Page 121 of Magic of the Damned

“Nailah should be fine. Don’t break this barrier for anyone except me.” And then he was gone.

It was the lack of certainty about her well-being that made it so hard to keep to his directive. I wanted to know. Needed to know. But after a long internal debate, I stayed put.

CHAPTER 17

After pacing the floor for a while, I tried to distract myself with books. Desperate, again, I attempted spells from any books written in English that I could find. Feeling defenseless was the worst thing ever, and each time I remembered how close the dhole was to me and my belief that he wasn’t there to help, fear rampaged through me. There was no way I would have survived. I’d be like everyone who came in contact with him. His presence was a death sentence.

The minutes crawled by. Nothing could distract me. Peter had used me to release the shades and now they were acting as his army to retrieve me. Peter wanted to pull from the well of magic again.

He had a tremendous amount of power, so what did he need me for? To imprison the royals again. What if he could do that without me being in the underworld with them? What would be their chances of release?

Peter now had an army of shades and Awakeners. We had a fractured alliance between the Conventicle and those who wanted to take their position. Could people who wanted your position of power be trusted? After my head started to ache, I switched my thoughts to Nailah. She was somewhere in the house, and I had no idea how she was doing. Flashes of her crumpled body and Areleus’s panic-stricken face ran through my mind. He wasn’t all cruelty. He cared for her. But the cynic in me had me wondering if his show of compassion was because of her magical skills.

“Luna?” Nailah’s strained voice called from the other side of the door. Jetting to the door, I yanked it open and stopped abruptly.

She eyed the illumination of the ward and gave a tight smile to my apologetic look. I trusted her. I was just about to break it when she stopped me.

“Don’t. It was put there for a purpose.”

Was she warning me against her?

“You wouldn’t hurt me,” I said with unwavering confidence. Not sure where it came from but regarding Nailah, I had it. Whether magically influenced or not, it was steadfast.

“No. I see you. I know you are an unwilling participant. Unfortunately, you may end up as collateral damage.” She winced from pain with the slightest movement. I edged closer to the barrier, wanting to comfort her.

“I’m fine. Broken rib probably. It could have been so much worse.”

“This is a war, isn’t it?”

She nodded. “One that has been brewing for years. Inevitable, I guess,” she whispered. She lowered herself to the floor in front of the door, her face fatigued and worried.

I couldn’t let her stay on the floor in pain, when she could rest on the sofa or bed. “Come in, Nailah,” Again I moved to cross the threshold.

“No!” she blurted. Then she dropped her voice. “We’re not alone here.”

The royals were gone but the guards were there. Reading Nailah’s expression, I gathered they weren’t there to protect me. It made sense why Dominic had rushed me away.

I eased to the floor, too. “I’m tired of my life being in danger.” The constant state of panic and fear made being optimistic about this ever ending difficult.

“I know what you are.” She said it so softly, I would have missed it if I wasn’t so close to her. “Areleus has an idea. Seeing how desperate Peter was to get to you, I suspect the others have come to a similar conclusion.”

“I’m not safe, am I?”

Another wince and she held her ribs. Everything in me wanted to comfort her, but there wasn’t anything I could do for a rib fracture. Even a visit to the emergency room would be treated with pain meds and rest.

“No. You’re not. I wish I had a different answer. I’ve seen your death too many times and in so many different scenarios,” she admitted with a frown. “But at least you’re safe for now.”

It was a hollow victory because nothing was guaranteed.

“Who’s going to win?” I asked.

Her frown deepened. “As of me leaving, Peter will be the victor. I saw humans around them, which mean the supernaturals are no longer living in the shadows.”

If Nailah’s solemn expression was anything to go by, there wasn’t anything I could do. But I refused to do nothing and simply let things happen to me. I just had to figure out what to do. Sitting in contemplative silence, I avoided looking at Nailah whose eyes would flash the violet color every so often—looking at the future I held based on what had happened. Most of the time her expression was blank, but a look of desolation would peek through, letting me know my fate hadn’t changed.

“You should be resting.” Areleus’s voice boomed in the hallway before he came into view. He glared at the barrier but said nothing about it as he helped Nailah stand. He kept hold of her hand while the other one rested on her back. The scent of lilac permeated the barrier and the tension in Nailah’s shoulders relaxed.

“Better,” he said, pulling her closer to him. She nodded as they headed away. Everything about her seemed better, her gait becoming light and an easy spring in her step.

---