Page 98 of Magic Claimed

“She fell asleep,” Shane said in a low, gruff tone. “And I didn’t want to wake her.”

I nodded but made no reply. Waiting to see what he would do. Wondering whether he would be brave enough to admit how he truly felt.

“You’re not going to tell me to stay away from her?”

“Why do you think I would do that?”

“You don’t trust me.”

I let out a long breath and allowed my head to fall back against the couch. Tried to let some of the tension bleed from my muscles as I thought about how to answer.

“It isn’t that I don’t trust you,” I countered. “You’ve proven yourself many times over, and I owe you a lot. We all do. And I believe you care about Kes and want her to be safe. But I’m also afraid…” I wasn’t quite sure how to put it into words.

“Just tell me what you need from me,” Shane said simply. “Whatever it is, I’ll do it. Ask your questions. Judge my past. But don’t… Don’t ask me to leave her.”

Under the circumstances, I decided blunt honesty was the best option. “Whether you stay or go is up to her. And I’m not interested in judging your past. My greatest fear about you?” I looked him dead in the eye. “I don’t know for sure that you would always act in Kes’s best interests, should they come into conflict with your desire for revenge.”

He was silent as he absorbed that blow.

“But in the end, it isn’t my fears you should be worried about, because it isn’t my trust that matters—it’s hers.”

Kes’s head lifted suddenly. She looked around, saw Shane, and sat up abruptly, flushing pink and tucking her hair behind her ears.

“Sorry,” she murmured. “I… fell asleep.”

I decided to cut her a break for now.

“How did it go at The Portal today?”

Her entire mood brightened. “You should have seen Ethan. Once he realized what he could do, he didn’t want to stop. Almost burned himself out trying to fix things until Faris got grumpy and made him sit down.”

It seemed like the first real piece of hope we’d had in days. “And his magic? Did you need to drain him again?”

She shook her head. “I tried, but he had nothing left. Fell asleep right after dinner.”

“Did he talk about it at all?”

“No, but he did ask Faris to let him heal his other hand. He kept saying, ‘I can see how to do it. I can see how it all works.’”

“And?”

Kes’s eyes shone as she leaned towards me with excitement. “It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. Something none of us ever would have imagined was possible. All this time… he thought he could only break things and make them worse. But when he sees how all the elements fit together, he heals instead of destroys.”

If this was true, and he could do it again? It meant that as long as everyone around him was willing to keep his secret, Ethan could experience something like a normal life. He could have freedom. Independence. Everything I’d hoped for. It was the tiniest glimmer of light in the midst of the day’s darkness, and for some reason it brought sudden tears to my eyes.

“I’m so glad,” I said earnestly, wishing we were in a place where we could simply celebrate this victory. Find joy in the knowledge that Elayara had ultimately failed to break us. She’d tried, but the broken pieces had realigned to produce something beautiful in spite of her efforts.

“Unfortunately, before we can sleep, there are things I need to tell you both,” I said, wishing I didn’t have to turn the conversation to darker matters. “About what Blake has been up to. We think we know what he wants, and how he intends to get it.”

Kes went still, and I saw Shane’s focus instantly realign, as if he could somehow place himself between her and her fears.

“It’s me, isn’t it?” Kes’s calm tone was belied by the tension in her shoulders and the clenching of her fingers around the blanket that lay across her legs.

“I only wish I could say no,” I told her regretfully.

She didn’t want to cry. Didn’t want to show me her fear, buther eyes shut and a tear slipped down her cheek in defiance of her control.

And Shane… He let out a quiet curse and shifted closer to her on the couch. Reached out tentatively and gripped one of her trembling hands in his, as gently as if it were a baby bird. “Kes. Listen to me. He can’t have you. That will never happen, not while I’m alive.”