Quinn #3
Before I realized what was happening, he wrenched a hand from his flickering bonds. Then he yanked my dagger from his shoulder with a yell.
Tobias moved quicker than I could track. In one swift motion, he slashed his dagger across Thibault’s throat. Thibault fell to his knees as those bands of light vanished entirely. He clutched at the blood streaming between his fingers, mouth gaping soundlessly before he collapsed to the ground.
My magic came to my fingertips in flares of blue light, even as something else within me reached forward, feeling the final beat of his heart.
Tobias took my hand, his voice gentle. “There’s no need for that, Sagray. It’s too late to help him now.”
He was right. Thibault’s blood had settled without his heart working to pump it, his circulation ceasing entirely.
Tobias knelt, seemingly unaffected as he checked Thibault’s bloodstained pockets.
He pulled out a rectangular piece of paper that had to be the directions to the meeting place before retrieving my silver dagger.
He wiped the blood on the back of Thibault’s tunic, then extended the blade to me hilt first.
The silence stretched as we stared at each other. I didn’t reach for it.
Tobias let out a sigh as he got to his feet. “I told you not to lose it a second time.”
“You didn’t have to kill him,” I exclaimed, my voice a little too loud.
His mask slid firmly back into place. “Would you have preferred I let him kill you first?”
“Well, you didn’t have to torture him,” I snapped, ignoring the outstretched blade Tobias used to do so.
“I did, actually.” His tone might have been cold, but his eyes were burning.
“If you haven’t noticed, he tried to kill you.
Not to mention his purpose here was to obtain a vial of your blood.
We both know why Silvius wants that.” His jaw tightened, a swallow working its way down his throat. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”
The deadly edge in his voice sent a shiver down my spine, even as the possessiveness in his words made me wonder if it was for an entirely inappropriate reason.
This time, when he offered me my dagger, I took it.
“Come on,” Tobias said gruffly. “We need to get back. You need to confirm what’s in that syringe. And I could use a shower.”
I grimaced as I took in the blood on him, the splattered droplets irrevocably staining the light fabric. But I stood my ground.
“We can’t just…leave him.” My hand shook as I gestured at the body behind me.
Tobias pointedly looked around at the empty area. I didn’t miss the way he shuddered slightly as he looked skyward.
“If any guards were around, they would have made themselves known when he started screaming.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I’ll alert the first one we see. It’s not like he’s going anywhere.”
His hand flattened on my lower back, a spark jolting up my spine at the touch as he led me away from the bloody scene. My adrenaline faded, the urge to lean against him almost overwhelming.
Slowly, so as to give him enough time to react, I stepped closer into his body, letting myself relax against him. He stiffened, and I immediately started to retreat. Then his arm snaked around my waist, holding me there.
I ran my tongue across my lips. “Is this okay?”
“It’s helping, actually,” Tobias muttered. I opened my mouth to ask what he meant, but he cleared his throat, then leveled a pointed look at me. “Before we were interrupted, you were about to tell me why your eyes, well, changed. Don’t think I forgot.”
“I was kind of hoping you had,” I said, aiming for teasing but not quite getting there.
He frowned. “I hope you know that you can trust me to keep your secrets.”
Here was the Tobias I knew. Not some hardened warrior demanding answers from me, but my friend, my confidant, concerned and asking.
I blew out a breath, rallying my nerve. “During the final battle, when we were trying to fight our way across the room to get to that mirror before Aviel did…I tried something by accident. Well, more like on instinct.”
I glanced up, trying to read Tobias’s expression, but it was as closed off as ever.
“And?”
“The way my healing magic works…I can sense what’s wrong with someone the second my magic reaches for them,” I said hesitantly.
“But it’s more than that. It’s feeling the nervous system and the way each neuron communicates with another.
It’s feeling each muscle, each bone, the circulatory system, and how they all work together. ”
“I understand the concept.” Tobias caught my hand where it twisted my skirt so tightly I trapped my fingers. “But that’s not what you’re scared to tell me.”
I drew in a shaky breath. “I never realized how unusual it is that I can sense someone’s heartbeat without physically touching them…
until I found a book in Soleara’s library about magics that are considered dark and forbidden.
Most are bodily magics, though obviously healing isn’t among them despite the way it could be used.
There’s siphoning, like Aviel. Shapeshifting, though that’s even more rare. And blood magic.”
Tobias stiffened. I forced myself to keep going.
“Blood wielding is considered the worst of all, for reasons I’m sure you understand.
” My voice wavered. “Because of the way blood can be used against the fae it came from, any form of blood magic is restricted. There was a time that those able to wield it were systematically eradicated for the good of the realm. Their books of knowledge on how to control others by wielding their blood were burned to stop others from mimicking it…not that they were successful, considering how Aviel used its teachings.”
Tobias’s hand spasmed, his fingers digging into my side. It was an effort to say the next words aloud.
“I didn’t realize what it was until the battle in the mountain,” I whispered. “But to me…it’s a natural extension of what I can already do. It makes me a better healer, too. It’s why I was able to sense Thibault following me. And it’s the darkest form of magic known to this realm.”
There was something fragile in the silence, something delicate as freshly blown glass as I waited for his next words to shatter me.
Tobias hadn’t been raised prejudiced against blood magic like those brought up in Agadot. No, he had been subjected to it, though the puncture marks along his veins had long since faded..
He had every right to hate what I was.
Tobias tilted his head, watching me carefully.
I held my breath, bracing myself for his inevitable disgust. The knowledge and ability to exert control over another fae using their blood existed because of my kind.
Those with blood magic had experimented in ways to bend blood to their will, even for those without that ability.
When Pari found out, she begged me to never use that part of my magic again, not only because of what it could do but for fear it would corrupt my soul.
She was the one who explained that it wasn’t just dangerous, it was taboo.
The stigma surrounding blood magic, and the belief that those who wielded it carried a bloodlust for power, would have made me a pariah among my people.
Our friendship felt altered ever since, like she was holding her breath around me—waiting for my magic to turn me into a monster.
It was why I hadn’t told anyone else. After Aviel used Eva’s blood to bind their lives, nearly costing her hers, I even hid that piece of myself from my closest friend. She had been through enough. But the truth was, I couldn’t bear it if she looked at me differently too.
I couldn’t risk her trust. But here I was, risking his.
When Tobias spoke, the judgement I expected was entirely absent. In fact, his tone was vaguely vindicated as he grumbled, “It’s about time, Sagray.”
It took a long second to understand his meaning. Then my sense of gravity shifted beneath my feet. “You…you knew? That I was…that I have blood magic?”
“I suspected.” Tobias sounded so unbothered his words were nearly flippant.
“I saw the way your eyes turned red as we fought against those impossible odds in that chamber in Adronix. Not their normal shade of amber, but that deep, blood red I saw again today.” His gaze bore into me, and I found myself unable to look away.
“I saw how outnumbered we were. And when Eva ran toward the Seeing Mirror, I saw the way Aviel’s soldiers suddenly froze at the wrong moment or ran into a waiting blade.
Bash’s magic was exhausted by the time we reached the top, and against those odds…
” He gave a soft shake of his head, a hint of something like admiration in his voice.
“Well, he might have been too focused on saving Eva to notice it was too easy…but I was fighting right next to you the whole time.” The look he gave me was almost incredulous.
“I’ve known you since my first breath, Sagray. And I know exactly who saved us.”
All this time. He had known all this time what I was…but was that part of why he had avoided me ever since?
I swallowed against my dry mouth. “And you didn’t bring it up until now?”