Chapter 16
Daisy
“Ah! Here we go.” He pulled a rolled scroll from deep in the back of the bookcase before stepping back.
Despite the mess around his feet, he could still keep from stepping on anything.
He glanced at her as he made his way back.
“Uhm…” He pushed his glasses up before pulling his chair closer to the desk.
“Oh, well, it goes back into the fabric of Faerie, obviously. Now…”
He started to unwrap the scroll.
“Wait…” She pulled her chair closer and grimaced when a scroll tore under one of the wooden legs. Pale eyes drifted upward to look at her over the spectacles. “Sorry,” she said. The eyes moved back down. “So I steal the magic, try not to die if they find out, and after some amount of time—”
“Five turns.”
“Fine. After five turns”—she’d ask about it later—“it just…goes away? From me, I mean. I don’t explode or deflate or lose a limb or some other horrible thing if I don’t use it?”
His gray brows pinched together and his eyes drifted back up. “Humans have a very warped and twisted way of viewing magic. It is not out to get you, my dear.”
Speaking of deflating, her released breath sounded like a balloon losing all its air. “O-kay. So…what do I do with the stored magic?”
“Save it for someone to use. I swear, it is like talking to a rock. You are a vessel. That is the nature of a vessel. You store things until they are needed, and then you release them.” His expression was one of exasperation. “Humans find the simplest things so very complicated.”
She ignored that last comment. “I’m essentially an item for someone to use.”
“Well…” He leaned on his elbow, peeling off his spectacles as he looked at her. “That is not a nice way of looking at it.” He put his glasses back on. “But yes, essentially. You are the chalice.”
She leaned back. “And to boost magic, I am not stealing magic. I am…”
“You are a conduit. It is really such an interesting magic, isn’t it? A vessel, a conduit, and a stagnant.”
“A stagnant?”
“The nulling part.”
“Right. For the vessel and the st-stagnant, I actively have a role. I choose when and how much to steal, or I can nullify them if I want to.”
“Yes.”
“And you’ll teach me how to do that?”
“No.”
“Great. Excellent. This trip has been worth my time. And the conduit, that is something Tarian initiates?”
“You have to allow him. No one can use you without your permission.” He held the scroll open on the desk, looking up with a rare smile. “Isn’t that the greatest caveat to this unlimited, godlike power? The vessel must agree with its use. It is why the crystal chalice was always meant to be—”
“A thinking, logical being. I got that. If I allow him, can I stop him before it means my death?”
Eldric’s smile didn’t wither because of bad news, but because he was thinking.
“Yes, you certainly could. But if you do, he won’t be able to achieve godly power, and his plans won’t work.
Faerie won’t see its balance, the fringe won’t be granted its protection, and fae will still trickle into the human realm until someone stops them, which is unlikely in the current state of turmoil.
The human world would be destroyed and your family with it. ”
“Fuck, man. Don’t break it to me gently or anything.”
He looked at her. “Yes, this must be complicated for a human. I am not a man. Man implies your type of being—”
She ignored him and looked at the ceiling.
Well, at least she’d get that nulling magic.
That was huge, assuming she could figure it out in time for those court games.
And she could siphon magic to store for Tarian in case the princess came for him.
Again, assuming she could figure it out in time.
It was something. Hell, it was more than she had dreamt of.
Her fate was still sealed, but she had a few more tools to help her reach the finish line.
“Okay, then—”
She jumped with the thunk on the desk.
Eldric rested his hand on a triangular device with gold and silver running around it and pink glowing at the top. “This will help you learn to shield your mind. It’s the fastest way to achieve results. Tarian said you wouldn’t mind a little pain if it protected your thoughts.”
“Tarian said that, did he?”
“Yes.” He walked away.
She looked at the device, wondering what kind of pain it would entail. In a moment, Eldric was back with a similar device, but this one was a circle with a purple glowing bit at the top and green at the side.
“This is to learn how to wither magic, which is fairly straightforward, I’m given to understand, and how to steal it, which is quite a bit harder.
There is a steep penalty for failing in thievery, but you’ll be well used to it with the shielding training, so you should be fine.
” He held out a finger. “Some advice—go ahead and scream. Sometimes, it helps.”
She closed the door behind her, and Lennox and Niall straightened up from their crouches. Her head hurt, her chest hurt, and her mood was very sour.
How’d it go? Lennox asked as she walked toward Tarian’s chambers. She wanted to see if she remembered the way.
In addition to being a magical vessel, I am also a vessel for information.
I store it easily and my recall is excellent.
Eldric decided that as he was teaching me to use the very horrible and painful contraptions.
He expressed too much surprise that I’d make a prime candidate for a life of information, contemplation, and godly worship.
Have no fear, though. I can’t become a scribe.
Females are fine—he didn’t get my joke—but humans really are the worst. They are so often dumb as rocks that if the order lets one in, they might have to let in more, and then the gates will be overrun.
She turned to give them a glower. I shit you fucking not.
She turned back around. I also do not appreciate your smirks.
Sorry, Niall said. Tarian always leaves in a similar mood. What’d he say about the other forms of magic?
She rubbed at her chest and made sure to keep her head down as she gave them a summary of what Eldric had said.
I tried out the apparatuses he gave me. The mind-shield trainer feels like a punch in the head when I don’t get it right, and the other feels like shock treatment to the chest. They are not pleasant, but they should work if I prove less idiotic than the average human.
She shook her head. He’s never even met a human besides me, but boy does he have thoughts about them.
He wasn’t even trying to be mean about it.
He was mostly cordial and conversational about the shortcomings of my kind.
Yeah, you got lucky with Tarian, Lennox said. He likes the human world. He’s a lot more open-minded about them.
Well. Daisy sent back another glower. Not all that lucky, right? He found me, manipulated the situation, and brought me here to my death.
Lennox grimaced. Fair.
When they got closer to Tarian’s chambers, more fancy people filled the corridors.
Females and males wearing swishing dresses or gold-laden jackets sauntered down the middle of the space as though they were the most important creatures in all the world.
Some had mostly clear faces with soft skin, but others had that strange sallow appearance, grayish, with the black lines and circles under their eyes.
She meant to ask about it, but before she could, one of the males caught sight of her. His eyes flared with interest, and he veered, putting himself in Daisy’s path.
Try to go around, Niall said with a hint of caution.
Obviously she was going to try to go around, but she didn’t have high hopes.
Sure enough, the male stopped in front of her and put out his hands to detain her.
Gold chains dripped down his design-laden jacket, and everything about his posture and poise suggested he was likely gentry or close.
He had power. His rich brown skin was devoid of black lines or that gray hue.
He didn’t seem affected by the twisted magic, assuming that was what caused the effect.
His belly protruded—he was a little portly—and he was taller than Daisy, though not as tall as Lennox or Niall.
“I haven’t seen you before,” he purred. “Such a beautiful little thing. Whom do you belong to?”
Pressure ripped through her head as though someone were using their nails to pry it open and look inside. She winced, and the back of her neck heated from the pressure.
“She belongs to—”
“I didn’t ask you,” the male cut off Niall, not sparing him a glance. His eyes gleamed as he looked Daisy over. “I’m asking this clever little tricklet. Someone has taken great pains to hide their secrets. Would that someone be Tarian?”
The pressure in Daisy’s head increased until she struggled to keep her knees from buckling.
She reached to get her knife, hidden between her breasts, but her arms wouldn’t move.
Magic twisted through her body, riddling her with pain to make her compliant.
Behind her, Niall and Lennox staggered, Lennox reaching for the wall to stay upright. They were getting the same treatment.
“My goodness,” the male murmured, stepping closer to Daisy.
“Your mind is strong for someone who looks so weak. Not strong enough, I think. What is he doing for the royalty whom he hates? They have plans they are not sharing with the court, but they are, for some reason, putting their faith in him. What are they?”
Black spots pulsed behind her eyes. Her vision grew hazy.
Still the pressure pounded, an agonizing throb.
A sharp stab of pain speared her temples.
She clamped down, having only gotten a couple lessons with that shield device but trying to practice now.
Trying to stay upright. Trying to save her life by protecting what was in her head.