Mage Evolution (Book 3)

by Virginia G. McMorrow

  Maylen tossed a blonde braid over her slender shoulder and raised an eyebrow in query. “Shall I beat him senseless?”

  “Maybe. I’ll let you know.” When the young woman sent Gwynn an enigmatic look that seemed to ease him somewhat, he still refused to look at me. “I don’t know what you see in him, Maylen. Honest.”

  “Neither do I.”

  When Gwynn started to protest, I shoved him in the ribs. “Hush. We have work to do.” Anessa watched the entire manipulation with a bemused expression, torn between worry for her husband and, I guessed, a perverse pride at Gwynn’s undying loyalty to me. “Men,” I grumbled, exchanging a smile with the healer before giving Sernyn my full attention again, glad to see he’d finally relaxed. “I did have another thought while I was outside trampling Rosanna’s blossoms. Or weeds, I’m not sure.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.” Rosanna peeked over Maylen’s shoulder at her beloved gardens. “They’re on the verge of blooming. My roses, my sunflowers, my—”

  “Weeds. Given the incredible talent you and my father have shown over the years for keeping secrets from me…” I was gratified to see them both turn a brilliant shade of scarlet. “You didn’t happen to, ah,” —I glanced sideways at Gwynn, who looked puzzled— “well, since you were there for a year…” I fidgeted with my tunic sleeve, brushing away an invisible speck of dirt. “You didn’t leave any Spreebridge children behind, did you?”

  “Lords of the sea,” my father exploded in a mix of urgent emotions, his flush the deepest I’d ever seen. “No! Alex, of course not. I—”

  “All right.” Patting his hand in reassurance, I was afraid he’d faint. “Just making sure.” When Rosanna coughed with delicacy, I said, “Don’t scold. I have every right to know if I have other siblings, and so does my brother.”

  “I didn’t say a word.”

  “You were thinking volumes.”

  “I love these family gatherings.” Anders snuck a kiss to the back of my neck. “They’re always so—” When I jabbed his stomach with my elbow, he winced, “painful.”

  “Have you been in contact with this, ah, lady elder? Kimmer Frehan, is it?”

  My father smiled openly now, amused at my feeble attempt at discretion. “We exchange news from time to time.” He patted Anessa’s hand. “We are still good friends, Alex, after all these years.”

  “I’ll bet. But you don’t think—” I hesitated, reluctant to say the wrong thing, suddenly serious again.

  My father was a step ahead of me. “I believe we can trust her, if that is what you fear, but I still think you should be cautious. Kimmer has a good heart, but people change over the years, and sometimes you cannot be sure what they think or in what political situation they may find themselves. I have not seen her for many years,” he added, taking a sip of cooling tea, “and cannot guarantee she is trustworthy.”

  “Well, just don’t tell her we’re coming.”

  “We?” Anders nudged me, deftly avoiding my elbow.

  “Too old for an adventure?”

  “You know I’m not too old. As a matter of fact, before your brother interrupted us at the Seaman’s Berth, I was about to carry you home and show you how young I am.” Embarrassed, I put a hand over his mouth. “But—” He tried to talk around my fingers.

  I jabbed him quiet, and turned to Gwynn. “Are you and Maylen coming to Spreebridge, too?”

  My brother blinked in honest confusion, and tugged at his unruly hair, slanting a look at the young female scout. “Of course. But you will not try to stop us?”

  “I’d rather keep you where I can see you. And so would Father, I’d guess,” I added dryly, craning my neck to look at Anessa. “You don’t mind, do you?”

  “I wish none of you had to go, but, no, Alex, I do not mind.” Her reassuring laugh spoke of maternal affection. “I could not stop him, anyway.”

  “Maylen? I’d hate to drag you into this trouble.”

  Blonde hair catching the afternoon sunlight, she crossed her arms and leaned back against the window ledge. “Someone has to keep an eye on you.”

  “I hope you’re referring to my brother and Anders.”

  Maylen schooled her face to utter neutrality. “Of course, Mage Protector.”

  “Anders?” I shifted around until I faced him. “What about Emmy?”

  My husband looked thoughtful as he pursed his lips together. “We don’t know if she’s a target, but Emmy might be safer hidden away in Glynnswood. Harder to reach than here,” he explained to Rosanna, and then glanced at my father and Anessa for agreement, which they readily gave. “That would fit in if we all leave together. We don’t want Elena or Jackson to know where we’ve gone or why. Or, for that matter, Jules.” Anders sent Rosanna an apologetic glance, expecting her to understand the unspoken thought that if Jules knew, so would Elena, sooner or later.

  “Do we have a reason for this family holiday?” I asked, catching a ghost of humor in Anders’s gaze as he turned back to me. Suspicious, I threatened to jab him again, but he held my arms tight at my side.

  “If we send word that we’re off to Glynnswood because you’ve been cranky and depressed and contentious—”

  “No one will believe you,” I grumbled, trying to shake free of his firm hold.

  “Alex,” Rosanna patted my head as though I were a lapdog. “That’s the only thing no one would ever question.”

  Chapter Four

  “Mama! Oh, mama, come look! Hurry—”

  In response to Emmy’s unbridled shout of joy, I ran from the pantry, nearly tripping in my haste to reach the clearing behind the cottage. And stopped cold in my tracks. Anders, kneeling beside our daughter, shot me a miserable look when he saw me frozen in place, an expression that matched the unhappiness on my brother’s face.

  “Mama, watch me, please.”

  Forcing a smile to my lips, I obeyed Emmy’s proud entreaty and leaned against the wall of our cottage, attempting a casual pose that I knew fooled neither Anders nor Gwynn. I tried to ignore the pain and nausea in my gut, as my daughter held a fair-sized rock in her tiny hand, changed it to crumbly dirt, and then, lords of the sea, to water. Shoving aside my own selfish grief and replacing it with maternal pride, I knelt in front of Emmy and hugged her close, kissing her cheek.

  “That’s wonderful! Do you know not even your father can do that?” I encouraged the child, meeting Anders’s worried eyes over her curly head. “Or me, either. You’ve done something very special, sweetling. Is this the first time it’s happened?” The child pulled away from my arms and nodded, her excitement bringing a glow to her eyes. “All right. Then listen to me.” Assured of my daughter’s complete attention, I sent Gwynn and Anders a guarded look, warning them. “I think we should keep your mage talent our secret for just a little while. It’s a very special gift, and we don’t want anyone to get jealous, do we?”

  “No, Mama.” Emmy shook her head gravely as I ruffled her hair.

  “I’m so proud of you.” Giving the child one more hug, I brushed the curls from her eyes. “Run up to the manor house now with Uncle Gwynn and tell Grandpa Sernyn and Grandma Anessa what you just did.”

  The little minx beamed with pride and delight and bolted in the direction of the path leading to the manor, she stopped as another thought occurred to her. “Can I tell Maylen and Grandma Rosanna, too?”

  “Yes, of course. But Emmy—” I alerted Gwynn, unnecessarily, with a swift look. “No one else. Not until your father or I tell you. All right? Promise?”

  “I promise.” With a nod and another fierce hug for me followed by one for her father, she scampered up the path, little legs flying in haste.

  “I am sorry, Alex.” Gwynn threw over his shoulder as he started after the imp. “It happened so fast, and—”

  I waved away his apology with another forced smile. “Just keep her out of trouble. That’s all I care about.”

  As Gwynn vanished up the forest path in Emmy’s wake, Anders pulled me to my feet and wrapped his arm
s around me, letting me sag against his chest. “If I’d known she’d call for you so quickly, Alex—”

  “It’s all right.”

  “No, it’s not,” he murmured, running a gentle hand down my back. “I know it hurts you to see magic. But lords of the sea, Alex, she’s got your talent and mine. In my wildest dreams, I never thought it possible, even though it was logical.”

  “We don’t know the extent of her mage talent yet,” I mumbled into his chest. “She’ll need you to keep close watch over her as it develops.”

  “And you.”

  At his reproachful words, I shut my eyes tight against the pain and emptiness. “I didn’t expect her to be using mage talent,” I said, bitterness leaving an ugly stain on my heart. “She was so excited. I had no idea why she called me, thought only that maybe Gwynn taught her a new game.” I shivered as Anders stroked the back of my neck. “How can I keep watch over her? I can’t even keep watch over myself.”

  “That’s it.” Anders yanked at a strand of my hair. “I’m going to tell Rosanna you’re feeling sorry for yourself. And you know how she chides you.”

  “I have a right to a little self-pity,” I pouted, pulling away from his embrace.

  Dragging me back, Anders smiled. “Yes, you do. But I’ll only allow it to last a few moments.” He kissed me lightly. “There. Your time’s up. Now come along.” Without waiting for a reply, he half-dragged me up the hill.

  “Maylen and Gwynn have taken Emmy outside to distract her,” Rosanna informed us when we joined her in the parlor, sitting with my father and stepmother. “It might be best if you kept Emmy out of sight until this mystery is solved. She’s a child and excited, with good reason. You can’t expect her not to test the limits and see what else she can do, despite the fact she’s so well behaved. Word will get around, Alex.”

  When I didn’t answer, my father agreed, though I wasn’t prepared for his next comment. “Glynnswood is no better or safer than Port Alain. My people adore Emmy and would do her no harm, but since she was born” —he sighed in resignation— “they have all wondered what kind of magic she would have. Even the most well-meaning tongues will wag, Alex. If there is somewhere Anessa and I can take her for a time in privacy—”

  “There is such a place.” Rosanna looked at me as she toyed absently with her beloved husband’s ducal ring. “Alex knows where it is.”

  Adamant and irritated, I shook my head and stared out the window. Early evening shadows only added to the bleak empty feeling Emmy’s display caused in the pit of my stomach. When Rosanna called my name, I faced her with a fair amount of stubbornness. “No.”

  “He,” she said, without identifying who “he” was, “doesn’t have to know anything.”

  “It’s not right, and you know it.”

  “These are extraordinary circumstances.”

  Anders coughed diplomatically until we both stared at him in annoyance. “Who and what are you arguing about?” Though I suspected he knew who and what and why.

  Rosanna crossed her arms and leaned back in the armchair, glaring at me. “My son has a place that he keeps hidden.” She met my angry stare without blinking. “Only a few other people know its location. I’m not one of them, but Alex is.”

  My father rested his chin in the palm of his hand and looked at me curiously. “Under the circumstances, you do not think it is right to use this place without telling Jules?”

  “She’s developed a late-blooming case of ethics,” Rosanna cut in.

  I ignored her, recalling, with a shudder, my midnight journey over the terrifying bridge by Jendlan Falls to bring Jules home when his twin boys and sister were kidnapped five years earlier. That episode left me cold, not only for the personal challenge I faced by crossing that bridge alone in the dark, twice, but also for the ugly emotions and ill feelings it created among Elena, Jules, and myself for months.

  “Would it help if you tell Jules you want Emmy protected without explaining why? Must he be told about her magic? Simply that she is your daughter would be enough.” My father looked thoughtful. “He would understand. The duke has two children of his own.”

  “Perhaps this may help,” Gwynn said quietly, explaining, when I glanced in his direction, “Tell the duke that you will be there alone.”

  Irritated, I threw up my hands in disgust. “Then I’ll still be exposing his secret to other people without telling him. There have been enough lies among my family and friends. I can’t. It’s not right.”

  Anders narrowed his eyes. “Then you go with Emmy alone, and I’ll take Gwynn and Maylen to Spreebridge.”

  “I can’t. And not because of the—” Stopping the word “bridge” from bursting out of my mouth, I turned my back on Anders and stared out the window at the darkness surrounding the gardens, looking for answers. “I can’t protect Emmy.” I bit my lip hard to fight the grief. “I have no magic to wield in her defense. I can’t help her. I can’t help my own daughter.” Resting my head against the windowpane, I hugged myself tight. When Anders put his arms around my waist, I leaned back, grateful for his warmth.

  “Either you trust my son to keep Emmy’s secret safe from Elena, so Jackson doesn’t find out, or you trust Emmy to keep her own secret,” Rosanna said into the uneasy silence. “It’s your choice, Alex.”

  “And Anders’s choice.” I kept my face averted, thinking hard for a long, tense moment when my husband stayed silent. Then, “Gwynn?”

  “Yes?”

  Prepared for an argument, I faced my brother. “I need you to stay with Emmy in Glynnswood.”

  Defiant, he shook his head. “I am going with you to Spreebridge.”

  “Emmy may be in danger.”

  “So may you.”

  I smiled, torn between conflicting urges to laugh and cry. “I’ve already been hurt. Please stay with her. Please. For me.” While Gwynn considered my request, I turned to Anders, searching for approval in his eyes, uncertain what to do if he disagreed with my choice.

  “It’s all right with me,” he said softly. “Gwynn can take Emmy into the forest every now and then to allow her freedom to practice.”

  “Gwynn?”

  “All right, Alex, all right, though I am not happy. I hate to let you go so far without me.” Tugging at the rogue lock of brown hair, he announced, “Maylen will go in my place.”

  “No. She needs to stay with you and Emmy,” I countered, knowing how inseparable the two of them had become these past few years.

  A flicker of stubbornness appeared and vanished. “I do not think so.” Before I could protest, he added, “That is my condition, Alex. Take it or leave it.”

  Without answer, I glanced over at his mother, who smiled. “It is not in my nature to be so willful, Alex,” Anessa said wryly. “It must be inherited from his father.”

  * * * *

  We left Port Alain two days later on a bright sunny morning, parting company at the outskirts of Hartswood to avoid meeting any of the villagers. I pushed aside my lingering hesitation and watched Emmy go with Gwynn and her grandparents. My heart was heavy at leaving her behind. “I never quite got around to thanking you for coming with us.”

  “It will be good to have Gwynn miss me for a little while. He has been taking me for granted lately.” With a sly grin, Maylen glanced up from rummaging through her travel-worn leather pack, tossed to the ground when we decided to set up camp for the evening. “And more important, there is no need for thanks.”

  “You Glynnswood people are so damn civilized,” I muttered, flicking dirt from my scuffed boot. “Of course, there is.”

  Blue eyes slanted a mischievous glance in Anders’s direction. When he shrugged, disowning any part in this conversation, Maylen said, “Alex, from the moment Gwynn decided that I was not the pest he thought I was, with your help,” —her bright grin recalled my brother’s inexperience with the opposite sex five years earlier— “the Kelties have taken me in as one of their own. They have always treated me with warmth, but now, I, well, you un
derstand— I am with Gwynn, which means I am with them.” The young woman wrapped her dark wool cloak tighter about her slender body. “So, if I am part of the family, how can I not help you? And truly, Alex, even if I were not, I would still be here.”

  I rolled my eyes at Anders and collapsed against the tree trunk in mock despair. “She’s been with my brother too long.”

  “Be nice.” Anders looked about to suggest that I start a fire, as he always did. Instead, he busied himself gathering dry twigs.

  “I can do that,” I said quietly.

  “Sure, you can. But then you’d complain I never lift a finger to help. Be right back,” he called over his shoulder as he disappeared into the woods.

  “Don’t get lost. I’ll have to send Maylen to find you.” He grumbled something rude, and I sat cross-legged, lost in thought. Staring at the small mound of dirt my boot heels had kicked together, I focused, calling on the fire and ice which I knew was hidden deep in my soul. It just needed a little persuasion to emerge. With that stubborn mindset, I envisioned the dirt as a blazing campfire, then a whirlwind, and, finally, a pool of water. But the soft moist earth mocked me, and I kicked it hard, scattering dirt across the hard ground.

  “Alex?” Maylen knelt beside me, her gaze filled with worry and compassion. “You cannot lose faith.”

  “It’s hard not to,” I whispered, bowing my head in shame.