by Rin Grey
Something better to do with her time? Elizabeth didn’t like the sound of that. Amily had already caused more than enough trouble here.
By now, she was sure that this woman had been behind the two fires, but she wanted everyone here, especially Jocelyn and Evelyn, to be as sure of it as she was before she dealt with her.
She stepped forwards and said, her voice tight, “Were you the one responsible for setting Gemma’s washing on fire and creating a ring of fire around Gemma and I two weeks ago?”
Amily stared at her, her eyes narrowed. “Ahh, Elizabeth, I’m so glad you’re here. We have some unfinished business to settle.”
If only she knew.
“Answer the question, before I get tired of waiting,” Elizabeth said flatly.
Amily raised an eyebrow. “Is that a threat?”
“If you want to see it that way.”
Amily gave a laugh. “Sure then. Both fires were my handiwork. Pretty impressive, huh? You were lucky Mitchell arrived in time to save you. His magic is more impressive than I’d given him credit for. So what are you going to do about it?”
The look she shot Elizabeth was challenging and amused.
It took Elizabeth a few moments to realise why.
Amily thought she had the upper hand. She’d attacked Elizabeth when she’d been weakened from healing George, and didn’t realise how powerful she actually was.
Perhaps she even thought that her attack on the mercenaries had used up most of her magic, as Evelyn’s single blast had used up hers.
Elizabeth grinned tightly. She was in for quite a shock. She was just warming up.
“You’re the one who should have taken the warning Jocelyn gave you, and backed off,” she said. “She tried to protect you from me, but since you’ve shown up here, I guess it’s too late for that.”
Elizabeth took a step forwards, raising one hand, but before she could unleash the magic she’d collected, Jocelyn spoke up.
“Elizabeth,” she said firmly. “I will handle this. Stand down.”
Elizabeth bit back a sigh. She turned to Jocelyn, frowning. “She’s already admitted that she has attacked Gemma. Twice. Then she sent mercenaries here to attack people at a wedding. I don’t think your way of handling this is working.”
“Elizabeth’s right,” Evelyn said firmly. “Amily will not listen to reason. She has brought this on herself.”
“None of you get it,” Amily interrupted angrily. “No one is going to do anything to me. I’m going to see that you all pay for what you’ve done.” She rubbed her belly, as though it would strengthen her magic.
It seemed to spark renewed objection from Jocelyn. “You cannot kill a pregnant woman,” she said firmly to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth just rolled her eyes. As if she didn’t know that. “I won’t hurt her baby,” she assured Jocelyn.
Jocelyn looked anything but mollified. “You are my heir. I expect you to do as you’re told,.”
Elizabeth gave a laugh. Jocelyn still thought she could tell her what to do. Well, maybe she should let her see how well that turned out.
Amily was grinning. “Perhaps you all did me a favour by refusing me the position as heir. I’ve never been one to do as I’m told.”
Elizabeth bit back a retort. If Jocelyn couldn’t see that Amily was out of control, that was her problem. She channelled off a little magic to build a wall between Amily and the rest of the wedding party. “Go ahead, you two sort it out then,” she said.
Her mouth a thin line, Jocelyn turned back to Amily. “Go home. Before I have no choice but to restrain you.”
Amily laughed in her face. “You? Restrain me? How? What can you do against me? You don’t even have the pitiful amount of magic that Evelyn has. There’s nothing you can do to stop me. That’s what you never realised. You could have had me on your side, but instead you picked her.”
Her eyes flicked to Elizabeth. “Your precious heir is foolishly using the last of her magic on a pointless barrier.”
Amily walked towards Jocelyn, who held her ground, frowning. As though the expression was going to have some effect on Amily.
It was tempting to leave her to herself. To leave her to face whatever magic Amily was going to throw at her. Then she might get it.
Only trouble was, then Elizabeth would have to spend precious magic healing her. Magic she just might need later.
Amily threw a blast of magic at Elizabeth’s wall, then another.
Elizabeth held it with little effort, and syphoned off a little to put a small barrier in front of Jocelyn.
Amily’s eyes widened a little. She shifted her glare to Elizabeth, throwing another blast of magic her way.
She had more magic than Elizabeth had expected, but it wasn’t going to last. Her third blast was noticeably weaker than the first two. Elizabeth waited patiently.
Amily turned her attention away from Elizabeth, advancing on Jocelyn instead. As she neared the woman, she did something unexpected, something Elizabeth hadn’t counted on.
She pulled a knife.
The weapon passed right through Elizabeth’s barrier, which was designed to stop magic, not steel, aiming for Jocelyn’s heart.
Apparently Amily meant business.
Jocelyn’s eyes widened and she stumbled back a step.
That gave Elizabeth just enough time to send a swift wave of magic straight at Amily.
The attacking woman froze in place, the knife in her hand inches from Jocelyn’s chest. Then she collapsed in a heap on the ground.
There were a few sighs of relief from the rest of the wedding party.
Elizabeth had almost forgotten about them.
Jocelyn stumbled even further back, her hand to her chest. She glanced over at Elizabeth, then back at Amily, her face pale. “Is she… what did you do?” Her voice shook, and Elizabeth could hear no censure in it. “Is she… dead?”
Elizbeth crossed to where Jocelyn stood and stared down at Amily. “No, not dead. She’s just unconscious. Both she and her baby are fine.”
Jocelyn didn’t look too reassured. She took one look down at Amily, then shuddered.
Digger came up beside them, and asked conversationally. “So who’s this, Liz? Another family member? She doesn’t seem to like you much.”
Elizabeth bit back a laugh. “No, she thinks I took her position.”
“As heir?” Digger looked from Elizabeth, to Jocelyn, then back again.
“It’s none of your business,” Jocelyn snapped. “This is a family matter.”
Her attitude irritated Elizabeth more than anything else she’d said today, and that was saying something. “Need I remind you that Digger jumped in when bandits attacked our family, regardless of the risk to himself. You should be thanking him.”
Jocelyn looked taken aback. “I didn’t mean…” she broke off. “Thank you for your help, Digger,” she said stiffly. Then back to Elizabeth. “I will take care of it from here.”
She seemed so sure and certain again.
Easy to say while Amily was asleep.
“What are you going to do when she wakes up then?” Elizabeth asked in amusement, crossing her arms. “Look at her angrily?”
Jocelyn’s face paled.
“Good work, Elizabeth,” Evelyn said firmly. “And you too, Digger.” She looked at Amily, collapsed in a heap on the ground. “But now what are you going to do?”
Her question was directed at Elizabeth, not Jocelyn.
Clearly she could see that Jocelyn couldn’t handle this.
Trouble was, Elizabeth wasn’t sure what she could do. Oh, Amily was no threat to her. She could easily keep her under control. But that wasn’t a permanent solution. And that’s what she needed.
Trouble was, there wasn’t a permanent solution she could see. Even if Amily hadn’t been pregnant, Elizabeth wouldn’t have killed her. Not in cold blood.
She wasn’t the slightest threat to her. But Gemma and Mitch, if Elizabeth wasn’t there to protect them…
&n
bsp; They could call the city guard, but what could they do against a magic user? Nothing. Jocelyn obviously couldn’t handle her, and Elizabeth suspected that none of her mages stood much chance either.
She certainly didn’t want to spend the rest of her life guarding the woman.
There was only one option she could see. “We’ll have to send her to the Dome.”
Jocelyn blanched. “The Dome?”
“Do you have a better option?”
Jocelyn opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, then closed it and sighed. She turned to Evelyn. “Can you think of anything?”
“I think Amily is beyond our ability to deal with her,” Evelyn said regretfully. “Elizabeth’s suggestion seems to be the best option.”
Jocelyn nodded reluctant agreement. “I suppose we have no choice.”
Elizabeth glanced down at the woman’s unconscious form. She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to wake before she returned, but just in case, she turned to Digger. “Can you keep an eye on her while I’m gone? I don’t think she has any magic left, but I wouldn’t count on it.”
She didn’t count on any of the others to do what was necessary to protect everyone if Amily did wake, but she knew Digger would. He had enough experience with her that he knew at least a little about how they worked.
Digger looked a little startled, but he nodded valiantly. “Sure thing, Liz.”
“I can help,” Mitch volunteered, though his face was pale.
“No, you can’t,” Gemma protested.
“I’m the only one here with enough magic to do anything,” Mitch protested.
He had a point. But Gemma did too. “Not a chance, Mitch. Digger can handle it. Sorry, buddy, but you’re not ready for this yet.”
Mitch looked disappointed. And a little relieved. He heaved a sigh and stayed next to his frowning mother.
Elizabeth reached into her belt pouch, her hand closing around her stone. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
She gathered up her magic, and teleported straight to the dome.
Chapter 13 - Seekers
Digger watched the unconscious woman closely, but she showed no signs of moving, much less throwing magic around. Still, he wouldn’t relax until Elizabeth was back to take care of her.
At least worrying about her waking stopped him wondering about Elizabeth, heading off to the Dome as though she were popping next door to borrow some sugar.
That was going to take more getting used to than the fact that she was seventy-three years old.
Digger bit back a laugh. When he woke up this morning, he’d been excited about seeing Elizabeth. He hadn’t expected the day to go anything like the way it had.
“Just what do you plan to do if she wakes back up?” Jocelyn demanded, her hands on her hips.
Digger looked over at her. The truth was, he had no idea. He was mostly just hoping she wouldn’t. Elizabeth had said it was unlikely, and he trusted her. Just so long as she didn’t take longer than she thought.
“What would you do?” he demanded instead. He suspected that to show any sign of weakness in front of this woman would cause her to jump on him.
She closed her mouth in a tight line, and said nothing.
Digger wasn’t surprised.
“If she does wake up, you’re going to have to hope that she’s concerned enough about having a sword pointed at her that she will either do as she’s told, or run,” he told her.
This was Jocelyn’s problem. It sounded like she had created it. Now she was hoping someone else would solve it. Preferably without pointing out how badly she’d done.
Jocelyn’s expression didn’t change, but she did stop asking questions.
About the unconscious woman at least.
“So where did you come from?” she asked instead. “You didn’t come with Elizabeth, did you?”
Digger realised it would be easier if she asked about the woman. He much preferred that line of conversation. He had answers for those questions.
He bit back a sigh. “I brought Elizabeth’s horse down to her. I thought she might want it.” He winced at how lame that sounded.
Jocelyn raised an eyebrow. “So you’re the one pursuing her then.” She looked at him through narrowed eyes, calculatingly.
“I’m not pursing her,” Digger said firmly. “I brought her horse. That’s all.”
“Leave the man alone,” the old woman said firmly. “I like him.”
Digger turned and stared at her in shock. She liked him? He wasn’t sure whether to be scared or relieved.
Jocelyn frowned at her. “It doesn’t matter if you like him or not. The heir doesn’t marry. You know the rules, Evelyn.”
The old woman gave a cackling laugh. “Sure I do. No male heirs. No breaking from the line of first daughters. No heir over seventy. We’ve already broken so many, what’s one more?”
Jocelyn looked startled at that. She opened her mouth, as though she were going to object, then seemed to think the better of it. The frown didn’t leave her face though.
Digger suspected he hadn’t heard the last of that.
It was only when Elizabeth was standing on the stone circle, with the official staring at her expectantly, that she wondered how she was going to do this.
Somehow, she didn’t think bothering the king with this matter was appropriate.
She was back to Sean again.
Her heart thumped painfully in her chest.
It was his job to bring mages back to the Dome. He would have to be informed.
But she didn’t think her showing up at his palace was going to achieve that aim. She bit her lip, staring at the patient official.
Maybe he would know.
“I need to report a mage causing problems in Selenthia. How would I do that?”
He didn’t even look surprised. Did they train them to show no emotion? “I can pass on a message for you if you like?”
Elizabeth hesitated. “How long would that take? This is rather urgent. The mage is threatening… my family.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You can’t deal with that?”
Elizabeth gave a laugh. “She’s also family. And pregnant. They don’t want her dead.”
There was a trace of curiosity then. So they did feel emotions. “I shall expedite the matter. Wait here.”
Elizabeth stood on the stone circle as he hurried off to a building to one side. She moved out of the main circle, trying not to pace, but it was hard to suppress her nervousness.
What would happen next? Would Sean come? Surely not. Surely he would send someone else?
But no amount of reassuring herself of that made the butterflies in her stomach settle.
It wasn’t until the official materialised in the middle of the stone circle with two young men standing next to him that she could take a normal breath again, around the disappointment squeezing her heart.
“These men are Seekers,” the official informed her. “They will come with you and take care of your problem.”
Elizabeth had never met a Seeker, though she’d heard of them of course. An elite group of highly trained mages, their job was to ‘seek’ out mages in Selenthia, and bring them back to the Dome.
To Sean.
All of them had sworn loyalty to him directly.
If he ever wanted her back in the Dome, they’d be the ones she’d be facing. And unlike Amily, she could sense that they had enough magic to do it. Not that she’d be resisting. If he wanted her back, all he had to do was ask.
But the expressions on the Seekers faces, stony and serious, didn’t indicate any such likelihood.
Elizabeth pushed away her own issues, and focused on the job she had to do.
“Thank you,” she said to the official. Then to the Seekers, “If you’ll come with me.”
Both of them nodded in unison.
Elizabeth took a deep breath, and teleported back to Gemma’s house and the interrupted wedding.
Digger was still standing over Amily when she arrived
, but he stepped back with a nervous frown on his face when the two men materialised behind her. He nodded briefly to her, but kept his distance.
He’d always been a bit nervous of Dome mages. Elizabeth hid a bittersweet smile at remembering how many times he’d asked her if she was going to take him to the Dome when they’d first met.
Hopefully her connections with Linarra wouldn’t change his feelings towards her.
“This is Amily,” she said, indicating the unconscious woman. “She’s admitted to deliberately setting fire to my daughter’s washing line, and trapping my daughter and I in a circle of fire. Today she orchestrated an attack on this wedding and tried to stab my niece.”
One of the Seekers raised an eyebrow, a look of amusement on his face, the first sign of emotion she’d seen any of them give. “Sounds like she has a grudge against you.”
Elizabeth gave a laugh. “Just a little,” she agreed. “I just wanted you to know what you’re getting into.”
He nodded. “We’ll deal with her. Don’t worry. She won’t trouble you again.” He nodded to Evelyn and Jocelyn, both of who were hovering nearby, but said nothing. He bent down and picked up the unconscious woman.
Both of the Seekers winked out of sight.
Elizabeth let out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding, feeling suddenly flat. The excitement was over.
There was a loud silence in the backyard for a few moments.
Everyone looked at everyone else.
Somehow, it didn’t feel right to continue with the celebrations.
Instead, everyone got busy helping Gemma clean up.
Chapter 14 - Choices
Finally, the clean-up was done, the city guards had arrived and removed the mercenaries who had attacked the wedding, and the last of the wedding guests left. George and Sara had returned to their own home next door, and Gemma, Elizabeth and Digger sat at the table and stared at each other. Mitch had long since gone to bed, leaving no innocent voice of youth to break the uncomfortable silence.
