Page 6

Say what you wanted about a man’s house, but no one knew how to take baths like women.

I sank into the large tub. The scented oils Rebecca had in the bathroom filled the air with a subtle flowery scent. The hot water soothed my aching muscles.

Magic might not take a lot of lifting, but it still took a toll on my body. Spiriting away from one place to the other felt like I had been throwing barrels of wine all day. A thousand years ago, the toll might not have been as high.

Rubbing a hand over my face, I leaned my elbow against the side of the tub, my face pressed into it. I had to get a hold of my magic. I wasn’t any use to anyone if I didn’t.

The queen had been quiet, too quiet, since my exchange with Adam. For some reason, the queen did not like him. She didn’t have such a visceral reaction to the others. Why him?

The queen hated the mages, of that I was certain. However, she hadn’t made a move the entire time I was with Zane. It was only when Adam was coming toward me, asking me if I wanted to hurt them, that she had deemed to rear her rage.

Was it because he was threatening her? Or something else?

I was still mad at Adam for his engagement to Rebecca even if I knew the logic behind it. He wanted to be Arch Mage, to stop Master Tuck from getting it, and that required certain sacrifices. Even if I didn’t like it or agree with it, I understood.

Still, something in my heart ached.

The mages who rescued me were not bound to me. I did not own them. Yet, there was a part of me that saw them as mine. My heart claimed them and, while I had not asked them, I felt as if they might say the same.

I sank beneath the surface of the water, letting the liquid surround me until I could only hear the pounding of my heart in my ears. It did not quiet my thoughts but, for a moment, it gave me peace.

Deep beneath the surface, I laid there, the bubbles slipping to the surface as I stared up through the watery hazy to the ceiling. There I called to the woman inside.

What do you want? How can we make peace so we can save those we care for?

I’d asked these questions before. Every time, I only received silence in return. I suspected this time would be no different.

It felt like hours as I waited for a response, and none came. Only when my lungs burned did I finally give up and lifted to rise above the surface.

My eyes widened. I couldn’t move. I pushed and fought against the pressure keeping me down, my lungs screaming at me for air. It was only when my sight started to darken that I heard a voice.

Kill the mages.

No. I won’t. I struggled against the hold on me, knowing it was the queen inside pushing us down.

Kill the mages or die.

My jaw tightened and my eyes narrowed, glaring at the voice inside of me. Then I will die.

The laughter inside of me had a haughty quality to it that rankled my whole body. I didn’t know why it made me angry. That the queen would laugh at my desire to save them.

She did what she did to avenge her mother, but her mother was dead. Everyone who had hurt her was dead. There was only the here and now.

You would rather die than get justice?

There is no justice in punishing innocent people just because they were born mages. They couldn’t help that they were born into this world.

And yet they do nothing to stop the mistreatment of the humans. A thousand years, and they still treat us like vermin.

There are some who do not agree with the way humans are treated. There are those who fight. Who would fight.

The mage whore?

She lost someone, too. A human. The same people you want to protect she wants that too. That’s why she saved us, why she and Adam—

Arch Mage. Her voice was like a hiss in my ear.

Yes, he’s the Arch Mage now, but he wants to help the humans too. He wants—

Us.

I paused. He’s my friend. He’s our friend. He saved us from that tower. That prison. We can trust him, he’ll help us.

I paused again waiting for her snarky response. When none came, I implored her. We can’t do anything if I can’t use our powers.

And you would die for them? For him?

I didn’t even have to think about it. I knew the answer. I knew it in my heart.

Yes.

Very well.

I jerked up out of the tub, water dripping down my face as I gasped for breath. The water sloshed over the sides of the tub, spilling onto the bathroom floor where I scrambled out of it. I collapsed on the floor, not bothering to grab a towel or cover up.

The queen and I had come to an agreement, but I didn’t know exactly how that would go. Did that mean she would stop fighting me? Was I going to have to learn everything again from scratch?

I didn’t know the answers to those questions. Nor did the queen provide them. I could only sit on the bathroom floor, gasping for air and hoping that my time of fighting with myself was done.

When it finally felt like my lungs weren’t being ripped out of my chest, I pushed myself off the floor and grabbed a towel. I quickly rubbed myself down and wrapped myself in the robe Rebecca had provided. It was long and thick, the color of violets just coming into bloom.

In a different place and time, I would have gushed about it for at least ten minutes. Except now the only thing I cared about was if I could use my magic.

I knelt before the bath and reached my hand over the surface. I reached into the well of magic inside of me, commanding it to turn the water to ice.

Once it felt like dipping my hand into a hot fire, trying to grasp at the power there. Now, the fire still raged, but it didn’t burn me. It wrapped around me like an old friend, crooning and cooing at my touch.

Magic filled me, sliding down my arm and into my fingertips. The water rippled and then froze. Slowly at first, inching out from my fingertips and then spreading faster and faster until all the water had become hard as iron.

A crack sounded, and I jumped back. The tub exploded, unable to hold the ice inside of it any longer.

My eyes widened in awe at the large block of ice before me unbroken, even with the fragments of the tub around it. I blinked rapidly and stared down at my hands.

I knew the queen was powerful, but this was so much more. It was powerful, deadly, and exhilarating. This feeling that pounded inside of me was dangerous.

Was this the way the queen felt? This massive amount of power poured into her with what seemed like an unlimited supply. I didn’t even feel the backlash of using it, like I had when I teleported to see Zane earlier.

In fact, I felt better, stronger. Like I could spend all day using my magic and never feel the strain of it.

I felt as if I knew the queen a bit better now. How the use of her powers made her feel invincible. Unstoppable. It was a dangerous and tempting slope, for sure. One I wasn’t sure I had the strength to resist.

A knock at the door jerked my attention away from the mess I made. “Come in.”

Rebecca stepped into the bathroom, her eyes widening, taking in the scene before her. “Well, it seems like you finally found your powers, my queen.”

“Yes,” I glanced from her back to the ice, “it seems that I have. Unfortunately, that doesn’t do me or anyone else any good if I don’t know how to control them.”

Rebecca hummed in agreement.

I turned to her. “Will you help me?”

Her lips lifted into a proud smile. “It would be my pleasure, my queen.”

“Good.” I swept out of the bathroom. “Then let’s get started.”