by SA Magnusson
Ariel took a step back. “And this weapon you lost will help you in some way?”
“It will help me deal with the people who did this to him.”
“I didn’t take you as one for vengeance, Dr. Michaels.”
“It’s not so much about vengeance as it is about stopping a dangerous threat working through my city.”
“It’s your city, now?”
“It is when it ends up in my hospital. It is when it ends up hurting someone I care about. And it is when it comes after me.”
Ariel stared at me for a moment longer. Power surged along my spine, a biting cold. It wasn’t death, but it was magic that was incredibly powerful. I waited for her to shift, but it never came.
“I will help you look for this weapon, but it’s unlikely that it is here.” I sighed and Ariel leaned toward me. “I thought the archer made it clear you didn’t need any supplemental assistance to perform your magic,” Ariel said.
“The sword helps me draw more power.”
“The demon sword.”
“Demon. Daemon. Either way, it allowed me to draw upon more magic than I was otherwise able to do. I want to stop them, and I need to be able to access more magic than I could.”
“Or perhaps you need more help than you had,” Ariel said.
“Aron tried.”
“I wasn’t talking about Aron.”
11
The inside of the shifter den was much the same as when I’d been here the last time. It was cozy, practically burrowed out of the earth, and formed by trees that ringed a narrow clearing. A plush carpet covered the floor, and somehow they managed to have a fire crackling in a fireplace along the wall. Two naked shifters stood near the doorway, blocking access. Or, more likely, they were keeping us here. Either way, we were going nowhere.
“There’s so much nakedness,” Jen whispered. She perched on one of the chairs and hadn’t taken her eyes off the nearest shifter. Like most of the shifters—well, all of them—he was heavily muscled and stood completely unconcerned about his nakedness. I didn’t know which would be worse—having the shifter standing guard in human form or in wolf form. At least in human form, I thought we could converse, but the shifters made no attempt to speak to us.
“You get used to it eventually.”
“You do?”
I shrugged. “I imagine that you would.”
“And Aron spent time around here?”
“I doubt he wandered around here as naked as the shifters.”
“What if he did? You’d have to be pretty confident in your masculinity to wander through here with these guys. It’s like we’re at the Playboy mansion, but for women.”
“Ariel is here,” I said.
“She is, but she’s sort of like the Hugh Hefner.”
“There are other female shifters,” I said.
“And I haven’t seen a single one of them,” Jen said.
“Only because you keep staring at the men. And by staring, you know I mean leering.”
“It doesn’t matter what you say, I’m perfectly content to keep gazing longingly at either of them.” She had raised her voice toward the end, and one of the men turned toward her. Jen winked at him. “How you doin’?”
I laughed. “I doubt they will understand your Friends reference.”
“It doesn’t change the fact that I want to know how they’re doing. I’d be content being caught between the two of them.”
“Gross,” I said, shaking my head.
“What? You keep bringing me around these incredibly attractive men, but you don’t want me to have any of them? Just because they’re a part of some magical society doesn’t mean you get to decide to hold back the goods. What kind of friend does that?”
“The kind of friend who wants to keep you alive.”
“No. That’s the kind of friend who keeps me from realizing my true potential.”
“Fine. As soon as Ariel is here and I can get my sword, I will leave you to see what either of them might be interested in.”
I leaned back, closing my eyes as I tried to catch a moment of rest. The longer I could sleep, even if for a few moments, the more likely it was that I would have a return of my magic. Right now, that was what I needed most of all. I didn’t like being without a connection to power, especially in a place like this, and even more so with everything that we had been dealing with lately.
Jen sat quietly, and I was thankful that she allowed me a few moments to relax and recuperate. I drifted, though I don’t know how long I managed to sleep, and when I awoke, I felt a little refreshed. It was enough to recharge me, if only a little bit.
What had startled me awake?
Jen leaned on me, and it seemed that she had fallen asleep, too, though the guards were still there, neither of them having moved.
I carefully extricated myself away from Jen and looked around the den. “Where is Ariel?” I asked the shifters.
“She will return when she returns,” the shifter said.
“She’s been gone for a while,” I said.
“You asked her to look for something on your behalf,” he said.
How late was it? I didn’t have any sense of time here in the shifter den and had no idea how long I had been sleeping. I reached for my magic, feeling it crawl up from deep within me. Satisfied that I could reach it if I needed, I released my connection and started pacing.
Eventually, we would need to get back to the Cities. I would have to round in the morning, and I didn’t know if Jen was on duty. I wasn’t going to be the reason that the both of us ended up in trouble with the program.
“You’re going to wear out my carpet,” Ariel said.
I spun around. Ariel stood in the doorway, her hands empty.
“Your sword was not recovered.”
“Are you sure? The Great One would have—”
Ariel shook her head. “I’m quite certain. Those who were involved have disappeared, and it’s likely that they have possession of it.”
I stopped my pacing and frowned. “Those who were involved? Those were the shifters that attacked me when we arrived, weren’t they?”
Ariel came into the room and stood in front of the hearth. The two guards disappeared and closed the door behind them. Magic surged, and I could feel the protection placed around the room. “It has not been completely seamless of a return. There are some who don’t believe that the power of one of the Great Ones was borrowed, and there are those who don’t care. They view the challenge as having been successful, and because of that, my position is a little precarious,” she said.
“Are you still the alpha of the Iron Range pack?”
“I’m still the alpha, but my pack is smaller than it had been. Another has splintered off and has taken with them those who thought to challenge me.”
“Why are you telling me this? I thought pack business was pack business?”
“Because you are the reason that I am here in the first place.”
“That’s not what you were saying out there,” I said.
“I cannot show weakness to the others. Even those who were instrumental in ensuring my return.”
“Such as John?”
“John would never betray me, but he is a shifter. Strength is all that we appreciate.”
“Then why not go and bring the others back into the fold?”
“In time, but for now, I am taking the cautious approach,” she said.
“Why?”
She took a seat across from me. “There was enough disruption during the Great One attack. The others need to see the value of a unified pack, and I’m willing to allow them a little flexibility for now, but eventually, they will need to return.”
“Is there anything that I can do?”
Ariel turned and looked at me. “You are not of the pack.”
“That didn’t stop me from helping the last time,” I said.
“And yet, it should have,” she said.
“All I want to do is—”
&n
bsp; Ariel growled softly. “I understand what you want to do. And yet, you yourself have continued to separate yourself from this world. You stay a part of the non-magical world.”
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to help you. I wouldn’t have known about these rune mages.”
“Tell me about them.”
I described what I could and Ariel watched, her mouth pressed in a line. “I’m not familiar with this type of magic, but then again, it sounds as if it is a derivative of mage magic.”
“That’s just it. Aron didn’t think that it was. He was familiar with it but never had the chance to explain what he knew. Could it be vampires?”
“Vampire magic would not be like this. They don’t have magic the same way as you do, or the mages. They don’t even have magic the same way as shifters do. They have qualities, at least according to them. Those qualities allow them certain enhancements, but performing this would require magic, especially if you say that these markings draw from the person who places them.”
“At least according to what Barden said.”
Ariel grinned at me. “I find it intriguing that you are so willing to work with the Dark Council.”
“Why is that intriguing?”
“Because there are so few among the mage council who would even acknowledge that there is a reason to work with them.”
“Because they don’t want to acknowledge the source of their magic.”
Ariel leaned toward me. “And what is that source?”
Should I share with Ariel what I suspected? It wasn’t even what I knew, it was only a suspicion. “From what I observed, shifter magic is somehow derived from the power of the Great Ones,” I said, watching Ariel.
“There has been no attempt to hide the fact that we are descended from the Great Ones. We celebrate that fact. Or had.”
“I suspect the mage council magic is tied to the fae.”
“Only the mage council magic?”
“No.”
Ariel started to smile, reaching the conclusion quickly. “The Dark Council is tied to the Unseelie.”
“I think so. But how did you know that? Why wouldn’t you think it was the reverse?”
“Because the mage council has long maintained lines of communication with the Seelie queen.”
“I’m not sure whether it’s real or not.”
“Even having the suspicion is enough,” Ariel said. “And what did your grandparents say when you mentioned that to them?”
“They didn’t know what to make of it.”
“Didn’t know what to make of it, or refused to believe it?”
“They didn’t want to believe it.”
“And what made you come to this conclusion?”
“It was a conversation I had with Solera.”
Ariel barked out a laugh. “If it came from Solera, then it probably is accurate.” She leaned back, a wide grin spreading on her face. “Oh, that’s just wonderful.”
“I’m not sure you should take such joy in this.”
“And why not? There are plenty of times when the council has been all righteous about their role in everything. If you ask them, they would make you think that they were close to the hand of God. Instead, they might be closer to the other side of the Veil.”
“But so are you,” I said.
“That’s beside the point,” she said. “We don’t strut around claiming we are above the rest. We recognize the limits of our power.”
I hadn’t realized the extent to which the council had offended others. The shifters might work with them, but they did so grudgingly, and even then, it might be that they were simply biding their time for an opportunity to push away the influence that came from them.
“What do you intend to do about these rune mages?” Ariel asked.
“I intend to try to figure out who they are and who they’re working with. They would’ve had to have gained the knowledge somewhere, and it doesn’t appear that it came from anyone within the Dark Council, at least that’s not what Barden said.”
“Are you suggesting that came from the mage council?”
“I would find that unlikely,” I said.
“But not impossible,” Ariel said. She stood and began to pace, making her way around the room slowly. There was something of a prowl to it. Even when she was in human form, she had characteristics that were very animalistic and left me more than a little unsettled. “If it’s one of the council, then you run the risk of confronting them. It could be that is the reason that you were attacked when you went to the archives with the archer.”
I hadn’t considered that. No one had come to help, which had surprised me at the time, especially as there were so many others along the street who supposedly lived there and would have been able to help. My grandparents had only found me in the morning, far after the attack.
“You think someone in the council was trying to keep us from discovering the key?” I asked Ariel.
“I don’t know. I’m just saying that it is a possibility. If there is someone in the council that is responsible for whatever it is that’s taking place, there would have to be a reason.”
Considering all of the attacks that had been taking place recently, I wondered if it were somehow connected. And if it was, there would have to be an agenda, but what would it be? This was different than attempting to summon a demon king, and even different than teaching a couple of idiot mages the necessary spell to summon a deadly creature across the Veil. This was an attack on people who served the council.
“I have a hard time believing it came from the council.”
“It wasn’t the council. It could simply be someone trying to upset the status quo.” Her gaze turned to the door and she started to shift before catching herself and transforming back into human form. “People are always searching for power.”
“To what point?” I asked.
“Power. What other point would there be?”
“In order to do this, it requires giving up power. From what Barden has said, the mage who places the rune is the reason the bearer is given power. Whatever it is involves a sacrifice of power, not a gaining of power.”
Ariel growled softly. “You make a valid point, as much as I hate to admit it. And if that’s the case, then we need to get the archives to see what the council might know about these runes.”
“Without permission?”
“Do you fear breaking in?”
“I’d fear drawing the attention of the council,” I said. It was bad enough that I now had Solera’s attention. I still didn’t know what she might do about it, but I had little doubt there would be some sort of revenge exacted, especially if she suddenly decided that whatever role I played was over.
“You are the granddaughter of Veran and Cyn Michaels. I have a hard time believing that the council would do anything to influence that.”
“I don’t know. My grandparents were concerned enough to conceal me from the council for my entire life.”
“Only because they thought you were a dark mage.”
“Right.”
“And yet you are not a dark mage. You have to embrace who you are and what you are, however you decide that should be.”
“Is this your I am woman hear me roar cheer?”
“It is nothing of the sort. I would encourage anyone to embrace the power within them. If your power involves you serving as a physician, then so be it. If it involves you embracing the magic that rages within you, then so be it. In your case, you are both. I would have you embrace both of them.”
There was something to her words that struck a chord within me. It was why I had felt so divided. “I don’t know how.”
“That will be your challenge, Kate Michaels. Only you can decide what that entails, but when you do, and when you reach that person, you will be even more powerful than you are now, and perhaps you will be able to save those you have failed to in the past.”
Ariel stood proudly, her back straight, her nakedness a taunt. Maybe
she was right. I would never imagine standing the way she did, completely exposed and yet owning it in the way that she did. She was powerful in her nudity, and powerful in the person that she was, and powerful in a way that I had never been and didn’t know if I could ever be.
There was a way for me to find confidence of my own. I had embraced my role as physician, regardless of whatever Ariel might claim, but my role as mage—or whatever it was that I was?—I hadn’t embraced that. I still kept that hidden, exposing it only to the handful of people I deemed safe. With the loss of Aron, there were even fewer people that I deemed as such.
She studied me and a smile crawled across her mouth. “Are you deciding whether or not you disagree?”
“No,” I said. “I’m deciding whether or not we need to go now or if we need to wait until tomorrow.”
“And why would we wait?”
“Because I still have to work tomorrow.”
Ariel tilted her head, frowning. “Work? What is that like?”
“Right now it’s pretty terrible, but I’m optimistic that in time, it will improve.”
“Time allows many things to improve,” Ariel said softly.
I met her eyes and felt the pain that the two of us shared, the pain that I didn’t know how many others would have felt. There had been a part of me that feared coming to meet with Ariel, but it had been necessary. And I was glad that we had.
It didn’t make me miss Aron any less, and I suspect it didn’t make Ariel miss him any less, but sharing this moment with someone who had once cared about him—and quite deeply, from what I could tell—allowed the two of us to mourn.
She glanced down at Jen. “Wake up your friend. It’s time for us to return to the city.”
12
Night had fallen in full by the time we were back in the city. It had been pitch black for much of the drive and I hadn’t dared use any sort of spell to try to transfer us from one place to the next, but found that I hadn’t needed to, either. Ariel and her two shifter guards—Jayson and Terrence—had used some sort of shifter magic on the car to allow us to travel much more quickly. It was a similar spell to the one Aron used, though this didn’t give me the same dizzying sense of speed. It was almost as if we raced along, skipping sections of the highway.
