Page 19

“She’s right,” Lucian said loudly while Rayven Niltsiar clapped and smirked.

The head of the Conclave coughed and sputtered a little before capitulating and turning back to Zareth. “Highness, can you provide us more information about this return of magic to Earth?”

My son-in-law reiterated the tale of the witch coven who’d confronted Xochitl’s band about their music somehow making their spells work and how they’d then kept tabs on internet forums where covens communicated with each other across Earth.

I could tell that most of the Conclave didn’t quite have a grasp of what the internet was, but all were too afraid to ask.

Then Zareth spoke of things I hadn’t yet heard, snapping my attention back to him.

“There are both private and government organizations catching on to this return of magic. My queen and her companions are making sure every magic-user is being discreet to avoid bringing the attentions of those groups upon them, though there may be one or two that could be potential allies in the future.”

Delgarias nodded and stood. “There is also Mephistopheles to worry about. His recruiting on Earth has ramped up. And the cultist vampires like the ones we fought in Kinsen two months ago are beginning to use brainwashed human servants. Now with magic users on Earth growing in number, I fear that the Evil One will try to recruit—or abduct some of them, as he did in the raid on the mage school of Shalafi.”

“But maybe that could be for the best,” Shin Zen Li said in an unbearable smarmy tone. “The Earth mages are new and can’t possibly be as powerful as ours. If he takes from that pool, then our people will be safer.”

Rage boiled over within me and I slammed my fist on the table.

“How dare you! No innocent deserves to be taken by that—that monster. Your casual dismissal disrespects all the hard work I and many others did to rescue mages from the Evil One’s first attacks on Earth.

If not for our efforts, Aisthanesthai would not be the world it is today.

The Shyr region wouldn’t even exist, and therefore you would not. ”

Lucian stood beside me. “The Queen of Medicia speaks truly. I helped her personally in many of those missions centuries before you were even born. Earth is part of our universe’s wellbeing and we cannot give Mephistopheles another chance to ravage it.

His ignoring and looking down on Earth to the point where he banished his own creations there when they failed to please him will work in our favor.

Aisthanesthai’s scorn will only work against our cause. ”

“And what of Luminista?” Another Conclave member inquired sharply. “Your realm has ignored and looked down on Aisthanesthai for much longer than we’ve done with Earth.”

Lucian’s cheeks reddened, but he dipped his head respectfully.

“That is true. And according to the Keeper of the Prophecy, the war cannot be won without help from the luminites. So far, we have Kerainne, myself, and Gabriel Leonine. Furthermore, both Gabriel and I have vowed to do everything we can to bring more of our kind to the cause.”

The rest of the meeting went far more civilly and practically than it had started, with a few high sorcerers pledging to shelter new Earth mages if the need arose. Still, by the time we left the Conclave headquarters, all I wanted to do was curl up in bed with a cat and a glass of wine.

Unfortunately, Delgarias had other ideas. “The barrier above Medicia needs to be reinforced again.”

A cold needle pierced my heart at the thought of going back to the chasm where my homeland once stood. I’d helped repair the shield over it twice now, but it never got any easier.

We had to meet Gabriel at Zareth’s tower, which gave me time to change. Lucian took off his armor and packed it away in his bottomless pouch. The dark blue tunic he wore brought out his eyes in a way that used to make me sigh. …Still did.

As we headed back out to the gate stone to wait for Gabriel, Lucian stopped me with a hand on his shoulder. “I haven’t been to Med—to the site since right after… it happened.”

“You don’t have to come,” I found myself saying. The pain in his voice widened the needle in my heart to a blade. “We’ve taken care of it before you came here and others took care of it before I returned.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. I’ll be there.” Lucian’s hand remained on my shoulder, now lightly squeezing like back when we’d give each other massages. Those damned eyes of his threatened to drown me. “How many times have you been back there? And how do you stand it?”

“Only three times so far,” I whispered. “Delgarias was using healer mages before I escaped Luminista, but we’ve found that luminite magic has been keeping the barrier intact for much longer.

And I stand it because I must. No other part of this world has a rift as large and deep as this one.

We don’t know what could come out of it. ”

Nikkita came down the stairs, and I withdrew from Lucian before she could see. “Del says you and I can head straight there. He wants Lucian to come with him to meet up with Gabriel since they’re apparently going to become housemates.”

Gratitude filled my being. Although I wasn’t eager to go to Medicia any sooner than I had to, time alone with my sister, the only one who really knew what it was like to see a bottomless crater in the place of one’s home.

She took my hand and led me out to the courtyard and made a portal. When we stepped through, I closed my eyes and kept them shut, shivering as the cold blew over me. It was always colder here now.

Nik put her arm around me and I could feel fine trembles wracking her body. “You know how Xochitl and her band are bringing magic back to Earth?”

“Yeah?” I leaned against her, seeking her warmth.

“Is there a way they or we could do something about this?” She gestured to the desiccated and bleeding trees surrounding the black chasm that even the light of both moons could not penetrate.

“I’ve tried once,” I slowly approached the edge of the abyss, my shoulders slumped with invisible weight of grief and sorrow. “The death-magic is too strong to overcome and only brings pain when I try to invoke life.”

Nik’s fingers slipped through mine as she squeezed my hand. “Some magic will work. And maybe after we defeat the Evil One once and for all, Medicia could be restored.”

I blinked back tears, appreciating my sister’s hope even when I couldn’t get myself to believe it.

I felt Lucian’s presence behind me before Del made a sound to let us know they’d arrived.

Nik sought the comfort she’d given me in her mate’s eyes, and, unable to help myself, my gaze met Lucian’s briefly.

For a split second, the decades melted away, and it was as if he was mine again and I could find solace with him.

I forced my gaze to Gabriel and forced an encouraging smile.

This would be his first time assisting with this loathsome job and I didn’t even know if he’d seen the ruins of Medicia before now.

He took my hand and whispered low, “I am so sorry for what happened to you and your family and people.”

“Thank you.” I squeezed his hand. “It still hurts. Every day I wonder where my parents and our people are and if they are alive.”

Nik lifted her head from Del’s chest and nodded at me. “We’re not supposed to be able to die, but if anyone could figure out how to circumvent that, it would be Mephistopheles.”

Delgarias shook his head. “He is not a god, no matter how much he aspires to be. He is not infallible and has made mistakes that will ensure his defeat. That said, my fears for the luminites of Medicia aren’t about them dying.

I fear that whatever he’s been doing to them for the past quarter-century are horrifying enough to make them wish for death. ”

I pulled my robes tighter in futile effort to warm the chill in my bones. “You don’t have to say what we’re really thinking out loud, Del.”

Del sighed and moved on to giving instructions on our mission for the night. “I need you four to fly over the surface and reach out and repair the weak points while I walk the perimeter. And if you can discern why the degradation of the barrier is accelerating, you will be a hero to this world.”

We released our wings and flew over the miles-wide chasm.

I flew in the direction of the palace that had long been my home.

Even though all below me was infinite blackness interminable from anything, my centuries of living here gave me perfect sense of direction.

I don’t know why I kept torturing myself by working there, but yet again, here I was.

And yet again, the repairs I’d made before were undone.

Whatever kept causing the barrier to weaken felt like hate incarnate.

I used levitation magic to hover over a particularly malignant area, right above where the library would have been, and summoned a blue stream of healing magic I’d learned from the mages of Wurrakia.

I called up every vestige of love I could manage and strengthened the spell.

Nikkita was over by the cave where first she and Del used to have their secret trysts, and then she and I used to hide from everyone in the final months of her pregnancy with Tiana.

As always, memories of helping my sister deliver the baby that I had such brief time with gave me another stab of pain. This wouldn’t do for these healing spells. I turned my mind to the joy I felt when my long-lost niece was discovered and moved on.

Gabriel was over by the forested mountains where Nik and I had foraged for berries and mushrooms. Lucian was near the lakeside cliff where he and I had our first kisses, and later, formed a cave for our own secret trysts.

Memories of our lovemaking washed over me, and instead of letting them hurt, I forced myself to revel in them, needing any happy thought I could grasp to banish the hate and heal the barrier.

When we finally finished our task and met Delgarias at the perimeter, every muscle in my body ached and my wings burned in agony. From how far the silver and gold moons had traveled in the sky, I could tell this job had taken several hours. But last time had taken until nearly sunrise.

Delgarias was even paler than usual and his features were taut. His eyes glowed with vampiric hunger. “I hate to ask, but if I am to have the power to rend us a portal, I need to feed.”

Nikkita immediately embraced him, and he bent and sank his fangs into her neck. The low moans from both made Gabriel, Lucian, and I turn away as if we were intruding on something erotic.

And yet I couldn’t help turning back as waves of longing washed over me for what I used to have. Just then, Lucian stepped behind me and I felt his warm breath caress my ear as he whispered. “Just for a moment, let’s pretend you don’t hate me and let me hold you.”

The lump in my throat prevented me from trying to argue. Instead, I selfishly took the comfort he offered, though as covertly as possible.

I leaned back against him, biting back a sigh of pleasure at the feel of his warm body against my back. His arms swept around me, making me feel secure in a way I couldn’t without him.

Again, he whispered in my ear, this time with his lips lightly caressing my sensitive skin.

“Medicia will be avenged. I will do everything in my power to see it so.”

Sadly, the moment ended before I could begin to savor it. Delgarias withdrew his fangs from Nikkita’s neck and Lucian quickly released me and took a step back before anyone noticed.

Del opened a portal, and we stepped through it into the village courtyard. “Shall we all pay Zareth a visit and tell him how this night’s efforts went?”

“You three can take care of that.” Lucian avoided looking at me as he gave everyone else a placid smile. “I want to talk to Gabriel about our living arrangements and other matters.”

As he and my cousin departed for the guesthouse, my traitorous mind relived those brief seconds of being in his arms. How I’d missed him holding me like that! Part of me was tempted to pretend that all the ugliness between us had never happened. Part of me needed to pretend.

But that was a dangerous game and I knew it.