Page 74 of Echoes of War

It was Reina who suggested we leave the horses a few miles back in the trees. Somewhere along this quiet leg of our travels, she’d decided walking up to them was our best bet. I’d be a damn liar if I said she caught me off guard. Everything about her demeanor suggested she was up to no good. I found myself not giving a fuck. I would’ve, had I known exactly how she intended to handle things.

Never could I have prepared myself for what my sister unleashed on the unsuspecting guards of Casper.

We arrived, weapons tucked, arms in the air, showing we posed no threat. It meant nothing to the guards who waved their guns in our face. It also meant nothing to Reina, who walked right through them, head held high and arms spread wide.

One by one, they fell to their knees in her wake.

Each man and woman we passed displayed a different emotion. Fear, anger, pure panic, terror, grief, hopelessness. Outrage. None at us, though, at least not yet, not until she released her grip on them. Reina reached back, finding hold on my arm and dragging me to her side. Without asking, she shot hope through me, forcing me to down my barriers and let her in. Our magic swept through them as she guided the visions, redirecting their emotions toward the entity of their choosing.

By the cries and whimpers, I could tell they were weighing the cons of aligning with Covert Province. They cursed them,wished them ill. Some shouted at the sky for mercy. I wasn’t helping my sister do this. This was all her. Reina had taken control of our shared magic. I knew she was powerful, but to this extent … holy hell.

“Reina, what the fuck are you doing?” I hissed, stopping in my tracks to try to help some of the people I passed back to their feet.

Reina ground her jaw, annoyance rolling off her tongue. “My job.”

“This is going to cause problems,” Abel muttered.

I turned to face him. Fear lingered behind his brown eyes. For the first time since he’d joined our family, he saw what Reina was capable of. Abel had finally realized what many at Duluth had already known, Amaia and Alexiares were not the only two people he should fear.

Welcome to the family.

“Obviously,” I mumbled, glaring back at him, irritated with his unhelpful words.

“Not now,” he said, eyes glazing over. “If she keeps on this path, this is going to make some of the soldiers flee. We have to do something.”

Well, shit.

I clasped my free hand around Reina’s, trying to get her to stop to regroup. She shook me off without glancing back. Before I could take another step, a ruthless shot of misery knocked into me. It took every ounce of strength that I had to stay on my feet.That bitch. She’d channeled the emotions I’d been keeping tight, close to my heart these last few months and directed them back at me full blast. Never once had I expected her to use my own sorrows against me.

Reina was out of fucking control and I could not stop her.

Abel came up behind me, hands falling to the pits of my arms to offer me support. “We need to help her, she can’t go on thisway,” he said, training his eyes on her, worried she would direct whatever she felt at him next.

“I had a vision the other night,” I divulged, deciding at least one other person needed to beware. I could trust him to keep this between us. “As much as I hate to say it, she’s going to need to carry on like this for as long as she can. It’s going to be the only thing that keeps her going.”

He faced me, quizzically searching me for an explanation. When no words came, I took his hands, deciding that showing him would be best. It wasn’t power sharing in the way we’d been working through at Duluth, but how others with Seer capabilities could channel each other. It allowed us to share visions, use each other’s gifts to direct our energy to a certain point in time, and dive deeper. I just wasn’t entirely sure how it would work, since it had been a vision sent to me with Seth’s powers intertwined with mine.

“Alright.” Abel nodded absentmindedly. Hopelessness replaced his fear. “If you think that’s best, then I’m down to do whatever I can to help.”

“Good.”

Reina did not give the people of Casper a chance to make any decision about their future for themselves. She used every ounce of magic that she had to make sure we came to agreeable terms. By agreeable, I mean, every item on what she determined was on Amaia’s list of demands was checked off by the time we descended through the gates and back to our horses. There was no need for us to stay the night, or even sit for a meal with the speed she worked her magic. The people of Casper were defenseless. Everyone was when it came to Reina’s powers, but their citizens didn’t even get a chance to acknowledge who she was or what she was capable of.

We’d spread out our belongings, running through a quick check of all our materials and what we were running low on.Reina had said two sentences; we do not need to stay at another settlement again. Not if we could help it.

As we settled in, my thoughts drifted off to our next stop: Cheyenne. While my sister needed to keep this facade for her own sanity, the people of Cheyenne would end up better off siding with us in this war. Something had to give.

If it didn’t, Reina would never find the power to forgive herself for doing what was necessary. Her actions were brutal. There was a fat chance many, many people would never forgive her. But it was important that she left room inside her to forgive herself.

That night, during the full moon while Reina slept, I surrendered another piece of my soul. For magic like this always demanded a price.

My sweetening spell wouldn’t do much, but it would make her more tolerable for Cheyenne and the rest of our journey back home. If Reina continued on with this lack of empathy and emotion, two things she was known for, people were going to compare her to her father and brother. That fact alone would destroy her when this was all said and done.

Reina would never be the sweet Reina she once was. I knew that. Despised Seth for taking that from her. But I would do everything I could to preserve what little of it she had left.

It was risky, given the fact that Reina could feel every emotion Abel, and I had. Most of our energy throughout the day and while we waited for her to fall asleep had been spent trying to keep a level head. I needed to make sure this spell stayed buried deep down, where Reina could not feel it, but it would still affect her in small ways until she was ready to heal. Only then would it restore what remained.

I pulled out my small vial made from ethereal glass. It was a gift I carried with me everywhere. My sister June and I had used it to make our mom more … susceptible to letting us do things we pleased. I’d kept it put away for so long, holding it in myfingers now was odd, as if it was brand new. When we first left Monterey, I wasn’t sure why I had packed it, something had told me I would need it one day soon. That time was now.

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