Page 10 of Xarius (Shunned Mages #1)

Xarius

Maybe I should’ve waited with that part. Niam looked pale, his eyes wide and worried. Then he laughed. “Oh, my God! You almost had me there!” he wheezed, wiping tears away from his eyes. “Ow!” he said, rubbing at his sore head.

“I’m not joking,” I said sternly, taking the locket out and removing it from my neck, placing it over his heart. The light burst out filling the entire van with its glow and then the light seeped into us both, leaving the locket without any light, only a regular locket now .

Niam gaped at me. “How did you do that! You have magic?! How?! ” For someone who seemed over not having magic, he wasn’t dealing well with the thought of me suddenly getting it.

“I told you. The locket would find my soulmatch, and it led me to you.”

He rubbed his temple, likely annoyed he was dealing with this so early in the morning, and with what had to be a massive headache. “And together we would get our magic?” That was as far as I’d gotten with the story before he’d snorted with amusement over my “ fairytale ”.

“Yes, and then we need to help the other shunned mages sent here and then we can fight back,” I explained eagerly.

He sighed. “Look, I’m all for getting my magic, but the whole fighting the council of mages thing, that’s just not me, okay? What I want is just to be accepted as me and live a comfortable life without any drama.”

“So, you’d rather leave the mages that need our help and stay in your van forever while people suffer because you don’t want to deal with uncomfortable stuff?

” I knew I was being rude, but I’d waited five years for him, only to hear him dismiss it completely, choosing his own happiness over others who needed his help.

He shot me an angry look. “Drive me home. Now.”

“It’ll be my pleasure. People need you there to help them pay for their gas, and we can’t leave those poor people without your help.

” I slammed the back door before he could answer me, hoping he would stay back there as I drove us back to his van.

This wasn’t at all how I’d imagined this day would go.

Why did my soulmatch have to be so selfish?

I thought he, like myself, would do anything to help others, but maybe I had been wrong about that.

Maybe soulmatches weren’t compatible all the time, but simply existed to get their magic.

I shook my head, ignoring the heartache I felt over dropping my soulmatch off.

I should probably return to Julie. If Niam didn’t want to help then I was free to do whatever I wanted for the rest of my life.

Without him. Without magic. I would never be able to see my mothers again.

I’d promised them I would do what they asked of me.

I was letting them down. I wiped a tear away from my eye and focused on the road.

When I was parked next to his van, he tore out of it and ran inside the gas station, not even giving me as much as a little wave. I then waited five minutes before leaving the lot. I had to figure out what to do now, and I figured giving him some space would help.

I called Julie as soon as I got into my motel room. I would stay in town for a week, hoping to convince him to help me out, but the next two days I would leave him alone, letting him think I’d left for good, hoping he would be regretting his choice.

“Hi! How’d it go?” She sounded so happy and bright. I needed that. I smiled and sighed as I sucked in her happiness. I didn’t care if that sounded weird, I needed some positivity to fuel my plummeting mood.

“I talked to him,” I said, sighing before adding, “he wasn’t interested in helping me out.”

“With what?” she asked.

“I can’t tell you what exactly, but he’s the only one who can help me, and this thing is like my life mission. If I can’t get him to help me out, I no longer have a purpose and that scares me. And that’s without the people we would be helping out as well. I can’t help them either without him.”

“That was a lot of “I can’ts ”. How about you figure out what you can do instead?” She was always so wise.

“This was why I called you. Thanks, Jules.”

“I’m always ready to help you out, Xar. But maybe give him some space before you try again?”

“I’m already planning on leaving him alone for two days, hoping that will be enough.”

“Hmm, and if it’s still not enough then maybe try to stick around and get to know him better.

Now that you’ve met up maybe friendship will help his decision to help you out.

I have no idea if you need help with something dangerous, but if it’s not, then maybe that’s all you can do and hope for the best.”

“Thank you. That seems like a good way to prove to him it’ll be worth it for him, too.”

“I know that I miss you around here, maybe he’ll decide to help so he won’t have to see you go. ”

I hoped she was right. Ever since the locket hit his chest and its light transferred to us, I’d felt this tug inside of me, begging me to get back to him. If he felt the same, he would be driven mad. I just hoped he wasn’t as stubborn as me.