Chapter 22 #4
Brycon’s head lowered in defeat. “Not in love. I loved her the way only a bastard brother can love his perfect sister.”
HOLY GUARDIANS.
“She was your sister?” Lory was still struggling to grasp the meaning of his words. “But you have different magics.”
“We had one magic in common, but not the one the academy knows about.”
“Could you make it any more mysterious?” Maes perched at the foot end of Jarek’s cot, her legs crossed and her arms folded over her chest. Her hair fell over her shoulder in a reddish-brown rope, and her slightly pointed nose gestured at Jarek and Lory. “Did you know he had a second magic?”
Both of them shook their heads.
“You want me to forgive you? Tell me what ability it is that tied the two of you together.” There were better things to demand, like a promise to never attack her, or to help her with information from the stacks of books he could absorb within minutes, but it was that little secret Lory truly wanted.
Something they seemed to have kept to themselves, just as the fact that they were related.
“She didn’t even know we had the same father.
Her father had an affair with my mother when I was a couple of years old.
Her father never knew I existed—at least that’s what my mother always said.
He was a patron of the arts—dance in particular.
That’s how he met my mother. She was a dancer, too, before she broke her leg.
” Brycon shook his head as if reining in his thoughts.
“That’s beside the point. What’s important is that Ricca never knew she had a brother looking out for her, and when she really needed me, I wasn’t there to protect her.
” From Lory. Brycon didn’t need to add that.
“She chose her fate by coming after Lory,” Jarek said without emotion. Nobody forced her to hunt my friend.”
“It was the wrong choice,” Brycon agreed. “Lory is a pain in the ass with foul language and volatile magic, but she doesn’t deserve to die. Just like any magic wielder doesn’t deserve to die.”
Lory tried not to wonder what had changed Brycon’s mind when he had so adamantly hated her only a day ago, but she couldn’t help it. “What’s different now? Why try to make peace after all that has happened?”
A smile tugged on Brycon’s mouth, and he shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “Because hating you won’t bring her back, and she hated you first, not the other way around. So I’ll call what I did hatred by extension.”
“Still haven’t revealed your secret power, Bry.” Maes didn’t grin, but her tone was lighter than before, her expression no longer one of question and disappointment.
Brycon shook his head. “I shouldn’t be telling you. I actually shouldn’t be telling anyone.”
“You’ve already told me all your other secrets,” Maes said with a wink, and Lory couldn’t help but wonder if something was going on between them that wasn’t simple studying.
“You have to promise not to tell a soul,” Brycon whispered, his eyes darting to the open door.
At a flick of Jarek’s hand, a gust of wind swept through the room, and the door swung closed. “No promises. Let’s see how bad it is first.”
“Come on, Bry, I want to know,” Maes cheered him on, curiosity shining in her eyes. “It can’t be that bad.”
Brycon gave her a helpless glance. “Actually, it is worse.” Closing his eyes, he opened his palm, and a tiny spark appeared above it, dancing in the buttery light illuminating the room.
Once more, Lory’s breath caught in her throat as she watched that little golden spark expand half an inch and turn nearly orange.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Jarek said without humor. “You’re Flame-born?”
Lory wasn’t sure she should be laughing or crying.
“It’s not what you think it is. It’s light magic.
The thing Falcrest first thought you had.
” He gestured at Lory with the magic-controlling hand, the spark quivering with every movement.
“This is about as much as I can do with it, and I haven’t told anyone else; not even Ricca knew.
I only observed her using the spark once, when she was working on her other power.
It simply came to life, but not in this orange form like mine. Hers showed all colors of the rainbow.”
Speechless was the correct word to describe Lory’s state as she processed what Brycon had revealed.
“Oh, Lenya will just love this,” Jarek noted with a humorless laugh. “Knowledgist and illusionist. You’re the perfect candidate to work in the spy network.”
That earned him a frown from Brycon. “I want to do anything but spy, trust me.”
“It will be some time before I can even think about trusting you, Brycon,” Lory informed him with the cold tone she’d acquainted herself with during lessons with Anees and Hadrian—a controlled voice that didn’t give away the turmoil brewing inside of her.
“But I know what it’s like to lose a sibling.
” It had been Lory who’d ended Ricca. She’d taken Brycon’s sister from him.
No matter who had started it, Lory was responsible for Ricca’s death, and Brycon’s hatred was understandable.
She still despised the Gargoyles for what they did to Evven.
A flicker of guilt flared in her stomach at the thought of the one Gargoyle she’d come to love like a brother, and emptiness gaped in her chest as she thought Aiden’s name.
“I’m sorry, Brycon.” Because she was, and her heart felt lighter as the words left her mouth.
A small nod was all Brycon gave her before he turned on his heels, slouching back toward the door. He was about to open it when he paused, glancing back over his shoulder. “I am sorry, too.”