by Ashley Meira
“Semantics.” Fiona waved him off, and I had to fight a smile at the offended look on his face. “Let’s talk about something more interesting. You know, like the fact that you turned into a fucking dragon!”
Her squealing made me jump, along with another figure in the room. Diana’s hair was a mess of brown as she jolted from her spot in the corner, kicking off blankets as she summoned her sword. It was then that I realized we were in the bedroom of Adam’s jet. When did we leave Japan? How long had I been out for?
“What on Earth—” Diana cut off when she laid eyes on me and rushed to my side, shoving Fiona off the bed to take her place. Her hands covered mine as a soft glow came from them. “You’re awake. I mean, of course you are. Are you okay? No, stupid question—”
“Hey!” Fiona shoved her but she didn’t budge. “Just because you’re rambling and acting all human doesn’t mean I won’t throw you out the airlock.”
Diana spared her a glare before turning back to me. “How are you feeling?”
“Confused,” I said tiredly. “A lot happened apparently.”
“Apparently?” Fiona plopped back down on the bed, smirking as the impact forced Diana over slightly. “You were a huge molten black dragon. Like, seriously, I could see veins of lava flowing through your scales as if it was blood. Though I hope it wasn’t, because that would mean your hide is thin, and that’s bad.”
“You can discuss this once she’s fully healed.” Diana frowned at both of us. “Does anything still hurt?”
“Just aches,” I admitted, holding up a hand before she could panic. “I’ll be fine. You were pretty wiped out earlier. Save your strength.”
“Save?” Damien arched a brow. “She sapped that entire barrier. There’s too much magic in her right now — let it flow.”
“That is not how Fireborns work,” she said tersely without sparing him a glance.
“That is exactly how Fireborns work.”
“Why are you here, by the way?” Fiona asked. “Don’t you have your own jet?”
Damien glared at her. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
“He was worried,” Adam said flatly, rolling his eyes as the glare was turned to him. “Glare all you want. You’re my baby brother—”
“Younger brother.”
“—and I know how you work. You were worried about Sophia.”
Damien snorted, then when he realized we were all shooting him skeptical looks, scoffed and rolled his eyes. “She was useful, unlike the rest of you.”
“Hey!” Fiona growled. “If I wasn’t all banged up, I’d kick your ass. Without me and Adam, Seraphine would have absorbed all those charybdis and kicked your ass.”
He shrugged. “With Sophia there, she wasn’t able to get close enough to the charybdis.”
“You don’t know that distance played any part in it.”
“You don’t know that it didn’t.”
If Fiona had turned the look she was wearing now on Seraphine, the fight would have been much shorter. “And if Diana hadn’t absorbed the barrier, you’d have been throwing lightning at that wall for hours.”
“You don’t know that it would’ve taken hours.”
“You don’t know that it wouldn’t!”
“And breaking that barrier caused Seraphine to turn into a dragon,” he said dryly. “Not exactly helpful.”
“She’d have shifted anyway.”
“You don’t know that.”
“You don’t—”
“Oh my god, shut up!” Everyone turned to look at me. I crossed my arms and gave them the best “disapproving parent” look I had, which wasn’t very good considering I was mostly drawing from sitcoms. “You’re acting like children.”
“But he—”
“But she—”
“I don’t care,” I said. “Kiss and make up.”
Damien scowled. “Pass.”
“Damien,” Adam warned.
“Fine.” He sighed and rattled off in a bored drone, “None of you were completely useless. I’m sorry your skin is so thin you can’t handle my way of speaking—”
Adam frowned. “Damien.”
“—and not all Fireborns are bad. Or whatever. They’re twins. It doesn’t count.”
“Just when I thought you’d matured,” Diana said.
“Bite me, Stunt Twin Number Two.”
Her hand tightened around her sword. “I’ll do more than that.”
“Get a room,” I muttered, causing them to both glare at me. “What happened after Seraphine died? She did die, right?”
“She’s dead.” Damien nodded. “Mostly. The other parts of her soul are still out there, but she’s not getting out of those artifacts any time soon.”
“Damien caught you when you fell, because he cares,” Adam added, his lips quirking up as Damien flipped him off. “He flew us as close to the car as he could without drawing attention and we drove back to the hotel. You were passed out the entire time. We spent the night, thinking you’d wake up the next day. When you didn’t—”
“He turned into a giant girl and refused to leave,” Damien said. “I had to remind him we had to alert the Council.”
“And that Seth can take care of you in Santa Fae.”
“Seth?” Diana asked.
“His personal healer,” I said.
“I see.” She pursed her lips and glanced down at our intertwined fingers. “There’s only one matter left to take care of then.”
“What we’re going to tell the Council about you?” Damien asked. “You get points for helping…. I guess.”
“Does it physically pain you to not be a douche?” Fiona asked.
“Yes,” he said immediately.
“That is not what I was referring to,” Diana said, though she made no effort to hide the discomfort his words had caused. “The master is still out there. He’ll have learned of Seraphine’s defeat the moment it happened. Also, he still has your friend.”
The mood dropped, filling the room with a tense silence. I leaned back against Adam, too tired to do anything but listen to the beat of his heart. If they wanted to plan now, they were free to do so. I needed more sleep — and time to sort through my new “state” — before I could focus on anything else.
“Do you think Bane’s still alive?” Fiona asked timidly.
“I don’t know,” Diana said, shooting the fairy a sympathetic look. “The master really wants the knowledge he possesses, and he did not seem like the type of man to break easily.”
Fiona winced. “Gee, thanks.”
“Fucking hell.” Damien growled, shoving a hand through his hair. “All right. Fine. No big deal. When we get to Santa Fae, we give the Council our report, then go after Zane.”
“Bane,” I said. “And how? We don’t even know where he is.”
Fighting was the last thing I wanted to do right now, but I wasn’t going to let Bane suffer under Nicholas’ hand. Plus, it felt like we were in the final stretch. This could all be over soon. All we had to do was rescue our friend and defeat Nicholas.
Okay, easier said than done — especially in our sorry physical states — but it was a hell of a lot more progress toward closure than I’d made in eight years.
“We don’t know.” Damien turned to Diana. “She does.”
She froze like a deer in headlights, her grip tightening around mine. “It’s too—”
“Spare me your excuses—”
“Don’t,” Adam said sternly before turning to Diana. “I get it. I mean, I don’t completely understand — no one who isn’t in your position could — but I get where you’re coming from—”
“Do you?” she said, glancing up at him with an unimpressed look.
“He’s powerful,” I said softly, squeezing her hand. “Very powerful. Crossing him has never led to anything good for anyone who’s tried. But you know he needs to be stopped — and you can help us do it. You’re scared, and you’re surrounded by people who want to lock you up.” I shot Damie
n a dark look. Comrades-in-arms we may be, but I hadn’t forgotten what he was planning. “But I’m here. Your sister, your twin. I swore I’d always protect you, and I plan on keeping that oath. Please, help us.”
Blood had stopped flowing to my fingers, but I had no intention of asking Diana to let go. I was asking a lot of her. Yes, she was Nicholas’ slave, but that was the only life she knew. I was asking her to throw away the security of being on the “winning” team to join the rebels, to take a chance on something she had no idea would work out. To be brought up in such a strict environment then have to do such a thing…. It required you to change your entire life and hope things would be better without any guarantees.
Her head was ducked down, covered by her hair, but a pair of trembling lips were still visible. I recalled the dream I’d had with our father and raised my hand to wipe away her tears.
“Poland.” She spoke before I could touch her. “His base is between Poland and the Czech Republic, in the Carpathian Mountains. Deep underground.”
“How deep?” Damien asked, pushing himself off the doorway and approaching us. “Tell us everything you can about the base. Directions, layout, traps—”
“Damien,” I said, trying to keep my tone soft. “Please.”
He frowned but stepped back. “This is important. We still have a while before we land in Santa Fae, but I want to get this straightened out before—”
CRASH!
My skull slammed against the headboard as the entire room seemed to fall on its side. I fell off the bed and rolled into the wall. Crashes sounded throughout the plane as turbulence slammed into us with a vengeance
Scrambling to my feet, I ran to Adam, who was helping Diana and Fiona. “What the hell? Did the pilot say we were expecting turbulence?”
“It’s not turbulence,” Damien yelled. He had his head out the door and was surveying the main cabin. “There’s a giant hole in the— Fuck!”
Another burst of something knocked us off our feet once more. Everything that wasn’t nailed down began flying around the room. Something hard hit my face, but I couldn’t see it before everything began rolling to the opposite side of the plane, us included.
I grabbed the corner of the bed and held on for dear life as the plane rocked from side to side. Alarms were blaring as Adam and Damien struggled to communicate over the noise. Neither of them could stay standing for long with all the movement. I saw Damien’s eyes glow, and it seemed like he was about to shift.
Honestly, it didn’t seem like such a bad idea. If the plane was crashing, we could do a lot worse than a dragon. I tried to call on my own Fire to shift, but the sirens and shaking made it too hard to concentrate.
“We have to at least get to the parachutes!” I yelled.
“Where?” Diana asked, clinging to the doorway.
Fiona was holding Adam’s arm for dear life, her arms shaking from the effort. “By the pilot—”
Those were the last words I heard before the ceiling came crashing down on my head.
Thank you!
I really hope you enjoyed Magic Unbound! Word of mouth and reviews are vital for any author to succeed. As an independent author who does it all on their own, these reviews are twice as important. If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review wherever you purchased it. Even a few lines sharing your thoughts on this story would be extremely helpful for both other readers and the author. Thank you for your support!
If you want to be notified when my next novel is released and get a chance to win free books and occasional other goodies, please sign up for my mailing list by clicking here.
Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
I love connecting with readers!
https://ashleymeirabooks.com
[email protected]
Author’s Note
This book has been a long time coming. Before I say any more, I’d like to thank all my loyal readers for sticking with me through the tough times and long waits. There were a slew of technical problems with this release, and when things finally seemed to get back on track, Typhoon Hato came and took my entire city’s water and power. It was an absolute nightmare. I’d never been in such a terrifying situation. Two weeks later and we’re still picking up the pieces, but I’m happy to say things seem to be getting back to normal.
As scary as the typhoon was, I hear it’s nothing compared to Hurricane Irma that is currently passing through the eastern United States. If you live in that part of the world, I sincerely hope this note finds you safe and well. I can only imagine how scary things must be.
One thing that had me very nervous about releasing Magic Lost was the ending I had chosen. I told myself Magic Unbound would be coming out soon after, so I could weather any angry comments about cliffhangers. So, you can imagine my panic when the book was delayed three months! If you’ve made it this far, then you’ve finished the book, and I can say I’m only a little sorry for leaving you with another cliffhanger. Apparently, the summer months bring out my sadistic side :)
That said, I hope that you enjoyed Magic Unbound as much as the first three of Sophia’s books. She’s been through a lot, and big meanie that I am, hasn’t had a chance to truly come up for air. That’s not likely to change any time soon, but with the final book of her story coming soon (I promise!) hopefully she’ll get a chance to relax a bit… maybe.
One thing I noted as I was writing Sophia was how different she felt. I was in the middle of a big move when I wrote this book, which put me in a different state of mind than usual. At first I was worried — would this “new” Sophia put people off? But I realized that she should be different. Her life has been stifling her gift only to finally enjoy it and end up losing it. I can’t relate to having magical powers, but I’ve definitely experienced some huge upheavals in my life and found myself coming out if things a different person.
But not completely different, and I hope that you still see Sophia hasn’t changed that much as a character. She’s much whinier in this book (which I admit is because I’m super whiny in certain moments and it rubbed off on her), but she’s straightened out a bit toward the end. Sometimes we feel we’ve hit rock bottom and need to truly lose everything — or feel like it, in Sophia’s case — to get our act together. I’ve experienced this in my life, and while I’m still struggling to find my way, I like to think I’ve gotten a good grip on carrying on.
That’s all we can really do, isn’t it? Ride along life, taking what comes our way and handling it to the best of our abilities.
Hopefully that didn’t come off as too heavy for this note! I’ve mentioned it before, but I really want my characters to be people you can relate to (even if you don’t exactly like them). I love fantasy and escaping reality, but the people in those worlds should be relatable so you can connect to them. To me, that connection to a character, a world, or a story is true magic. I can only hope I do such things justice.
This note has gotten away from me, so I’ll leave it here with a question: what are YOU expecting for Magic Rising, the final book in Sophia’s series? What do you want to see? What do you want to happen?
Okay, those are three questions, but they’re almost the same! Shoot me an email at [email protected] with your thoughts and hopes! I promise I’ll do my best to reply to each message.
Also by Ashley Meira
The Spire Chronicles
Hunter, Hunted
Ties That Bind
King’s Gambit
Shadowlands
Lay Me Down (Coming soon)
My Soul To Keep (Coming soon)
Touched By Magic: Dragon
Hidden Magic
Smoke and Magic
Magic Lost
Magic Unbound (Coming soon)
Magic Rising (Coming soon)
Touched By Magic: Fae
Debt of Magic (Coming soon)
Heart of Magic (Coming soon)
Shadows of Magic (Coming soon)
Truth and Magic (Coming soon)
Bonds of Magic (Coming soon)
Touched By Magic: Phoenix
Coming soon
