Page 28 of Twisted Magic

“Not at all, Jaddy boy.” Katica scratched between the goat’s little horns and the pretty creature leaned against her thigh with all evidence of real affection. “I’m happy to return your father to human form, so you can talk about whatever you wish, though I’m sure you must know that being a brilliant conversationalist is not his forte. As soon as you tell me what I want to know.” Her disdainful gaze raked Selly, her nose wrinkled as if she could smell the sex on her. “After all, you had your fun, making me wait. Now you pay the price.”

“Come on, Seliah,” Jadren said, ignoring his mother. “We’re leaving.”

Playing along, Selly nodded, and bent to unbuckle the shoes again.

“Allow me,” Jadren said, crouching to do it himself, wrapping caressing fingers around her calf and ankle, looking up at her with an intimate and knowing smile.

“So much for your supposed desire to speak with your father,” Katica sneered, clearly casting about for a hook to plant in Jadren that would stay put long enough for her to reel him in. “Your loyalty to and affection for him are weak, indeed.” She snorted. “Of course, you always were a randy thing, unable to control where your dick led you.”

Selly felt her face heating at the injustice of that insult. Even though she knew full well Katica was baiting Jadren, for her to say that about the effects of Jadren’s self-healing, which his mother had used to manipulate him in ways that still gave him nightmares, was an exceptionally low blow.

Jadren didn’t so much as glance at his mother, didn’t even twitch. “I cannot control what you do with your familiar. Since you are refusing to cooperate, to negotiate in good faith so I can talk with my father, I have no other choice but to walk away. Forever.”

“I forbid you to leave,” Lady El-Adrel declared.

“Sorry to inform you: your orders mean nothing to me.” He finished unbuckling the other heel and uncoiled gracefully to offer a hand to Selly, steadying her as she stepped out of the shoes. Finally, he looked at his mother. “We’re leaving.”

“I can stop you.”

“You’re welcome to try,” he replied with silky menace. “Permit me to remind you how easily I dispatched Ozana. Do you truly want to risk me doing the same to you?”

Her fingers whitened, gripping the goat’s leash. The goat danced with uneasy concern. “I’m your mother.”

“Believe me, I’m well aware.”

“You would never harm me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, dear Maman.” Jadren’s words sliced out, sharp and ruthless. “Have you forgotten how much pain you’ve given me? Anything I did to you would be a drop in the ocean compared to the cruelty you’ve rained down upon me my entire life.”

Katica drew herself up, more rattled than Selly had ever imagined she could be. “You know very well that everything I did was to make you better, to refine and hone your magic. Sacrifices are often necessary for great breakthroughs.”

Jadren shook his head, expression flat. “Even if I could forgive what you did to me, I can never forgive what you did to Fyrdo, to Seliah.”

“They were simply incidental to what I hoped to accomplish with you,” she replied almost desperately. “What I did accomplish! You can wreak destruction like no other wizard in the Convocation. Perhaps in all of Convocation history. You are unprecedented. Because of me. You should be on your knees thanking me for what I’ve done for you.”

“I never wanted this, Maman,” Jadren said, his voice hushed, shaking with emotion. “I don’t want to be a killing machine, a monster.”

“You are not a monster,” she spat back. “You are the next stage of evolution, of something greater and better. You’re a bleeding fool if you can’t recognize that.”

“I’m done with this conversation. Goodbye, Lady El-Adrel.” He turned to the open balcony doors, guiding Selly with a hand on her back. It trembled, and she wanted more than anything to comfort him, knowing she couldn’t because he wouldn’t want to display any sign of weakness.

“I’ll just bring you back,” his mother warned. “And the next time, I’ll simply lock you both in the testing cages rather than wasting my breath giving you the courtesy of treating you like family. It hurts me, wounds me to the quick, that my own child would be so ungrateful.”

Jadren paused, his back to her. “Think very carefully about putting this viper to your breast. If you come after us again, I will decimate your house. Understand that this is within my power. I will lay waste to everyone in it, including you.”

“Including your father?” she taunted. “Because I’ll make sure he dies before I do.”

Jadren glanced over his shoulder. “Better dead than stuck as a goat for the rest of his life.”

“Oh, for the sake of the dark arts!” Katica huffed. “Fine. So much fuss over nothing. You always were stubborn about the wrong things. Talk to him, if it’s so important to you.” Her magic flashed, an immaterial lightning bolt momentarily eclipsing the daylight, and Fyrdo appeared, fully clothed in a suit that matched his wizard’s, his auburn hair as bright as his son’s, though somewhat disarrayed, his expression flustered.

“What…” He looked around, spotted Jadren and Selly. “Jadren! Seliah… It’s so good to see you both, but… how?” Starting toward them with open arms, he halted at Katica’s hiss of warning. Visibly pulling himself together, he turned his attention to Lady El-Adrel, who eyed him with a decidedly jaundiced look. “My love, my wizard,” he gushed, “how may I serve you?”

The change in Fyrdo from concerned—and overjoyed—father to obsequious servant set Selly’s teeth on edge, but she held her tongue. Jadren had a plan to play out this little scene and she wouldn’t disrupt it.

“Our son wishes to have a conversation with you,” Katica said, making it sound as if Jadren wanted to confer with worms, as if he hadn’t just won a significant contest of wills with her for the privilege. She seemed intent on behaving as if nothing of note had occurred. “So: converse.” She waved a hand in noblesse oblige. “Shall I call for tea?”

“The terms were that I talk with him alone,” Jadren specified. “You can wait outside.”

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