Page 91 of The Spell Caster

“You’re being very dramatic,” Cedar Grey spoke up before anyone else had the chance. “I asked you to keep the circle spell to yourself until we had a chance to investigate it. That kind of announcement shouldn’t be done in a panic.”

“It’s been weeks! You weren’t going to tell the Arcaenum!”

Quince held up his hands in what was supposed to be a calming gesture. “Let’s settle down a bit. Some of the councilors did know about this, but we’ve all been occupied with other important matters.”

“What would it serve me to keep this kind of knowledge to myself?” Grey spread his hands out widely. “I apologize to the Arcaenum for not bringing this forward more quickly.”

Councilor Rhodes had retaken her seat, looking fatigued. “You blocked my agenda item at the last meeting. And now I hear you’re representing us to our allies. That’s a matter for the full Arcaenum.”

“What about the demons? What do they want? You said there’s a monarchy. Are they lost to Inperium?” Linnea’s eyes looked wide and serious.

“Our familiars are loyal,” Daire said. “The spell casters have had nothing but cooperation from what I’ve seen.”

“That is what I’ve been trying to ascertain.” Councilor Grey clasped his hands behind his back. “The presence of one of them in our realm raises the odds that they’re playing both sides somehow.”

“Would you stop with that? Costi isn’t a spy. He’s been with Northern Sea since he was little.” The frustration in my voice probably wasn’t helping my case.

“But he is… what they say he is?” Rhodes’s ancient blue eyes flickered with something sad. Pity, maybe. “You haven’t denied that.”

My ears rang. “Yes,” I admitted, barely hearing myself.

All the attention in the room was now focused on Costi and me.

“This is some sort of trick,” Daire said. “A mistake, maybe. The Northern Sea guardians have known this witch his whole life.”

“Show them,” Costi murmured.

“What?” I turned to face him. “No! You’re barely upright,” I hissed.

The corner of his lips turned up a tiny fraction. He murmured for my ears only, “I’m fine, baby. Sick and tired of all these secrets. Give these bastards a show.”

This was a gamble. There was a world of difference between them hearing about something and seeing it with their own eyes. But if they could accept that this was a natural summoning and beyond our control, they might be sympathetic. If we showed them, there would be no turning back.

“Are you sure?”

With a grim nod from Costi, I… banished him. My stomach swooped in fear as he disappeared.

The guardians who’d been holding him jumped back in surprise. Gasps punctuated the small blip in reality, and a shocked chatter rose from the assembled witches. Quince surged forward and ran his hand through the space where Costi had been.

My body trembled, and I tried to slow my breathing and remember how to call him back.

Oh fate, what if I can’t do it?

I stumbled through the internal invocation sequence and felt it catch. Barely a moment later, Costi reappeared beside me. He looked as human as ever.

“Trippy as fuck,” he declared, then slumped over me heavily with a grunt. Why did this man, twice my size, keep thinking I could hold him up when he was injured? The two guardians grabbed him and pulled him upright again before we collapsed into a heap.

“How is this possible?” Rhodes’s voice was like thunder.

“It was a natural summoning,” I said faintly. “I was three, he was seven. We don’t remember what happened. They found him playing with me and assumed he was a survivor of the attack in Greece. But I must have… pulled him out of wherever he was before. No one thought he wasn’t an ordinary kid. Neither of us had any idea until now.”

“Layla’s magical ability has always been advanced, even as a child,” my mother chimed in. She was looking at Costi and me speculatively. “It makes sense that she attracted a more powerful familiar than usual.”

Something so obvious dawned on me that I barked out a laugh, drawing confused gazes. Costi was my familiar. It wasn’t just some kind of strange bond, we were… functional. We had cast a spell the night Northern Sea was attacked. A huge spell.

“You weren’t aware of what you are? You don’t remember your life before coming here?” Rhodes addressed Costi.

“I remember some,” he rumbled, glancing down. “Didn’t seem like anything strange.”

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