Magic Unbound: A New Adult Urban Fantasy Novel (Touched By Magic: Dragon Book 1)

by Ashley Meira

  According to the cab driver, the awful weather had been plaguing them for the past eight days, which didn’t bode well for us. I asked Diana how long Seraphine would need to create a storm big enough to wipe Japan away, but she said she didn’t know. Apparently, Seraphine didn’t speak directly to ‘the help’ unless she was planning on eating them.

  There was one silver lining to the terrible weather: people didn’t want to travel. At least not to the oceanside, where the thunder was growing louder with each passing day. We managed to find a nice hotel near the base of Mount Ashitaka where we could stay for the night to strategize.

  And by nice, I meant Adam found a five-star hotel whose price tag almost made me want to sleep outside in the storm. A curt reminder from Fiona that I had money now changed my tune, though only slightly.

  Just because I was rich didn’t mean I had to splurge on lavish stuff. But it was better than having Adam dote on me all the time. So, while he was busy with the bags, I gave the receptionist my credit card with a tight smile and paid for our rooms.

  The hotel was naturally quiet, but things seemed to screech to a dead silence when we entered the elevator. The young man helping us with our bags looked like he wanted to hang himself to escape the tension. Adam gave him a big tip when we reached our room, but he looked happy enough just to get away from us. I didn’t blame him — I all but ran to the bathroom so I could shower off the day’s events.

  With my immunity gone, I had to fiddle around to reach a temperature I liked, but the water pressure more than made up for that. The pounding rain outside had been better than any shower I had in prison, so this thing was pure heaven.

  Most reminders of the day were on my clothes, but they still felt glued to my skin. The sweat that had accumulated when running from those dragons, Diana’s blood under my nails, Bane’s blood on my fingertips, Adam’s blood on my palms…. I was a damn murder scene with legs.

  My skin was a violent red by the time I finished scrubbing myself, but it still didn’t feel like enough. Nicholas, Seraphine, Diana — the entire situation around us was pulling me in like black tar.

  I hated it. I hated how my sister and partner were mad at me. I hated how cold my twin was, how cold she’d been trained to be by the monster from our past. I hated that he was still out there, that his plans were bearing fruit, and that his damn sea witch was about to destroy the country.

  Most of all, I hated myself for being powerless. I’d been avoiding the thought all day, but the shower’s isolation allowed it to hit me hard. Sure, I could distract Seraphine — or maybe any guards she had with her — but I wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing more. No magic, no resistances.

  Hell, I’d probably die of hypothermia halfway up the mountain. I was the only one of us who dropped their bag when we exited the car because my damn fingers had been numb.

  The self-pity made me want to start scrubbing again, but I couldn’t help myself. It was true. I was damn useless, the group’s weak link.

  But apparently I’d get a chance to test my fighting skills after all, because Fiona was sitting on the bed when I exited the bathroom.

  “I don’t want to fight,” she blurted out before I could speak. “We just had a fight, and it sucked.”

  Huh. Guess I was wrong. “Okay—”

  “But what the hell?!” she yelled, throwing her arms up.

  Or not. Instead of replying, I went to my suitcase and pulled out some clothes. If she truly didn’t want a fight, I’d let her cool down before speaking. And if she did want to fight, I wasn’t doing it in a towel.

  “It’s just—” She cut off and let out a huge breath of air. “It’s like you sold us out. For her.”

  The accusation sliced at me, turning my vision red with a mixture of rage and hurt. I let out my own breath, though it came out shakier than hers. “Is that what you think this is?”

  “No,” she said petulantly. “But it damn well feels like it. What the hell?”

  “You’ve already said that,” I told her sharply. Damn it. I wasn’t keeping my cool. Where’s the mini bar?

  “I know— Will you look at me?”

  I didn’t want to, because I knew the irritation was painted clear across my face, but at the same time I did want to. Maybe if she saw how much she was insulting me, she’d back the hell off. “Any other requests?”

  The tension in her shoulders faded. “Don’t do this.”

  “What? Let you sit there and call me a traitor, a bad girlfriend, a shitty sister?”

  “I don’t—”

  My voice rose with each word.“Let you imply that I’m stupid and don’t know what I’m doing? That I’m so incompetent I haven’t considered the risks—”

  “Okay!” She twisted her head away like she’d been slapped and stared intently at the plush carpet. “I get it.”

  “Well, so do I.” My knee bumped against the bed, and I realized how close I’d gotten in my rant. I didn’t think I looked particularly threatening in my plain leggings and my “namastay home and eat fries” tank top, but it probably wasn’t pleasant to have anyone stomp up to you while yelling. “You made your feelings very clear at Bane’s house. And on the plane, the air strip, the car — where you told the driver you’d pay him extra if he hit Diana before she got in, the path up the hotel, the lobby, the elevator — where you shoved all of us aside so you could stand on the opposite end away from her, the—”

  “Okay!” she said sharply. “I get it.”

  I huffed and turned away, arms crossed. So much for not fighting. I understood her side. I really did. But I sure as hell didn’t appreciate what she was implying. There were nicer ways to approach this, and if she really wanted to avoid a fight, she’d have taken time to think of a few. What the hell did she expect my reaction to this would be?

  Outrage wiped my mind. I couldn’t think straight. I didn’t want to. Why did I have to be the voice of reason? Deep breathing didn’t make things better. In fact, it made things worse.

  What if she was right? What if Diana really was playing me? Maybe that’s why I was being so defensive: I was afraid Adam and Fiona were right.

  Sighing, I turned back to face my sister. “I don’t want to fight.”

  She dodged my gaze for a few seconds before giving in and holding her arms out. “I don’t either.”

  I rushed to her. It wasn’t until I breathed in her perfume that I realized this was only the second hug we’d shared since I’d been released from prison — and the first one included Symeon and Adam. I squeezed her tighter and ignored the prickling in my eyes. Stupid boys ruined everything.

  She squeezed me back, though I wasn’t sure if she’d had the same realization. She certainly had more body strength than I did at the moment. I was worried my back would snap in half if she kept holding on. Fortunately, she let go before we could truly test that theory.

  “I still don’t like it,” she said heavily. “But I’m willing to see how this plays out.”

  I nodded and hugged her again. There was no mention of being nicer, but since Diana needed to be alive for everything to “play out,” I assumed Fiona wasn’t going to push her out a window.

  “Dude, occupied!” Fiona said as the bedroom door opened with a soft beep. We pulled apart but laced our fingers together. “Get your own room.”

  Adam rolled his eyes. “This is my room.”

  “Well, this is my sister.”

  “My girlfriend.”

  “Partner,” I said, hoping no one could see the blush creeping up my cheeks. What was it about that term that drove me crazy? “Where were you?”

  “With Diana, trying to figure out what kind of magic Nicholas cast over her.” He shook his head and let out a tired sigh before collapsing into the armchair across from us. “No luck. I’ve reached out to some contacts, but the people I trust with something like this are few and far between. I did get hold of another Rangda’s Favor, so silver linings.”

  Adam’s brow was riddled with deep creases an
d there was a weariness that clouded his eyes. His impeccable posture had been replaced with a slouch as he stared off into the distance.

  I wanted to wait until we were alone to ask, but Fiona didn’t show any signs of moving. Truth be told, I wasn’t ready to let go of my sister yet. Besides my barely there interlude with Adam on our way to Croatia, I’d been sorely lacking in physical contact, so I was holding onto her hand until something pulled us apart.

  “What else?” I asked. “Something is bothering you. Seraphine?”

  Whatever it was, the look in his eyes when they met mine told me I wasn’t going to like it. “I’m not sure how strong she is. The only enemy remotely similar to her was Gadot, but it’s hard to compare their strength when we haven’t seen her fight.”

  “She might be weaker,” Fiona said, though there was no hope in her voice. “Only part of her soul is there, so it’s possible.”

  I nodded. “Then again, she’s been summoning up some pretty massive storms. Sure, it takes her a few days, but the devastation is unmistakable. Gadot’s earthquakes weren’t particularly dangerous.”

  “But they did corrupt the earth around it,” Fiona said. “Those spriggans that attacked you near Goliki were driven mad because of it.”

  “And the Mother Tree in Goliki nearly died trying to repel his influence,” I said, raking a hand through my wet hair. “Thankfully, the villagers were able to provide it with enough magic to keep going. Has it fully healed?”

  Fiona shook her head. “Close, though. Ollie checks in every week.”

  “I’ll bet.” He must’ve been incredibly worried about his parents and hometown. “Damn it. I guess there’s really no way to tell. Since it was all in the earth, we have no idea how much effect Gadot truly had on his surroundings. And there’s no way to tell if he was putting in as much effort as Seraphine.”

  “That’s my point.” Adam’s words came out slowly, deliberately, as if he was marinating on each one. I recognized the manner of speaking. Symeon spoke like that — testing each word and the reactions they caused. Except Adam was usually straightforward. That he was doing it to us now didn’t bode well. “I’m confident in your abilities. I may fuss over your safety, but I’ve seen how capable you are with your sword.”

  I frowned. The soft sell sucked. “But?”

  He leaned forward and clasped his hands together. “But Seraphine is a mage. A powerful one. She’s not likely to let anyone get close. Now, I’m confident in my magical abilities — and Fiona’s — but I’m not sure if we’ll be enough, and I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

  “We have Diana’s magic,” I said. “It’s definitely stronger than mine — or at least more experienced.”

  Adam gave me the same look I gave Ollie whenever he suggested I order the salad. Still on the anti-Diana boat, it seemed.

  “Fine.” It was pointless to argue. I couldn’t make either of them trust her. She’d have to prove herself. “What are you getting at, then?”

  “Like I said, better safe than sorry,” he said, keeping his eyes glued to mine. If there was a hidden message in his stare, it was lost as my brain conjured up all sorts of scary ideas about what he was going to say. “I called—”

  The bedroom door beeped again, giving me a moment to wonder who else had a keycard. Adam wouldn’t trust Diana with one, so who—

  My jaw dropped. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  Ice blue eyes narrowed at me as the irate newcomer kicked the door shut behind him and threw his bag on the floor. Damien’s hair had grown since we last saw each other, though the blond locks were still shorter than Adam’s chocolate ones. Wetter, too. It seemed he had gotten caught in the rain.

  “I’m not laughing,” he said, his usual easy-going tone dark. Unlike Adam, Damien had the ability to go from zero to one hundred in a split second, which made me paint him as a bigger threat than Adam when we first met. Of course, either brother could destroy your life with a single phone call, so it didn’t really matter which you pissed off.

  “You called your brother?” I asked as if the dragon shifter was just a mirage.

  “We needed back up. I trust him,” he added before I could mention Diana.

  I pursed my lips but tried to keep a level expression. I didn’t like it, but he had every right to call in his brother. It’d be pretty damn hypocritical of me to say otherwise. And it wasn’t that I didn’t like Damien. He’d been charming the first time we’d met, though he clung more to the arrogant rich kid persona that Adam had shed. Plus, things had gotten more strained since he’d learned I was Fireborn — or had been. He was never rude about it, but he’d dialed down the charming to a nonexistent level.

  “How did you get a card to this room?” Fiona asked.

  “I left him one at the reception,” Adam said, narrowly avoiding the pillow Fiona chucked at him.

  “What the hell?” she huffed. “I had to knock and wait for your slow ass to open the door, but he gets a key?”

  “Calm down,” he said, casting a stern glance at his brother. “Everyone.”

  Apparently, Damien didn’t take kindly to being told what to do — go figure — because the command set him off. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “Damien—”

  “No, no, no.” Damien shook his head and stalked toward Adam. “You call me out of the blue at the ass crack of dawn to tell me you have a known terrorist on your plane — sorry, the lackey of a known-only-to-a-select-few terrorist — and that instead of slapping an inhibitor bangle on her arm and heading to the Black Citadel, you’re working together. Seriously, are you fucking kidding me?”

  His rant lasted long enough to bring him right by his brother’s side, where the two were currently having the world’s most intense staring contest.

  Adam stared up at his brother with an expression of extreme calm, one that would set Damien off even further if we were anything alike. “Damien—”

  “She robbed me,” Damien said, hitting a new octave. “She destroyed my entire gallery and filled it with assassins! She broke Cyrus out of the Black Citadel! Lying about her—” Damien jabbed a finger at me “—is one thing. But this is insane. You should have called the Inquisitors the moment you laid eyes on that—”

  “Abomination?” I spat. “Monster? Freak? For what? So the Inquisitors could come take her away and torture her for information about Nicholas?”

  “Nicholas,” he repeated. “The man who is trying to destroy the world so he can rise up as its new ruler. Or did that part slip your mind?”

  “And that makes what they’d do okay?”

  “Would you be throwing such a fit if she wasn’t your sister?”

  After his little speech, he was the last person to talk about throwing a fit. “She is my sister.”

  “Exactly. So, you’ll excuse me if I question your judgement.”

  “What if it were Adam?” I asked. “What would you do?”

  “My brother isn’t a terrorist.”

  “She was forced—”

  He held a hand up to stop me. “I know the story.”

  I looked at Adam, eyes wide and jaw dropped. Betrayal seared my veins as I tried desperately to think of a comeback to give Damien. All I could muster was a broken noise that could have passed as a high-pitched scoff.

  “I gave him and my father certain details,” Adam said, his expression softer than when he’d spoken to Damien. “They needed to know about Nicholas and what he did.”

  “The rest of the Council got a version with enough omissions to make the CIA cream their pants,” Damien said.

  “And the reason everyone didn’t get the omitted version?” I asked Adam, pulling my hands from Fiona’s so I could cross my arms.

  Adam’s eyes softened further until he looked completely apologetic. “I told them what I thought was necessary in order to deal with Nicholas. Your secret is still safe. The Council doesn’t know you were one of the children he took — or that you’re Fireborn.”

  “Were Fir
eborn,” Fiona corrected before slapping a hand against her mouth and looking at me with wide eyes. “Sorry.”

  “Fucking right,” Damien hissed. “She’s Fireborn.”

  “Not anymore,” I muttered.

  “Not you. Her.” He slid a hand down his face. “I forgot.”

  “They’re twins,” Adam said.

  “I don’t suppose you’ve thought of a way to explain that to the Council when we bring her in.”

  “Whoa.” I stood up, mentally swearing when I curled my finger and my sword didn’t appear. My rings were sitting on the end table. I’d taken them off before showering. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Did you think we were going to let her go?” Damien sneered. “She’s a criminal. Murder, attempted murder, terrorism, theft, vandalism…. No way in hell the Council is going to let that slide. She doesn’t get a pass because she’s your sister.” Damien turned to Adam. “Right?”

  Adam opened his mouth to answer, then shut it and ran a hand through his hair. His hesitation — and lack of eye contact — pushed me over the edge. I spun around and swiped my rings off the end table before storming out of the room.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The band scraped against my knuckle as I shoved my ring onto my finger. I frowned at the torn skin left in its wake. One more shitty thing on top of an already crap-filled cake.

  I wasn’t a child. I understood their reservations and motivations. But it sure as hell didn’t feel like they understood mine — or were even trying to. Fiona had been my only family for the past eight years, and it’d taken an entire flight from Europe to Asia — along with a burning hot shower and tense argument — for things between us to simmer down.