Page 143 of The Shadow Wand

Anger continues to lash into a conflagration through my lines, even as I struggle to rein myself in.

“I have,” Lukas calmly returns.

“Her fireline,” Vogel says, fondling my hand. “It’s strong. Can you feel her grandmother’s power in her?”

Lukas smiles. “I can.”

Vogel’s penetrating gaze falls back on me as he abruptly tightens his grip, his nails digging into the skin of my wand hand.

I shiver and pull in a shocked breath as dark branches snake through me, relentlessly flowing through my escaped fire and over Lukas’s shield as I’m suddenly pinned in place and unable to push Vogel out. Vogel’s Shadow power contracts around Lukas’s shield, sending a slash of pain through my lines.

Vogel narrows his chilling gaze on me, then gives me a disturbingly knowing look as he withdraws his probe. Seeming satisfied, he releases my hand, and I pull in a breath of air, my lungs freed from the suffocating press of his power.

Vogel suddenly presses his Shadow Wand against my hand, and I recoil in fear.

Lukas’s reaction is immediate—his invisible affinity branches make a quick, lethal orientation toward Vogel, and I tighten my grip on Lukas’s hand to caution him to hold back his power.

“It is written,” Vogel tells me, as the wood of his Wand digs into my skin. “‘To be disciplined by an honest Mage is a blessing for his fastmate.’”

Lukas’s fire gives another savage flare, looping around me with protective ferocity. I glance at him only to find his gaze pinned on Vogel with startlingly open fury.

Shock cuts through my terror. I’ve rarely seen Lukas’s calm breached like it is right now.

Ignoring Lukas, Vogel studies me intently. And then presses his Wand harder into my hand. His magic slams into me like a bolt of angry fire to collide with bone-heating force against Lukas’s shield.

Lukas’s shield sags violently inward, and I clutch harder to his hand, nearly buckling in half as Vogel’s Shadow fire roars over the surface of Lukas’s tightly woven shield. Bombarding it. As if Vogel is attempting to slaughter it into oblivion and take control of me.

And then he abruptly withdraws his attack.

I teeter on my feet and would have fallen if not for Lukas’s steadying grip and his strengthening rush of fire.

“Bring her to me after the Blessing of Dominion,” Vogel says, a fanatical gleam entering the pale eyes he has trained on me. “For wandtesting.”

Lukas’s grip on my hand and my shield remains firm. “Of course, Your Excellency,” he replies, calm as a storm’s eye.

I wait, breathless, as Vogel dips his head toward Lukas in solemn acknowledgment. “I’ve arranged an escort. To accompany you to the forest for the Blessing.”

Fear, like a hot iron, sears into my chest.

We have to enter the forest alone. Our escape hinges on it.

“Your Excellency,” Lukas calmly counters, sounding only mildly surprised, “it is written in theBookthat the sealed Mages must face the wilds in solitude.”

Vogel’s mouth curls up. “It is also written that ‘it is a blessing to hold a Mage to a straight and righteous path.’” Vogel flicks one hand, and two Level Five Mages step forward. They look young but tough, and I’ve a sense, straight through Lukas’s shield, of the incredibly powerful air and water affinities that are lashing inside the two of them in a gale-force storm.

I realize, as a starker fear accosts me, that Vogel has read both my lines and Lukas’s with exacting focus. The affinity powers of these two Mage soldiers are the exact opposite of Lukas’s and mine, with enough water and air between them to dominate Lukas’s fire and blow apart his earth magery.

I know, deep in my pounding heart, that if I could control my magic, Lukas and I could easily take down these two lethal guards. But Lukas can’t best them alone.

Lukas’s earthlines tighten around mine with fearsome urgency, as if he’s striving to maintain hold of his magical barrier between us and them. But his efforts are futile.

We’re trapped.

And we’re completely outmatched...because I can’t control my power.

Lukas and I step out of the arboretum and into the large, manicured rose garden that abuts the forest greenhouse, the wilds just beyond the gardens and the warded iron gate that encircles the estate.

Lukas’s fire whips around me with rigorous force as we’re trailed by the two Water and Air Mages, along with an additional four Level Five guards. The army of Mages and military dragons that surround the estate are all magically focused on us.

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