decided what to tell ya based on what they considered being in yer best interests. They believe in theignorance is blissapproach to handling women.”
I grunted. That definitely was the case with my parents and Jack.
“Or ya could have aligned yerself with a non-magickal and yer magickal keepers decided it was best to keep ya in the dark so ya’d keep yer non-magickal in the dark.”
My parents had done exactly that. They’d hidden the truth of my heritage from me for years.
“Damn you, Jack,” I said, rubbing my face. “The latter was my issue. Everything in my life always comes back to the selfish, power-hungry bastard I married. He’s not a complete non-magickal, but he’s close to one. He possesses a wicked nature. Ya can’t know how much I hate him.”
Zenos chuckled. “None of his light energy lingers on ya, Aran. Hating him gives him yer energy. It also elevates him to something he’s not. Ya need to lower yer feelings until yer ex-husband is no more important than someone ya might hire to help ya with vile household tasks ya don’t want to do, like cleaning yer gutters or scrubbing yer toilets.”
I laughed at his description. “Oh, if only it were that easy to stop hating my ex.”
Zenos glared at her. “Well, work on it. Dealing with that annoying male energy is holding ya back. Do ya want to hear the rest of what I want to share? Or have ya decided to be stubborn about it?”
I blew out a breath. The dragon mage read me like a book. “Sorry. I want to hear everything. Can we go back to the fire pit? I don’t want anyone to worry about where I went.”
Chuckling, Zenos shrugged. “Ya mean ya don’t want the guardian worrying.”
I shrugged as my face turned pink with guilt. “We’ve found a new peace between us. I’d hate to disrupt it right away.”
Seconds later, I was back in my wrought-iron chair, and Zenos was back in his. I put a hand over my chest and felt the stone vibrate against my fingers.
Had the stone brought me back? Or had Zenos?
The dragon mage leaned forward and clasped his hands as he stared into my fire. “I have an intriguing history lesson to share with you. During what yer four Celtic tribes called the Great War, demons weren’t the only ones who fought and lost. An assortment of earth-born magickals were involved in the battles. When those magickals got defeated, they begged the ancestor God ya love so much to take their lives in a manner that preserved their magick. This is how most powerful artifacts came to be. The souls of those magickals who were conquered now power them to this day. Yer far darrig’s stone works like that.”
My hand went to my chest. Goddess, I’d voluntarily put the artifact The Dagda created inside me. How many dead magickal souls powered it?
Three, came the answer.Always three.
Hearing them speaking to me in my head, I blinked at Zenos in shock. “I put the souls of three dead magickals inside me. Why did The Dagda never explain that to me?”
“Because for him, the artifact was an experiment that luckily worked out well. He designed it so his magickal son could call on the conquered magickal souls for extra help when life became dire. Cermait made his father’s stone a part of him so no one could use the power against him. Yer demon said most of yer predecessors never used the stone at all. They thought of it as a magick bauble. What were yer reasons for merging with it like ya did?”
I laughed dryly and rubbed my face. “I put the stone inside me to keep my ex-husband from stealing it again. Jack’sgirlfriend had it in her possession the whole time I was in prison.”
“Why didn’t ya kill that betraying bastard and be done with him?” Zenos asked.
“Our daughter’s a crier,” I said bitterly. “If Fiona ever found out I took her father’s life, I’d have heard about it for the rest of mine. Ending his life occurred to me countless times, and if I had a nickel for each instance I’d dreamed of it, I could have easily paid for this property in cash.”
The dragon mage’s laughter rang out through my sacred grove.
I sighed and smiled. “Thanks for telling me the truth, Zenos. It helps me see things as they are. But ya still haven’t told me how to keep people out of my head.”
“Achieving that goal requires a complete commitment, with no room for compromise. If ya shut everyone out, ya’ll not hear yer artifact, either.”
“Oh,” I said, crestfallen that I would have to make such a choice. “That’s unfortunate.”
“Aye,” he said. “But maybe I could make ya a charm that would prevent some from hearing ya. It wouldn’t be a hundred percent.”
I considered that for a moment. “What’s the catch?”
His chuckle was soft. “There are severalcatchesas you call them. I would be one of those who would always hear ya.”
Table of Contents
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- Page 32 (Reading here)
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