by Patti Larsen
Max’s gaze shifted sideways, broad shoulders twitching. “We’re to discuss the trap planned to capture Liander Belaisle, Syd. I had hoped that would be a priority for you, as much as it is for me.”
So freaking formal. What was going on with him? Every word he spoke just got my back up.
“I’m working on a lot of things,” I said, “in case you’ve forgotten. Forgive me if I’m two minutes late.”
Max’s jaw tightened, brow furrowing as his hands clenched tighter. “We need to talk about this,” he said, deep voice taking on the musical tones of his language. “I’d meant to discuss the matter long ago.” His hands unclasped, one rising to brush over his face.
Instant concern woke in me, banishing my irritation. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, met my eyes, frown gone, calm returned, though his magic continued its slow, steady spin. “I’m fine,” he said. Sighed sadly. “The time is coming, I’m afraid, you will have to come to understand a terrible truth.” He hesitated before shrugging as though to himself, making a decision internally before going on. “This may be the worst time and place to have this talk, but I see I must at least broach the topic.”
“What topic would that be?” Jiao continued to watch me with her black eyes. Creepy ass dragon girl.
“That of your continued and excessive involvement in the ongoing conflicts on this plane,” Max said.
My what?
“Syd has a responsibility to her family.” Sass sounded pissed, sparks falling from his fur as I tried to process what Max just said. Clearly the silver Persian was way ahead of me. “She can’t just abandon that responsibility and I’m shocked you would suggest such a thing.”
“I’m afraid your input isn’t required, demon cat,” Max said.
Snap.
“Then,” I snarled, taking a single step forward, “neither is the presence of your little toy over there.”
Max’s anger was real. Not just my imagination, not some paranoia or self-castigating burst of guilt I was famous for. It bubbled to the surface, showing in the rainbow burst of light in his diamond eyes, in the way his lips thinned, his power pushing down and outward while the song of the drach echoed hollow in the basement.
Waiting for his command.
The family magic answered, surging to life to protect me in response. Blue flames burst to life beneath my feet, the swirling tornado of the Hayle power rising from the ground, stirring my hair, my clothing, ruffling his robe.
I have no idea how far this would have gone, and frankly I didn’t want to know. This wasn’t my Max, not the drach leader I’d come to admire and adore. Something was horribly wrong and I needed to find out what. But, as it turned out, I didn’t have to shut him down. The sight of the family magic responding to him did that for me.
With naked horror in his eyes, he backed off, shaking his head, both hands over his face. Regret, sadness, pain, all mixed together in that diamond gaze before he bowed his head to me.
“Forgive me,” he whispered. “Sydlynn… that was terribly irresponsible.”
The Hayle power sank back into the ground, though the girls remained tense, wary. I closed the distance between us, one hand settling on his big arm.
“Max,” I said. “What?”
When he met my eyes again, his were quiet, sad. “If only I could help you understand,” he said with so much anguish I felt my throat tighten in response. “What it is you risk.”
“Then tell me.” I didn’t let him go, the egos inside me relaxing at last at the settled feeling of his magic. I purposely ignored Jiao’s black gaze and remained focused on Max.
“It doesn’t matter now,” he said. “The small things, the tiny difficulties. They may feel giant to you because you give them priority.” Like finding Femke? Helping Mom? My kids? I bristled again but held my peace. “Minutia destined to distract you from what’s truly important. Finding Belaisle and recapturing the pieces of Creator he stole.” Max’s hands rose, settled like giant weights on my shoulders. “Everything feels as though we’re rushing toward disaster, only exacerbated by you continuing to take on the pressures of every single person and conflict that passes through your life.” He sounded soft, fearful. “And because of such distractions, we can’t seem to get ahead of what must be the priority. We need to try to block out the needs of those who can’t influence the bigger picture, Syd. To make the safety of the Universe—and only the Universe—our goal before it’s too late.” He released me. “There’s so much at stake.”
Why was it I thought I was the only one who carried the bulk of the Universe's problems on my back? Standing there, looking up into the eyes of the drach leader, I knew how selfish I’d been—again. My trademark.
But. My whole life was putting out fires. Okay, I’d started a few of my own. Still, I couldn’t just walk away from the people I loved and forget they needed me.
The look on Max’s face told me he guessed what I was thinking. And helped me prioritize, at least for now. I could handle it. I could do it all. And I would. He’d see. They’d all see. And when Belaisle’s throat was under my sneaker and Dark Brother’s Universe a distant memory, I’d go back to being a mom, a wife, a friend. To happily ever after.
For now, I owed Max my full attention when he needed it.
“Then, let’s get the job done,” I said. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
Max’s faint smile was enough to cut the last of the tension between us.
Until someone interrupted. And, no matter what I’d promised myself, I just couldn’t say no.
***
Chapter Eight
The black tunnel appeared a breath before Piers Southway stepped through, a sure sign something was up. When he was in more relaxed state of mind, the tall, blond, gray eyed leader of the Steam Union would saunter through with a grin on his full, wide lips, long hair swinging to his knees over one shoulder.
This Piers looked harried, dark circles under his eyes, bloodshot and red rimmed. I abandoned Max for my sorcerer friend, ignoring the flare of disappointment from the drach. I’d deal with him later.
He must have had the same thought. “Soon,” he rumbled before the veil opened and he left, Jiao flitting along behind him. I let Max go, still shaken by his change in interaction, choosing to put Piers first.
Was that the problem? Duh, Syd.
The tunnel remained open, the familiar form of my grandmother emerging, her husband, Demetrius, right behind her. All three looked equally as grim. Damn it, I should have asked Max to stay. If he even would have been willing to listen in his present state of mind. He’d done enough meddling himself over the centuries he didn’t have the right to give me the third degree. As recently as intervening when Danilo and the werenation were on the brink of war with the rest of my plane’s paranormals. Whatever changed since then, his about face on the matter hurt more than his loss of temper.
And considering his tampering with sorcery put us in this position in the first place—
Blame was getting me nowhere and just added to the strain between me and my family. Piers qualified. Whatever it was they had on their minds, it wasn’t going to mean anything good.
“What’s happened?” Sassafras pawed at Gram’s leg. She looked so much like Mom these days I sometimes mixed up the two when I looked fast. But, Gram’s black hair had more threads of gray and her blue eyes were rimmed in more wrinkles. Still, the fierce, powerful woman I’d known, the one hiding under the damage done by the Purities all those years—Enforcer to coven leader to crazy lady to powerful sorceress—never changed. Gram scooped Sass into her arms and met my gaze with her blue eyes full of anger and concern.
Definitely not good
Demetrius leaned in and kissed my cheek with his typical sweetness while Piers paced the basement in clear agitation.
“I don’t know what to do,” he said, hands sliding over his blond hair, shoulders tight and gait jerky as the young Steam Union leader stomped, longcoat swinging around his ankles, whit
e button up creased as though he’d slept in it. “I need help, Syd.”
“With what?” Deep breaths and details, people.
Demetrius answered. “The Brotherhood,” he said, apologetic glance at his leader sliding back to me. “Somehow they’ve figured out how to convert Steam Union members to their cause.”
They what?
“Wait a minute,” Sass said, speaking for me as my mouth hung open in shock. “Didn’t the three of you—along with Apollo Zornov—just inform Syd and myself not too long ago once a sorcerer’s power was woken and attached to a particular group, that was the way things were? End of story, bring the doggie bag, check please?”
Gram sighed, one hand absently stroking his fur. “So we believed,” she said.
“Turns out that’s not the case any longer.” Piers came to a shaking halt, expression torn between anguish and rage. “And no, it’s not a mistake. I’ve felt the change in allegiance first hand myself. My people are being forced to accept the Brotherhood power as their own. And once the shift is made…” He looked away, frozen, lost.
“They’re gone,” Demetrius said, finishing for Piers. “The alteration changes their power at a fundamental level. Steam Union sorcerers only use free power, build our own base, create our own source of energy. Unlike the Brotherhood who steal what they use.”
I knew that already. “So, why are they switching?” And how were they?
“They aren’t,” Gram said, teeth gritted, eyes flashing as though I was slow and needed to catch the hell up already. I was already irritated with Max so she wasn’t exactly invading new territory. “That’s the problem. They are being forced into the change.”
“How?” Okay, stupid damned question, Syd. Even I knew that.
Piers tsked. “If I knew that,” he said with a growl, “I’d do something about it.”
I shook my head, angry response on the tip of my tongue, when my vampire interceded, the voice of reason.
You recall, she sent, droll as usual, young Apollo mentioned something to do with the Steam Union.
So he did. “Let me get this straight.” I drew a deep breath, as much to steady myself as to make sure they were listening and not reacting. “The Brotherhood has found a way to forcibly alter the sorcery of Steam Union members and recruit them into their ranks.” Nods, all three of them, while Sass stared at me, quiet and watchful. “And there’s no way to switch them back?”
“Not that we’ve discovered,” Gram said. “The harder part to understand is their unwillingness to return to the Steam Union.”
“As though, once turned, they are no longer the people we knew,” Demetrius said. He sounded devastated and I wondered how many old friends he’d finally reconnected with were being lost to the Brotherhood.
“There’s no way Belaisle is managing this alone,” I said. “The amount of magic required to pull off something like this would have to be immense.”
“Agreed,” Piers said. “That’s why we finally came to you.”
“Finally?” Damn it. “How long has this been going on?”
“About a week,” Demetrius said.
Stupid, short sighted, idiotic—
Small stuff, Max’s absent voice nonetheless whispered in my head. I couldn’t bring myself to believe it. Belaisle was tampering with magic on this plane, possibly—though I had zero proof and was grasping for justification straws—with a plan to bring the Order to our Universe. Not small stuff, not without proof that was the case. Which made it my business.
There. That was easy.
“We wanted to handle this alone,” Piers said, voice so deep and graveled I stopped my train of insults instantly. The amount of pride it took for him to come to me…
Sigh.
“Syd, it’s only been a few so far,” Gram said. “A handful here and there. But, this morning, we lost three members, all of whom have been with the Steam Union since they were children.”
“If Belaisle has figured out a way to alter the source of a sorcerer’s power,” Piers said, voice shaking, “the Steam Union and all our members are sitting ducks just waiting for him to come along and absorb us into the fold.”
I nodded. “Got it.” And thought about it a moment in the chill of the dark basement. “Will it work the other way around?” I met three sets of eyes, all registering first shock, then speculation. Better than the despair that had been growing between us. “If we can figure this out…”
“We could effectively wipe the Brotherhood from the plane forever.” Piers exhaled, smiling a little. “Leave it to you to show us the silver lining.”
“Back up the truck, my friend,” I said. “We still don’t know how they are doing it.” And yet, didn’t I? At least, I had a vague inkling—a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach—I might have a guess. “Until we do, this is pure speculation.”
“Hope we’ll take,” Gram said.
Max. I called out to the drach leader, for the moment forgetting the brief incident we’d shared. Until his mind met mine.
Are you ready? There was that irritation again. Brought everything flooding back.
No, I sent, answering his with some of my own despite my best intentions. I need you to consult on something.
I don’t have time for little plane problems any longer, Syd, he sent. I thought I made that clear.
When those little problems are likely caused by the pieces of Creator in Belaisle’s possession, I shot back, you might want to take a minute.
Max’s hesitation turned to apology. I’ll be right there.
Damned right.
A moment later the veil parted, the big drach joining us. I felt myself relax a tiny bit when I realized Jiao wasn’t with him for once. A concession on his behalf, an olive branch? Maybe. I’d take it.
Piers told Max everything while the drach leader listened with his old patience seemingly intact. When the Steam Union sorcerer was done, Max nodded slowly, ponderous and serious.
“It is possible,” he said to me. “Though how he is accomplishing it, I do not know.”
“What’s possible?” Piers had returned to desperate, looking back and forth between Max and me.
“That Belaisle has figured out a way to access the power of Creator,” I said. “The two pieces he stole might not have all of the magic of the Universe, but each contains a portion of Creator herself.”
“If he has uncovered a way to use the power of Creator,” Max said, “this could simply be a test to see how far he can go.”
I shuddered slightly at the thought. “You think he’ll come after the rest of the magicks next?”
“Who knows his ultimate plan?” Max sighed. “No, we know his plan. To bring the Order here, to allow Dark Brother access to our Universe. Something which will likely lead to the downfall of everything we know and love.”
We all fell silent, quiet and tense in the dark basement.
“All the more reason,” I said at last, knowing Max was right, that this small stuff didn’t matter as much as the larger picture, but struggling to accept I couldn’t fix everything all at once, “to capture Belaisle.”
Max’s diamond eyes agreed with me, faint smile returning. The drach I knew looked back at me, again making me wonder if Jiao had something to do with his previous attitude. She wasn’t here, was she? And I had my Max back.
“You three just do your best,” I said before kissing Sass on the top of his head. “Hold down the fort, okay?” He nodded, forlorn as I joined Max at the slice in the veil he created. “We’ll keep you posted on Belaisle. Once we have him in custody, we’ll find a way to reverse the process.” Or, I hoped we would. So many promises I’d made over the years. Would this be one I couldn’t keep?
I left them behind, the veil engulfing me, exhaling my tension as Max took drach form. I settled on his back, power holding me in place while his vast wings carried us through the darkness. Belaisle’s ability to track me was our only real weapon against him. If we could set a trap and capture him, using his own advantag
e against him, we might be able to get ahead at last.
Sydlynn. Max’s voice was soft, sad. I’m sorry, but we need one more to complete the trap.
What? I met his eyes as he turned his now giant head, winging through the dark, diamond eyes pinpoints of light. Who?
You know who. He banked back toward the way we’d come, hovered. We need the Gateway.
My son. Right. I’d blocked it out, even though the thought had crossed my mind not so long ago. Mothering instincts, check. I drew a shaking breath. We needed Gabriel.
I can’t do this to him again. Not after last time, the hurt, the damage done. He’d made a mistake, I’d allowed it. And my seven-year-old sweets had been shattered by it. How could I ask him to risk himself again?
We have no choice. Max’s regret was sheathed in firm assurance. If we want to lure Belaisle, we have to use a Gateway.
One of these times, I said, fear in my chest, he’s going to figure out the source of that Gateway, Max.
He may. Max sighed. Gabriel is more than capable of taking care of himself, despite his age. No one can hold him if he chooses to go. You know this. He is the Gateway, Sydlynn. He is the path between planes, the veil itself lives inside him. I didn’t know that. And as much as you see him as a little child with a human heart, he is also Creator’s child.
Let’s go get him. Because no matter how I looked at it, how I tried to justify leaving him out of it, I knew Max was right about my son. He was meant for bigger things. I’d fought my own destiny long enough to know it never worked out, no matter Quaid’s protests to the contrary. That Fate won in the end.
Max dove for the edge of the veil while one thought and one thought alone drove a spike through my chest. Not worry for my son. He’d be fine, I knew it. Not fear for Belaisle discovering Gabriel’s identity. No, none of that bothered me as much as it should have.
The single thought sticking a blade through my ribs and into my heart was much more mundane.
Quaid was going to kill me.
***
