Page 33 of White Little Lies

“He said he gained magic from me too.”

“Well of course,” he continued like it made perfect sense. “Conduits are also amplifiers. You take the magic of others and turn it into something more. Sometimes it spills back over. The point is, now that this process has been set in motion, it will likely increase.”

I thought about bringing up the odd connection I had felt, like invisible cords between us, but one of thecords had connected me to him. And I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. So a change of subject it was. “And how did you come intoyourmagic? Did you sleep with a queen?”

He laughed. “Hardly.” He glanced at me, then turned his eyes back to the path ahead. “Do you recall the bit of my history I shared with you?”

“You mean how your mother sold you to a wizard?”

He nodded, his gaze still turned steadily ahead. “She did not sell me because I already showed magical promise. Had that been the case, she surely would have asked a higher price. I was to be little more than a servant, but the shock of such betrayal unlocked my true potential. The earth had swallowed up my family home before I knew it.”

My jaw dropped. I tried to stare at him as we walked, but tripped on a stone. He grabbed my arm before I could fall, and a spark of magic flared between us.

He released my arm as if he hadn’t felt it. “I didn’t kill them. They were all outside, watching me being dragged away. My sisters were crying, and I was terrified. It was quite the emotional affair.”

I shook my head at his words. “That’s awful.” He spoke as if it didn’t matter, but he wasn’t that old. It really hadn’t been all that long ago, and that type of wound tended to last. I should know.

He shrugged. “It all worked out well enough. Once my master knew my true potential, I became like a sonto him rather than a servant. He was still a harsh and cruel teacher, but he valued me, at least. Eventually he sent me to court as his envoy, where I met Queen Soraya. It was she who encouraged my research into jumping realms. She knew nothing of what King Francis explained to us. The severing of the realms happened so abruptly. She wanted to know why, and to be reunited with her consort.”

“You told all of this to Elena, didn’t you?”

He gave me a sheepish smile. “Yes, her involvement in this whole affair is my fault. She never even met Queen Soraya, but she is very young in her thinking, and simply wants her father to be happy.”

“How is that young in thinking?”

He lifted one shoulder in a partial shrug. “To not consider the consequences, of course.”

“Butyoudon’t consider the consequences.”

His eyes were back to sparkling. “Well I’m not that much older than her, after all.”

We both stopped abruptly as a cloud of darkness appeared before us. Sebastian formed from that darkness, looking entirely pissed off. “Thereyou are. How in the hells did you make it all the way out here?”

For once, I was actually happy to see him. “Please tell me we are not that far.”

He picked invisible lint off his white shirt, then crossed his arms. “You’re far. And I searched your usual spots before venturing further. There was a messenger for you.”

I glanced at Crispin, then back at Sebastian. “A messenger?”

“Yes, apparently your roommate left a message at the gates. Something about an angry nymph storming your apartment demanding to know what happened to her sister.”

I winced. “Seraphina?”

“I would assume so.”

I glanced around us. What a nightmare. I was doing my best to keep Braxton out of things, but I had once again brought trouble right into our living room. “Where is Gabriel? We need to get out of here.”

“He and Elena were detained by the king.”

Oh great, I had a feeling Gabriel was not going to be happy with that at all. “How long will it take us to make it back?”

“Long enough to have your nymph friend do something stupid.”

I narrowed my eyes at the devil looking entirely out of place in the lush forest around us. “You don’t care about Seraphina. You’re just trying to get me to jump again.”

He tilted his head. “Well as you know, I cannot carry you.” He smiled.

I crossed my arms, mirroring him. “But you can give me the boost to carry myself? Is that it?”

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