Magic's Touch

by Terri Pray

  Karol is safe. They won’t reverse it just yet, and even then they might not. The last thing they are going to want is publicity on this. Darrel’s voice wrapped itself about her heart. We calm down, go with them and play it by ear.

  How could she still hear him? They’d put a damper on their magic, yet she could still hear him.

  They can stop our magic; not an empath bond. It runs too deep and they might not even be aware of it, not to this extent. It’s rare.

  “Please, move along. I don’t want to have to move you by force.” Camryn stepped back and pointed towards the door. “We have a transportation spell waiting for you outside.”

  “Won’t the Guardian ward prevent us from using it?” Darrel wrapped one arm about Hailey’s shoulders, guiding her towards the door.

  “No, it prevents you from using your own magic, not traveling with us. And please don’t think you can use it to escape. Only myself or the two guards can direct the spell. There is no hope for escape, but then again you must have known that or you would have both fled.” The older man’s gaze softened as he glanced back at the couch, the torn clothing and then took in the still ruffled state of Hailey’s hair. “If I’d been in your position I might have made the same choice.”

  For a moment as her cheeks flamed. She almost thought he meant their shared moment of passion, but there was something in his eyes and the way he looked over at the book before wrapping it in a black silk cloth that suggested otherwise. Interesting. How many others were there that agreed with their actions? That would have taken the risk to help a friend and ignored the laws that now bound them?

  Laws in place because of the fears of the mundanes.

  No, not just fears. There were those who had magic, and some that still do, who would use it to hurt people. The rumors of black magic, of dark witches, who hunted down mundanes and even other magic users, for their amusement.

  Wonderful. The sins of the past, of people who were long dead, who might have never even committed such crimes, now hung like a dark shadow over them.

  They did exist. They still do. It’s why there are hunters, why the government doesn’t do anything to stop those who are involved in such crimes. They know there are men and women who have used their powers for evil. We aren’t amongst that number, but we come close.

  Hailey frowned as she walked out of the front door and crossed the boundaries of the transportation spell. They were nothing like such beasts. They’d done this solely to protect Karol. How could they be like those evil beings?

  Because we weren’t just doing it to protect Karol. There was and still is an element of revenge in what we did.

  “Please do not try to move out of the circle of the spell.” Camryn followed them into the glowing area. One of the guards had already been waiting for them, and the second walked in with Camryn.

  “What will happen with the grimoire?” Hailey looked pointedly at the silk-clad book Camryn now held.

  “It will be returned to your aunt, after the investigation and sentencing. Just as long as your aunt swears an oath not to let the book be used for ill means again. The council wouldn’t keep your family grimoire unless there was no other choice.”

  Unless Gem refuses to take their oath. And knowing your aunt there might be a point where she’ll say “fuck it.”

  Hailey tried to hide her smile. It would be exactly like Gem to refuse to follow their rules, even if it meant losing the grimoire forever.

  The world jolted around them, the spell kicking in. Colors blurred and reality shifted around them. Her ears popped once, then twice, blocking and clearing in a heartbeat. The garden was gone, the house with it, and in their place was something else, the inside of a large, old, stone building. Large granite slabs made up the floor, an open hearth at the far end hosted a blazing fire, the heat she could feel the moment the spell dissipated around them.

  Where were they?

  “I suggest you make yourselves comfortable by the fire. Food and drink will be brought to you but please don’t attempt to leave the room.”

  Leave? How?

  Hailey took a good look around the large chamber. No doors, though there were windows but even from here she could see the extra wards around the frames. So the only way in and out of them room would have been via a transportation spell, and with the Guardian ward in place they wouldn’t be able to use their magic to exit the room.

  “How long can we expect to wait?” Darrel asked as he led Hailey away from the three men.

  “An hour at most. The rest of the council is traveling in now as we speak. Once the session is convened someone will come for you. I suggest you put that time to formulating your statements.”

  Their statements?

  Their final messages to the world, perhaps.

  They won’t kill us, They’ll power strip us at worst.

  Was that worth living through?

  Darrel squeezed her hand. Love washed through the link, surrounding her, protecting her, chasing away the doubts.

  As long as he was with her she could take on the rest of the world.

  “We might as well wait comfortably then.” Darrel settled down into the largest chair, pulling her down with him until she was nestled on his lap. She barely resisted the urge to wriggle against him but now wasn’t the time or the place.

  Camryn arched an eyebrow at them then shook his head and phased through the wall, followed by the two guards. Well at least she now knew that there was more than one way out of the room. Still, it would need magic and the Guardian ward prevented that.

  Stripped of magic.

  How could she live without her magic? She’d spent so many years learning, practicing her skills, finally passing the dedication and now this.

  Darrel tightened his arms about her waist.

  It had been worth it. Karol was free of pain, or would be soon enough, and she’d met ‑‑ no, found ‑‑ a man who made her complete in more ways than she’d ever thought possible.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “I thought they would have come for us by now.” She rested her head against his chest, her eyes half closed. How long had it been? More than the hour promised, that she was sure of.

  “So did I.” He ran his fingers through her hair. “But I don’t mind the extra wait.”

  More time together before they were pulled before the council. “If they power strip us will we still be able to sense each other through the link?”

  His hand tensed.

  No, then. It would be gone.

  “We’ll still be together, physically.” He finally managed to force the words out.

  No link, no bond. Gone, like the rest of their abilities.

  “I should never have brought you into this.” Tears threatened to spill down her face. “I’m sorry. Goddess, that isn’t enough to say but it’s all I have.”

  He cupped her chin, fingers reaching up to brush over her cheek. “No, there’s something else you can say as well.”

  She faltered for a moment then looked down into his eyes. It should have been such an easy thing to say, so why did her throat tighten? It wasn’t that she didn’t love him, she did.

  Easy to feel.

  Harder to put into words.

  Yet she’d said it to him before, before they had left his living room. In that desperate moment of passion, so why couldn’t she say it now?

  The wall on the left-hand side of the fireplace shuddered, rippling, the warning glow of a spell in use.

  “I don’t need to hear it …”

  “I love you.” She wrapped her arms about his neck, holding him close. “I always have, and always will.”

  Camryn stepped through the wall, his formal red robes shimmering around his form. “It’s time.”

  Hailey slid from his lap, taking a deep breath. No place to hide, no way out of this, the only thing left was to stand up and face the council.

  “Are you ready?” Darrel took hold of her hand, standing up next to her.

  “As I�
�ll ever be.”

  “Then let’s do this.”

  Hailey took a good long look at their escort. Camryn’s face was unreadable as he activated the spell that would allow the two prisoners to walk through the wall with him. The wall glowed a deep red, a spell that would work along side the Guardianship ward. Why hadn’t she spent more time learning about that ward?

  Because there had been no need to study it, she hadn’t studied with the thought that she might one day break the rules and then end up having to face the council. If anything the one she thought might be called before the mage council was Gem.

  The glow surrounded them as they walked towards the wall; a tingle claimed her skin, her vision blurred for a moment then the wall was gone, the waiting room with it and they were in a circular chamber instead. In the center of a series of tables that created a circle around them. Small gaps in between the four tables making up the arrangement, just wide enough to allow a person to walk through and find their seat, which is exactly what Camryn now did.

  A woman with long silver hair that fell, unbound, below her waist, stood up as Camryn sat down. “I won’t waste time by repeating the charges; you are well aware of what you both did wrong. How you tossed aside the rules of this council and it’s predecessors without a thought for the trouble you would cause.”

  “Diana, please. These two are barely more than children when it comes to magic. Can we at least give them a chance to think before you tear into them?” Camryn spoke up.

  “They are adults. Just because they have barely completed their dedication period does not mean that they are children,” she snapped back. “They were having sex just before they were collected for this council, a last act of defiance. I do not call that the act of a child.”

  “No, I call it the act of two people very much in love.” A new voice broke through the tension. One that vibrated with power, yet remained soft at the same time. Liquid silver…that’s what the elderly man’s voice reminded her of, seductive, powerful, tempting and rich. “And we are going to need the strength of that love, not just from these two young magic users, but others like them.”

  “With all due respect, Lord Emry, I don’t believe that should be a part of this case. Any fool can fall in love.” Diana bristled even as she gave a respectful half bow towards the oldest member of the council.

  “Why ever not? This entire case is about love.” Emry stood up, his ice blue gaze raking over both Hailey and Darrel. “Unless I am very much mistaken it is love that caused Hailey to look for a way to save her friend. It was love that allowed Darrel and Hailey to bond deeply enough to perform the spell that they now stand accused of using. It was love that persuaded Gem to turn over the grimoire to Darrel. And it is love that kept them together, waiting to be collected, instead of splitting up and running. So how you can ever say that love should not be a part of this case is beyond me, Diana.”

  Darrel tightened his grip about Hailey’s waist, pulling her closer.

  Have hope, his voice whispered in the back of her mind.

  “I still fail to see why this should be a part of the case. They broke the rules and should…”

  “Rules, not laws. Rules we have put into place to help defend our kind from the laws of the mundanes. Now, tell me Diana, sworn of the Huntress, has this helped our people or do we even now face the very real possibility of having to register our abilities? And they go one further. They seek to have us ask for permission to have children.”

  Diana blanched. “We can fight those laws, prevent them from being put into place.”

  “How? By using the very magics that we have forbidden our children to ever use? By what right do we then rule? We have a chance here to turn these two younglings into potential heroes, as figureheads against the new laws, and you’re all too willing to ignore that possibility.”

  “They broke our rules. They have to be punished.” Diana’s shoulders tightened.

  “Do they? And do we then punish the first council member who tries to fight for his daughter’s right to have a child?”

  “That’s different,” a younger man’s voice broke in.

  “No, he’s right,” a middle-aged woman with hair the color of flame called out.

  “This shouldn’t even be brought to the table during this trial,” Diana growled.

  “Silence!” Emry amplified his voice until it boomed off the walls, vibrating the very air around them.

  Hailey’s heart skipped a beat. She wanted to sit down, but they hadn’t been offered seats. And if it hadn’t been for Darrel’s arm wrapped tightly about her waist she would have long since collapsed into a heap on the floor. Her legs shook, her throat kept threatening to close, sweat beaded across her top lip and her palms felt slick. This wasn’t what she had expected.

  It will work out. Be strong. I’m with you. I’m not going to leave you alone. Lean on me.

  She nodded softly, leaned a little more against him.

  The arguments around the table had silenced after Emry’s command, and for several long minutes no one moved, or spoke until the old man stepped out from behind the table and moved into the center of the room.

  “My fellow magic users, mages, witches, foreseers, empaths, necromancers, shifters, and vampires, we are facing a dangerous time for our people. Not just for those represented here at this council, but those who have refused to elect someone to stand for them. For centuries the council has existed in one form or another. We’ve tried to protect our people from the witch hunts, from the various religions that have attacked us and used us as a way to bind their people together. We’ve been a source of fear and humor, rumors and lies and still we have managed to find a way to survive. In doing so we’ve continued and protected those who have avoided the flames.”

  What had they been dragged into?

  Timing, it’s a matter of timing my love. Watch and wait, this might help us. Or we could end up in the middle of the biggest fight the council has ever seen.

  Wonderful.

  “Now we face our biggest challenge ever. Not the hunters with their pitchforks and burning torches of old. Or the Inquisition and their instruments of torture. But laws. Cold hard laws that would bind our people and toss aside the rules of the council. The mundanes believe that they have the right to tell us how to live and yes, how to love. We saved them, used our magic to protect them, and this is our thanks.”

  “They’re afraid of us and are simply trying to protect themselves,” Diana protested.

  “Are you saying you agree with their actions?” The older man fixed Diana with an icy gaze.

  “No, of course not. I don’t think anyone here agrees with their actions, but I fail to see what this has to do with the matter at hand.”

  Emry nodded, and rested his hands on the top of his large cane. “I say this. If they are not willing to let us police our own, if they are going to make laws against us, telling us where to be, how to breed, where we are able to live, and oh, yes, that will come soon enough, then why should we then punish our people for using their magic to do good? We put these rules in place as a way of showing the mundanes that we would not permit magic to be used against them. That we had the strength to judge our people, to guide and protect them, and that has proven to be pointless. These two used their magic out of love; they showed strength, courage and the willingness to accept the risks. Can you tell me that we’re not going to need that kind of strength in the days to come when we tell the mudanes that we will not accept their laws, their rules? And what will they do next, what terrible thing do they plan on turning into a law if we do not fight now? Perhaps we will suddenly find ourselves reduced to the state of herd animals to be housed in ghettos. Or moved from one location to the next.”

  “You’re talking about atrocities they would never commit.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Emry locked his gaze on Diana.

  “Completely. No human being would do that to another.”

  “Tell that to those still living who have
those hated numbers tattooed on their arms.” His cold voice cut through the room. “Tell that to the Romany, one branch of our own people who have been through this before, who saw their brothers, mothers, and sisters die in the fires alongside the Jews, the gays, the political voices who spoke against the actions of their government.”

  “That was years ago, before magic was accepted, and it was one country, one man pushing others.”

  Hailey tried to swallow but her throat was too dry. Had it gone this far? She tried replaying the conversations with Gem, the laws that were being tabled, the problems that had followed and the anger that was building up in the community.

  Snowballing.

  First the registration act. And schools had been required to report students with abilities for five years now, a sneaky way of keeping track, but the registration act was something deeper. Age, gender, location, ability, family information…

  The breeding act. What was the point in that? To keep their numbers down?

  Emry shook his head. “No, it’s happened before and since, and will happen again, this time openly to us. We will be blamed for a dozen little things, then it will build up as it has before. Only this time it won’t be concentration camps, or open burnings at the stake, it will be calm settlements for our kind. Walls and guards, corrective punishment for those who don’t want to be herded into one place, or perhaps sterilization for those who dare to break the breeding laws they will soon force onto our people.”

  “We’ve already told them no, we won’t support that,” Diana replied, though her voice was quieter now.

  “And we said no about the registration act. They didn’t listen. They didn’t even reply to us. Why would they with this?”

  “Great Goddess, have mercy.” Diana slumped back down into her chair, her face ashen. “Will they go that far?”

  “Yes, if we don’t stop them now. If we don’t have the courage to stand up and show the love we have for our people, for their people, for this very world we live in. This is why I say that the love these two young magic users showed is vital to this case. We cannot ignore their motivations and then try to protest and protect our people for the same reason.”