Page 188 of The Queen’s Shadow

With my mind’s eye, I watched Dossidian gently expand his fiery red aura, washing it over the four of us carefully. The spores sparked and sizzled as his magick lapped over them in soothing waves. I mimicked him with my own power. Though my aura was composed of galaxies and stars instead of fire, I was able to pull what I needed from the depths of my magick without a problem. For what were stars but suns? And what were suns but fire?

Together, we cleaned out the invading particles and I cast a translucent shield of shadows around the camp we had built, tightening it to the point that I was sure neither sand nor spores could penetrate it.

When we finished, I collapsed back down into the sand and cradled my head in my hands with a groan.

“That… could have been very bad.” Dossidan said darkly. I glanced up at him, nodding.

“Uh, you think? I don’t want to ever imagine a scenario where you and I would need to come up against one another.” I remembered the feeling of our combined energies and shuddered. He was nearly as powerful as Amon. It would have been an absolute disaster if we had come to blows. Dossidian pursed his lips, and dropped to his knee, bowing his head before me.

“I am sorry, my Queen. Know that I would never willingly challenge you. I acknowledge and bow to your claim to the throne.”

“Dossidian, stop it. I know. That wasn’t you, that was the desert. We were all affected… well except for Jeremy.” I said thoughtfully, and Dossidian straightened.

“Yeah.” Conrad agreed. “Cho, if that is how you and Rycon feel all di time, me impressed di two of unnuh haven’t burned down di planet by now.” He said, a lopsided grin cocking on the side of his face. “Mi waan tear yuh dyam head off, Dossidian.” He said, flopping back down into the sand as if what had just happened was just a hiccough and we hadn’t all just nearly murdered each other. “Funny though, dat it nuh affect Jeremy. A wonder why?” He scratched his chin, eyeing my father curiously.

“The Flute didn’t affect him either.” I observed.

“Hmm. It seem dat these two things have something in common. Jeremy is human. Di Flute and di spores seem to affect our magicks. Di Flute shuts our magicks down, and di spores seem to agitate us, and rile our magicks up. Maybe, because Jeremy has no magick, he is immune.”

“Rycon doesn’t have any magick, and The Flute affected him.” I pointed out, and Jeremy huffed a laugh.

“I think you’ve been away from the mortal realm for too long, Kiddo, if you think a guy who can heal a bullet wound in seconds and can shift into a giant panther has no magick.”

Conrad barked out a laugh and smirked.

“He nuh wrong.” He said, shrugging at me good-naturedly.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I agreed.

Dossidian was staring at Meredith’s shelter, looking tense. “I need to go make sure Mer is clear of the spores,” he said, turning to me. “We will need to start night shifts. We’re officially deep enough in the desert that we’re at risk of people wandering off in their sleep. Someone will need to maintain the shield at all times.”

“Okay.” I said. “I can take first watch.”

“No, mi think mi should take it. Mi actually think yuh shouldn’t take any shifts, Rayven. If yuh flying us all day yuh need tuh be rested up, otherwise yuh might lose control of your powers and go all scary black-eyed-gyal on us.” Conrad winked at me.

Was that what we were calling it now? My lip twitched and he grinned at me, his eyes shining with good humor. As much as I wanted to argue with him, it was hard to disagree. I was already feeling worn down as it was, and he was also just an easy person to agree with.

“Alright. You can handle the shield then?” I asked and he nodded, strolling over to the edge of the dark dome that I had cast. He laid his palm against it and I shivered as I felt his cool magick slide across my shadows, gently taking over. Soon my transparent shadow shield melted away in place of a thin, watery dome. I watched in awe as the tiny magick spores got caught in the water and filtered down to where his shield met the sand.

“No problem.” He grinned at me, and I gave him a tired smile back.

“Thanks Conrad.” I stood up, glancing down at Jeremy, who was digging through Dossidian’s rucksack for some jerky. “I’m going to go to bed then. I’ll see you guys in the morning. Night, Dad.”

Jeremy pressed some jerky in my hand and gave me a rough hug and a kiss on the head. “Night Kiddo.” He said. “See you in the morning.”

I left the three of them to figure out the rest of the night’s shifts as I ducked into the black domed shelter that I had claimed at the beginning of the trip.

There was a small, thin mattress on the ground with a warm blanket and a tiny pillow. How all of this folded up into a tiny disk was beyond me. I felt like I would never truly get used to magick. I slipped out of my armor and into one of Amon’s deep green collared shirts that I had secretly packed for the trip.

His scent had faded from sleeping in it every night, but if I pressed my nose close to it, and clutched my mating stone, I could bask in the warm smell of cinnamon, and pretend that it was him wrapped around me, instead of just his shirt.

Like every night, before I went to sleep, I closed my eyes and traveled down the path of the trace that connected us and looked up at the impenetrable metaphysical shields he had installed to keep me out. With a sad sigh, I diligently began my nightly ritual of doing everything in my power, to tear the walls down between us.

As I threw myself against his shields, I felt him tighten them, and I knew he would never allow them to fall, no matter how desperately I tried to reach him.

But Origin help me if I was going to stop trying.

Meredith