Chapter 9 Alexander #2
I threw my stiff body off my chair, so I kneeled on the floor in front of her and took one of her hands between mine. “I want to help. Please help me empower you. No one should make you feel like this.”
Quinn shook as the anxiety she’d been holding back for days spiked. She let out a choked sob.
“Let it out,” I whispered. “You don’t always have to be strong.”
She did. Massive tears streamed down her face, and she trembled violently. This woman had been through so much. My family was supposed to help her, not make it worse. The three unwanted tethers in her back burned me as if I’d forced them on her myself.
I stood and held out my arms. She leaned forward and buried her face in my stomach. I put a hand on the back of her head and gently massaged her scalp until the shudders stopped wracking her body. Grief burned off, leaving only fierce resolve.
She pulled away from me and wiped her eyes. “I needed that.”
I pulled my chair closer to hers and returned to my cross-legged position. “We all need that sometimes. I’m lucky I have Ezra.”
Quinn nodded. “You really are. You have to fix it.”
“I do, and I’m working on it, but you are more important right now.” I steepled my fingers again. “What do we do to get your magic working?”
Quinn pursed her lips. “I’m looking for a patch that will make my magic compatible with this time… um. Like a magic wand.” She blushed. “Something that bridges the gap so I can interact with the magic here. I think my problem is my age.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Your early twenties is the problem?”
Quinn snorted. “Almost mid or possibly a lot older or maybe just not made from the same stuff… possibly not even made from anything at all.” She looked right at me, daring me to say anything.
I’d already guessed she’d somehow traveled to us from the past. Her memories, her clothing, and even her mannerisms were relics of a world I’d never seen. The fact she didn’t know how she got here was concerning, but not pressing.
“Your origins won’t change the present, but they are an important connection to getting your magic working.” I carefully did not use the words ‘past’ or ‘time travel’ because she hadn’t, which meant she wasn’t ready to hear them. “Have you talked to anyone about your theories?”
Quinn shook her head. “I like my friends. I like who I am with them, here and now. They know I’m looking for an item, but they don’t know it’s because my magic isn’t from here. Well, Cayden’s smart. He’s probably figured it out.”
I was the first person she told. Given it was because she didn’t include me in the friends-she-liked category and had no idea I was also the Architect. But I would still take it. A thrill chased up my back, and a new wave of determination matched hers. “Let me help you. Direct me.”
“I have a new idea.” Quinn’s eyes crinkled.
“I don’t know why I’m telling you all this, maybe because I just cried in your arms and admitted I’m different…
and you’re still sitting across from me.
” Her bottom lip trembled. “Ezra’s staying so tight-lipped about the Architect, and I’m running out of options. I need control of my future.”
Her words hit hard, ‘control over my future.’ The very thing I’d taken from her.
Guilt twisted through me, sharp and familiar, but I couldn’t let it stop me.
I’d built this family to make things right.
I was determined to give her the safety and control she craved.
What came next rose from both me and the Architect.
“Talk is meaningless. Let me show you. Let me help you. Direct me.”
Quinn met my gaze. “I think this ‘converter’ I’m looking for is in The Old Fortress.
Something drew me to it. Winston said Professor Holiday’s body never adapted to the magic here.
The only reason he is still alive is pure tenacity and manipulation.
” She took a deep breath. “Ezra warned me to stay away from Professor Holiday. Winston told me the Architect’s alliance with him was one of the few mistakes the Architect ever made. ”
I narrowed my eyes. Winston had never said anything to me. In fact, Quinn’s entire opinion of the Architect made me question what else my allies were saying.
“Right?” Quinn said, misinterpreting my facial expression. “Most of the people here worship the ground the Architect walks on. If it’s too good to be true, it’s a scam.”
My eyebrows furrowed as a completely different picture of my allies replaced the first.
“But it hasn’t been good?” I asked dumbly.
Quinn’s entire face scrunched up adorably. “My relationship with reality is really, really complicated. Good has a wide range at the moment.”
I took a deep breath. There was so much to unpack just in that one sentence, much less all the ones that came before it.
“I want to hear more, but right now, I want to focus on you.” I leaned forward and placed a hand on her knee. “You want to go into The Old Fortress to look for something, so let’s go.”
She gave me a skeptical look. “No ‘that’s too dangerous’ or ‘there has to be a better way’ talk?”
I probably should’ve objected, but I’d felt her fail too many times already. She was ready to try something different, and if she felt a pull, I wanted her to follow it.
“I make things happen, Quinn. That’s literally my job. Do you want to go into The Old Fortress or not?”
Quinn’s lower lip shook. “I do.”
I nodded. “We’ll have to break in, and we won’t do it blind.” I hated the next question, but I had to ask it. “Do you want your friends to help you?”
If she said yes, I wouldn’t resist. I would jail Professor Holiday and take half my trainees on a tour of his secrets if it meant helping her.
“Do we need their help?” Quinn asked softly, rubbing her hands together. “It’s not that I don’t want them to help, but just that they’ll ask questions, and Rowan will definitely tell Ezra, who will lock me away rather than let me break the rules.”
I made a mental note to give Rowan a raise. I didn’t like his tether to her, but I couldn’t blame either of them. He’d kept her safe while I slept, and for now, that’s all that mattered.
“We don’t need your friends.” I flattened my lips into a line. “The fewer people, the better, honestly. It can be you and me. If you trust me.”
Quinn rocked back before looking up at me with her big green eyes. “Just you and me.”
My heart thumped in my chest. Trust. Maybe not the faith she had in Ezra, but it was a start. However, I couldn’t miss this opportunity to understand her better, so I opened my mouth. “Not even your roommate?”
Her brow tightened. “Yeah. No. Erick probably has someone wiping his own ass for him. Breaking and entering is far too much work, especially as it doesn’t involve his dick.”
My grin stretched wider, making my cheeks ache. When I first woke up, Ezra made Quinn’s situation sound so bleak. But she clearly hadn’t bonded with my enemy from London in the slightest. Her instincts were good.
“We need to make a plan after I have more information,” I said. “I’ll message you this evening.”
“No!” Quinn put her hand on my knee, just like I had on hers. “The Architect gets every message sent on a TB. He’ll find out. I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
I made a humming noise to cover my humor. “Then meet me at The Rooster tomorrow morning. We’ll need to eat, though, to make it look normal while we plan.”
“I’ll be there. What else do you need me to do?” she asked.
Quinn was so focused that she missed my very obvious breakfast trap.
“Stay away from The Old Fortress so nothing looks suspicious,” I said. My mind raced. She needed a task, or else she’d get antsy and do something both of us regretted. “How many precious stones have you touched?”
Quinn tilted her head to the side. “Cayden had a few emeralds, and I poked a bunch of Everly’s jewelry.”
“Precious stones were in the world long before the tremors,” I explained. “They are like the Alun, timeless, powerful, and with our unique memories literally carved into them. The Architect uses a combination of gems and conductive metals to help amplify his entry tests. You made a dragon, right?”
Quinn scrunched her face up and looked down at the floor.
I put two fingers under her chin, so she’d meet my eyes.
“I did not bring that up to make you feel bad. We’re all on our own journey.
You impressed the Architect enough that he let you in regardless.
He saw potential, and so do I.” I smiled, and her lips twitched up with mine.
“I’ll have Ezra take you to the Architect’s coffers.
He probably keeps his test tools there. Try not to destroy too many; they are priceless. ”
I released her chin, and she nodded.
“Eat; I’ll be right back.” I slipped my shoes back on and found her a book on minerals and alloys.
The pasty was gone by the time I came back. My heart warmed.
“Some reading until Ezra’s free.” I placed the book on her lap.
“Magic’s all about flow and motion. Copper, silver, aluminum, all those metals that used to conduct electricity now manipulate magic, while gems can store it, though that could be its own book.
” I put my hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for trusting me, Quinn. I was trapped once, and I never want anyone to feel that way. We will fix this.”
Quinn put her hand over mine. Dark unease filled our tether that didn’t match her simple thank you.
If I learned nothing else from this conversation, Quinn was skeptical of altruism. She needed to be on equal footing. I squeezed her shoulder. “We are helping each other. Professor Holiday’s secretive, and his experiments are growing in frequency.”
“The rose smell?” Quinn asked.
It was so much more than that. The monster was leaching magic out of the very air, but Quinn couldn’t feel it. Instead of explaining, I nodded. “The Architect can’t do anything because of their deal, so taking a peek can only make me look better in his eyes.”
My words had their desired effect. In a heartbeat, the last of Quinn’s unease died in our link.
She squeezed my hand and gave me a conspiratorial smile. Releasing her shoulder and making my exit was one of the hardest things I’d ever done.
I didn’t make it two steps out of the library before I sent a flurry of commands through my TB. The moment Ezra got his, his voice came across our mental link.
‘What are you up to?’
‘Fixing all of this with my bare hands,’ I responded. ‘I need Professor Holiday to be busy tomorrow night, and The Old Fortress canvassed by you for possible entrances and magical traps.’
‘Yes, sir.’
Two words. I wanted more, but that was also Ezra, the love of my life, who trusted me without question.
‘Will you shadow us tomorrow night?’ I asked.
His answer came back instantaneously. ‘Always, love.’
The first stitch in my broken world pulled the two halves closer.