Page 38 of Ruled By Magic

He held his hands up. “Nothing. It’s just, I don’t know a lot of non-mages, apart from staff. Growing up, making friends, or dating outside of our social circle was forbidden. My friends’ parents were terrified they’d fall for someone socially beneath them. Or a non-mage. Dilute the bloodline. My dad is pretty open-minded, but even I should have been married years ago. I’ve been stubborn in that regard.”

Mages and their precious bloodlines. As much as I wanted to hate them for it, it made logical sense. A match between a mage and a non-mage produced a magicless child. With the Lord Commander’s excessive power and wealth, fathers must be fighting to get their daughters into his bed.

Ugh.

“Why did you ask about the settlements?”

“Oh, yes. Look over there.” He pointed to a spot in the far distance. I squinted and saw a break in the trees. “That’s Birkenwell, the largest settlement.”

“Really? My uncle goes there. It takes him over a week in a crawler, and it’s dangerous. Why don’t mages transport people out here? It’d be a lot safer.”

He took a moment before he answered. “As far as I know, I’m the only Dexian mage that can transport another person.”

I blanched. Surely not? But had I ever seen another mage do it? No. The way everyone reacted when we arrived at parties together made sense.

“Why?”

“It’s to do with how much power you can use in a single moment. I create a field to teleport, and it takes a lot of magic to hold two people in the right configuration.”

“How did you figure out you could do it, if no one else could?”

“I’d heard of it happening overseas. My advanced Academy wanted to experiment, so we started with small animals and worked our way up. The first person I moved was one of my professors.” He grinned at the memory. “We were both petrified. We got blind drunk afterward.”

I returned the grin. He so rarely told stories from before he was the Lord Commander. The title suited him, and he loved the authority, but it also seemed to have taken something from him. He appeared adventurous, rebellious even, and now that side of him had to be controlled.

The light played over his features, and the unguarded happiness on his face captured me. I stepped in close and tilted my head up for a kiss. His strong arms came around my back, and contentment rolled through me as he pulled me against him. His mouth was gentle on mine and, for once, he didn’t attempt to remove any of my clothing. I closed my eyes and let myself enjoy the moment.

It couldn’t last. As always, melancholy tinged the brief sliver of joy. However much he enjoyed my company, it was all a game to him, a temporary diversion. I couldn’t let my tangled, confused feelings blind me to it.

I sighed as he broke the kiss and stepped away. “Let’s grab a snack. I’m starving.”

So was I. He shrugged the rucksack off and opened it. I watched him rummage. Something moved on the back of his head. What was it? An insect? I went to brush it away and stared at my hand. A red dot. A million vid scenes flashed through my head. Fear spiked. I flung myself on top of him, knocking him flat.

The bullet smashed into the wall behind us, spraying splinters of rock.

The Lord Commander twisted beneath me and whipped his arm up. A dome of blue light sprung up around us, like warped glass.

The world erupted into chaos. A barrage of screaming missiles pelted our shield. The noise tore through my head, abused my ears, and drowned out all thought. I rolled off the Lord Commander. He shot to his feet.

He grabbed my arm. Nothing happened. He closed his eyes in concentration, but we still didn’t teleport. “What the fuck? I’m blocked. This shouldn’t be—”

Bang!

A huge missile hit our shield. It shuddered, phased to transparent on one side, then solidified. I flinched back, but there was nowhere to go. Missiles pounded every inch of our shelter, exploding into blinding light on impact. Panic clawed at me. I pressed close to the Lord Commander in the center of the dome.

He raised both hands and power shot from them, thickening the barrier. More violent bursts of energy lashed it with deafening force. The shield shook again, but held. Another of the huge bangs hit, and it wavered, but reformed.

“Get down!” he shouted over the noise. “Small as you can make yourself.”

I dropped to the floor and curled into a tight ball, cheek pressed into the rocky ground. Only the insubstantial dome of light stood between us and annihilation. A second, much smaller shield appeared over just me, and he raised his hands.

The outer shield burned away as a blistering torrent of blue power surged from the Lord Commander. It scorched up the mountain and along both sides of the path, the wave of energy followed by an immense bang like a crack of thunder. I threw my hands over my face out of instinct and stayed there, shaking, until a hand gripped my shoulder. I uncurled to see the Lord Commander, his face tight with worry.

“I’m pretty sure I got them all.” He helped me to my feet. “Are you alright?”

“Yes.” I blinked to dispel the dancing spots. Once I could see again, I stared, amazed. The peaceful mountain path looked like a bushfire had burned through it. Scorch marks and black ash stretched away down both sides and up toward the peak. No sign of our assailants.

“What—” I took a deep breath to steady myself. My ears rang. “What happened?”

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