18
“Did you know?” Nik seethed.
My eyes were closed, my body hurt everywhere. Where was I?
“Did. You. Know.” Nik spoke each word through clenched teeth.
“Do you think I would have asked her to do that if I had known?” Isaac’s voice sounded terrified. “It’s not as if there are a lot of Stormshades left to turn to. This magic isn’t an exact science, and everyone who knew how to wield it is dead.”
I tried to open my eyes, to speak, but my limbs were too heavy. I was fighting sleep. Had they given me some type of sedative tonic?
“You’re telling me you have never, in all your years of using storm magic, had a storm turn on you?” Nik’s tone was glacially cold.
“Never, but I am not nearly as strong as she is. I could never have created a storm of that magnitude in the first place.” I could hear Isaac run his hand along the scruff on his face, letting out a strangled cry. “I’m sorry.”
“Where is your book of shadows?” Nik asked.
“I never found it,” Isaac answered quietly.
“You’re telling me the only thing we have to rely on is the Kotova grimoire and you. There are no other resources for storm magic?” Nik spat.
“Not that I am aware of.”
“God dammit, Isaac. I never would have brought her here if I had known this could happen.”
“It’s not as if you had a choice. She is the rightful queen, Nikolai.”
“She won’t be if she ends up dead from one of her own Goddamn storms!” Nik replied angrily.
I peeled my eyes open just enough to see Nik running a hand through his mess of blond hair, his eyes red and bloodshot.
“I knew storms could have a mind of their own, but I didn’t know storms could turn. There hasn’t been a Stormshade as powerful as Diana since The War of Siraleth. There is only so much magic one person can wield,” Isaac said, sitting on the bed next to mine, his hands on his knees.
I was in an infirmary of some sort, and they hadn’t yet realized I was awake. I was lying on a white bed in a room filled with them, the fluorescent lights overhead causing my head to throb.
“And that’s it, then? She has too much magic for one person to wield? What the hell is she supposed to do with that? She can’t risk her life every time she generates a storm.” Nik shook his head furiously.
“I know. If we can’t figure out a way to tame her magic, we won’t be able to use it against Donika,” Isaac answered.
“Are you serious? Fuck using her magic against Donika, her life is in the balance, Isaac! That’s the only thing I care about. If I have to bring her back to the mortal realm and spell bind her to keep her safe and out of Donika’s reach, that’s what I’ll do. Make no mistake, my concern is for Diana and Diana alone. This war can go to hell for all I care.”
“You don’t mean that.” Isaac met Nik’s seething gaze.
“I mean every word. My only concern is for Diana and her well-being. If she is at risk wielding her magic, then she won’t wield it. It’s as simple as that.”
“Nikolai, you and I both know it isn’t that simple.”
“Don’t you dare play the concerned father role with me, Isaac! I have known you for a long time, and I know that you would sacrifice anything for Istmere to be safe for Stormshades again. Diana included. I am not willing to make the same sacrifice.”
“That isn’t true. But it doesn’t matter, it will not come to that.” Isaac’s voice sounded tired.
How long had they been arguing?
“You can’t promise that, after today. After what happened.” Nik ran a hand down his face.
“We will find a way to control her magic. The solution has to be in the Kotova grimoire. We must not be searching hard enough.” Isaac’s gaze met his feet, his eyes moving back and forth rapidly, deep in thought.
“I…I can control it,” I spoke, my voice sounding like sandpaper.
“Diana,” Nik breathed, kneeling at the side of my bed.
His hand cupped my cheek, the heat from his skin instantly warming me. My eyes found his, and I felt that warmth pool low in my stomach.
“Are you ok?” he asked, his eyes searching mine.
“I will be.”
I smiled, but even moving the muscles in my face hurt. Whatever tonic they had given me was beginning to wear off, and a searing pain in my shoulder was returning. I turned my head to the side to see the flesh there completely singed, mottled beyond recognition. The burn was severe, reaching from my shoulder down part of my arm.
“Don’t look,” Nik shook his head. “Liss is on her way. She is the most powerful healer we have, not to mention the best at skin spells.”
I wasn’t even sure my skin would tolerate a skin spell at this point. Every nerve ending felt as if it had been set on fire. I never knew what it felt like to be singed by your own magic, and I never wanted to feel it again. I didn’t imagine Liss would be able to heal it entirely. I would have a hideous scar.
“Where am I?” I asked.
I knew I was in an infirmary…but where?
“Another safe house. We had to leave the last one behind. Your storm broke through the wards on the training field—we had to find a new place to hole up. The townhouse is still safe, but the other safe house is too close. It was compromised. Donika’s army will be thoroughly searching the area for us,” Nik replied, running his thumb across my cheek in a soothing motion.
I closed my eyes, the events from earlier today coming back to me. I had created a storm I couldn’t control…and it had turned on me.
It had hurt me.
Stolen my magic.
I shook my head as tears stung the back of my eyes. All I did was cry lately. It was one step forwards and two steps back. I couldn’t catch a break. My entire body felt as if it had been burned from the inside out by my own magic.
“I have to try again,” I told Nik, blinking away the tears and meeting his eyes again.
“That is out of the question.” A muscle feathered in his jaw as his teeth snapped together, his eyes darkening. “I will not put you at risk again.”
“But I need to learn to tame this magic,” I insisted.
“We will find another way. Isaac thinks the answer might be in the Kotova grimoire.” His eyes traveled to my shoulder quickly before meeting my gaze again.
“I think we should pause any of our training sessions until we have combed through the grimoire. Even with our storm magic combined, we could barely contain that storm,” Isaac said from his spot on the bed next to mine.
“I want to try again,” I insisted.
After everything I had been through, I wasn’t about to let this magic get the better of me. My mother was a powerful Stormshade, and so was I. I would not give up after one storm gone wrong.
“Where is she?” Liss’ panicked voice sounded from the doorway.
“Over here,” Nik called over his shoulder before turning back to me. “We will talk more about this later.”
He stood, my cheek instantly cold where his hand had been. I already missed the sensation of his skin against mine, his steady presence at my side.
Liss took his place, kneeling by my bedside and taking out a medical bag. Instead of being full of bandages and ointments as a typical kit would be, this was filled with herbs and spices. She rested her hands against my good arm, reciting a spell under her breath.
When she removed her hands, my skin was marked with the dark ink of a skin spell, the color already fading from a stark black to a charcoal as it went to work healing my shoulder.
“Can one of you put a kettle on for me? I’ll need it for the tea,” Liss spoke, not bothering to glance their way.
Liss was stoic, but the way her hand shook as she ground the herbs with the pestle told me she was shaken.
They all were.
Nik glanced at Isaac when he didn’t move. “I will not leave her side.”
Isaac groaned, reluctantly getting up to find wherever the kitchen was in this new safe house.
The skin spell took the immediate sting out of the wound, but the deep, throbbing pain remained. Liss created a paste with the herbs and packed them against the wound, a hiss escaping through my lips. She slathered the poultice on liberally before sitting me up, wrapping the wound with gauze to keep the poultice in place.
I wasn’t sure how long I had slept before, but exhaustion was taking over now. My body needed rest, as did my mind. The amount of magic I had to wield to contain the storm again left me weary.
“She will need to rest,” Liss called over her shoulder, speaking to Nik.
“I’m not leaving. I will let her rest, but I will be by the door.”
He reluctantly pushed off the wall across from me, making his way towards the door as it opened. Isaac shuffled back in with a mug full of hot, steaming water. Liss stirred in a different mixture of herbs and handed me the mug of dark liquid.
“You need to drink all of this, despite it tasting like dirt,” she instructed, closing up her healing bag.
The first sip almost landed me flat on my back. I think dirt would actually taste better, this tasted like…licorice gone bad. I did as she said, draining the mug of hot tea as she propped me up with more pillows.
There must have been another sedative in the tea to help me sleep, because it wasn’t long before I found myself dozing off again.
It was the first time I had met a dreamless, restful sleep in a long, long time.