Page 62 of Temple of Magic and Bone

Orcus didn't put her down. He just turned his attention to Vanth. He fought the urge to touch his hair and wipe some of the blood from his face.

"He took after your side. Probably a good thing," Orcus said, and his magic brushed against Vanth's. It curled against his father's like an embrace. "Power is mine, though. Good. It means it worked, and he can deal with the Veil while I take you home."

"You're not taking my mother anywhere," Vanth said, stepping towards them.

Orcus raised a brow. "I need to take her to Aita in order to remove this curse she has put on herself. You have your own woman to take care of, son."

Elektra had come up behind him, and her filthy hand closed around his.

Vanth moved towards them and kissed his mother's forehead. "Come back soon, okay?"

"I will. But not too soon," his mother replied, staring up at Orcus with all kinds of feelings in her eyes. For the first time in his life, Vanth got to experience the horror of the thought of his parents having sex. He pulled a face.

"Before you both abandon me, you mind telling me how to close this tear once and for all," he asked, his eyes turning to the gaping hole in front of them.

"You are the spell, Tarael. We thought we could heal the rift, me being from one side of reality and Eiline being the other. But we couldn't. We could only patch it until you were ready to heal it. Don't you understand? You're a part of the world on both sides of the Veil. You are alivingVeil," Orcus explained patiently. "Don't think too hard about it. Just let your power guide you."

Orcus walked towards the darkness with Eiline in his arms. He paused and said over his shoulder. "For what it's worth, I'm proud of you." Eiline leaned up and was kissing Orcus as the darkness closed around them.

Vanth put his hands on his hips. "That's not fucking helpful at all! Get back here, the both of you!"

But only the cold darkness remained.

35

After it was made clear that they weren't coming back, Vanth cursed under his breath.

"Parents. They are all the same," Elektra huffed from beside him. "What was the point of giving us all those books to figure out a spell if we couldn't use it?"

Vanth pinched the bridge of his nose, and then the answer occurred to him. "When I was young, my mother used to have this game where she would give me half a spell and get me to figure out the other half and what its purpose was. As I got older, the game worked less and less because my magic became more intuitive."

Elektra frowned. "Maybe the spell was for me, not for you. I can weave it to a point, but I don't have the power to activate it. You do. Maybe we are meant to do it together."

"You two idiots are mates as well, which means you can channel each other's magic," Azhdaha said, making them both jump. He was back in his human form and was dressed in a sleeveless leather shirt and pants, edged in gold. "You forgot I was here? How rude."

"Not everything is about you, dragon," Vanth replied, forgetting his manners altogether.

Azhdaha gave him a long, long look. "It should be. Now, will you get on with it? I have a city to run."

"What are you even doing here? You said you weren't interested in any 'unsubstantiated claims' about the city being in danger."

The dragon looked bored. "I substantiated them. Now, hurry up and serve your purpose."

Vanth growled at him, and the dragon only smiled and made a small 'get on with it' gesture at him.

"Vanth? Let's do this, and then we can go back to the library at the temple, and you can look for as long as you like," Elektra coaxed him. "After a long shower, of course."

Vanth liked the way she said 'shower' with her little come-fuck-me smile. Right. He had things to do.

"Can we help in any way?" a reaper asked. She was built like a Valkyrie with pale white hair. There were less than twenty of them still upright.

"Thank you for the offer, but we have got this. Maybe keep watch on the tear to make sure nothing tries to come through at the last minute?" Vanth replied, knowing that they needed to feel useful in some way.

Vanth and Elektra walked where the tear became darkness. All the hairs on Vanth's arms and neck were electrified. He could feel the storm of magic just begging for him to play with. It felt bigger, but it still felt like his own.

A child of both worlds. A living Veil, Vanth thought. He had been called worse. He only hoped that the faith his parents had in his abilities paid off and they didn't end up making the tear worse.

"You ready?" Elektra asked, her hair whipping about in the currents of power.

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