Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
T hree days had passed, and I had shown remarkable improvement, but concern had taken up residence on Dominic’s face. I awoke to him watching me with a pensive look.
“What?”
“Stay here with my mother until things are handled.”
“No.” He’d given me a statement and his tone left no indication for feedback, but I had plenty to give. “I have magic and I’m able to protect myself and perform magic. I can help, and you’ll need it.”
“You can’t fight, and you’re still a novice,” he pointed out. We’d discovered I didn’t have preternatural strength or speed, either. No spells had successfully improved that. And despite my constant efforts, I couldn’t produce claws.
“But I’ve proven myself,” I said, sitting up in the bed, shocked by his request. He sat up, holding my gaze. The gentleness in them had been missing during the days of training. Several times I’d commented that he was treating me like the enemy and his response simply had been, “The cruelest thing I could do is leave you unprepared.”
I was grateful for it. I felt ready, strong, and capable, and him wanting me to be hidden away and guarded by his mother was insulting, and I let him know.
“This isn’t wholly about your capabilities. I think my mother was right?—”
“No, she wasn’t right about any of it. A scorched earth approach isn’t going to work. Let chaos reign and clean up the mess afterward? You realize how many humans will be hurt by this? I’m sure there are supernaturals who just want to exist, and not deal with the civil war and the devastation it will cause. I can help. You’ll need all the allies you can get. I’m your ally.”
A smile curled his lips. “You are tenacious, aren’t you?” he said with a sigh.
“Not if you’re making it an insult,” I snarked back, and though there was admiration in his voice, there were hints of irritation as well. I thought the matter was settled. I should have known it had ended too easily.
I awoke to him gone. In a panic, I dressed and frantically searched the house. My heart clenched with anger and anxiety when I couldn’t find him.
“Luna.” Sabin’s voice pulled me out of my spiral and I turned to find his head canted, his feline eyes assessing me and definitely judging. So much judgment.
“Dominic. I’m looking for him.”
He made a choked sound. “A few hours from him and this is how you react? You two have gone from interesting to annoying. He’s with his mother.” He was really judge-y as I started to explain myself while he guided me to Dominic, who was with his mother in a room I’d never have found. I figured that was the point. Like their home in the underworld, it was a hallway that I’d missed or had been cloaked from my view.
The gothic-looking room had deep garnet-color walls, dark furniture, and floor-to-ceiling storage that held an array of objects, ingredients, and books. The crystal chandelier added some vitality to the ominous room, and the only thing light in the somber space were the stylish cream baroque high-back chairs around the marble table.
Dominic offered me a faint smile. His mother’s lips spread wide in an ebullient greeting.
“Luna, I’m so happy you’ve joined us.”
Dominic clearly wasn’t, shooting daggers in Sabin’s direction that he chose to ignore.
“Perhaps you should leave Luna an itinerary the next time,” he teased, pressing a gentle hand to my arm and giving me a well-meaning beam. Attempting to return it, I became distracted by the weathered vellum and the object similar to the Affinity I’d used on my family.
Easing into the room, I stood instead of taking the seat that Ileana indicated, dividing my attention between Dominic, his mother, and the items on the table.
“She doesn’t need to be here,” Dominic opined.
“I disagree. This is exactly where she needs to be.” Again she directed me to a seat, and with a wave of her hand, I received a magic nudge. I returned it, forcing a surprised gasp out of her that grew into an appreciative curl of her lips.
“Is her command of magic better than you’ve led me to believe?” She directed her question to Dominic, but I got the impression she wanted me to answer, too.
“I’ve made no such claims. I admitted her spell casting is impressive for the time she’s had to learn, along with her rudimentary defensive and offensive skills. I said it was too big a risk for her to use the Garon and I stand by that.”
“It is not your place to stand. It is a reasonable solution.”
“No, it isn’t,” he snapped, coming to his feet and pressing his hand against my back to urge me out the door.
The room rattled with her unfettered power and uncontrolled emotions. “Dominicus, get back here. Now.” The lashing ice of her tone lingered. But her expression displayed a surprising look of compassion and distress. Compassion. When he turned, his jaw lifted. Not in defiance or the conflict of love and hate that he’d shown with his father. It was a plea for understanding. Locking gazes, the mélange of unspoken emotions, misplaced hostility, and indecision was thick in the air.
“When you came to me, I helped you because you wanted it. I see that you care for her in a manner that is quite surprising. I honor that.”
That was a lie and she made no attempt at making it sound convincing. There was a hint of rebuke as if she was saying “What the hell? This creature?”
“Your desire to protect her is blinding you to what is necessary to succeed with your goals. I’m your eyes, son, because you can’t see past the emotions. She’s capable and this will increase your probability of success with little risk to you.”
“And all the risks falling on Luna. It is unfair to ask that of her.”
I’d been dropped into the middle of a debate and worked to make sense of it.
“Will you all stop talking as if I’m not here?”
Dominic inhaled a deep breath and with effort, returned to his seat. He steepled his fingers, settling into his disapproval but seemingly accepting that his mother was going to inform me about the discussion he clearly wanted me excluded from.
“The Garon will do to the Dark Caster what was done to your Luna . Quite fitting, don’t you think? It will pull his magic from him and transfer it to Luna, leaving him a shell and her with insurmountable magic.”
“He won’t die, will he?” I asked.
She shook her head. “But he’d be magicless.”
“You’d have to be close enough to use it against him. Essentially have to bait him to you.”
I wasn’t a fan of this plan, but a magicless Peter would destabilize things enough to give us the advantage. How was this not a good idea? We had been gone for five days and had no idea how things were.
“Tell her the rest of your plan,” he urged.
“Then you perform.” She pushed the paper to me. I read the unfamiliar language on the paper. I had no idea what the words meant, but they looked easy enough to sound out.
My eyes bounced between the two. “What will this do?”
“Return the shades to the underworld,” Dominic offered.
“Good.”
“Without me suffering a loss of magic. But you will.”
“She didn’t have magic in the first place but with help of the Garon, she will possess a great deal of magic. It’s not a great sacrifice for Luna. But the future Lord of the Underworld can not have vulnerabilities. My son can not have vulnerabilities.” Her eyes slid in my direction, clearly seeing the dilemma as an acceptable vulnerability with conditions. I’d keep her son from losing his magic.
I agreed with her.
He ruminated, his gaze moving between the two of us. “I know it’s the right thing to do, but Luna holds the most risk.”
“I’m willing to do it. I want me alive as much as you do. I don’t care about my magic being diminished or losing it all together.” I placed a hand on his arm. “This is bigger than me and it needs to be done. I appreciate you being selfless and wanting to protect me, but I want to do this. I need to do this,” I whispered, wanting the conversation to be for his ears only, but under his mother’s intense scrutiny it was doubtful she missed any of it.
He grunted a mirthless sound. “Actually, it’s not selfless. It is quite selfish. I don’t want to risk you.”
The understanding made me smile. “I’m okay with doing this.”
Dominic’s agreement was reluctant and with the dark, calculating look I caught on his face I was confident that he was doing a risk assessment of Ileana’s previous suggestion of dealing with the situation. As I neared the Garon, I expected to feel something. A whirr of ominous energy or diablerie or something. But there wasn’t anything. A bland object with a powerful use. It was heavier than I expected.
“What do I do with it?” I directed my question to Ileana as Dominic didn’t seem fully on board. She recited the spell and I repeated it and the object came to life. I was startled by the Garon pricking my fingers. When the blood swelled, my hands illuminated. Fingerlike tendrils looped and extended from the object in search of similar magic. The glow died when it didn’t find any.
“That wasn’t difficult,” I admitted in surprise.
“The spell is easy, but what will be Peter’s response? He will try to reverse it or make you pay,” Dominic said.
“You won’t let that happen,” Ileana asserted. We all knew that.
“I guess this is the plan,” he said.
I slipped the Garon in my pocket, and he took the spell to recapture the shades. We both turned our gazes on it. It was a plan. But I was convinced it wasn’t the plan he intended. I’d never get the chance to use it because he’d get to Peter first. I caught his eye and held it. We just stared at each other, seemingly making a tacit agreement for this to be the last resort.