Page 224 of A Winding Wave of Magic
His power, however, did not.
He held up a hand, and once again, I was slammed backward, this time into the iron bars that marked the cell. My bones seemed to rattle like his, and blood trickled down my cheek where the iron had cut me.
“I don’t have it,” I said as I swiped at the blood. I couldn’t make another grab at him. Something about the air inside this cell felt so horribly heavy. Or maybe it was just my bones. “Did you think I just walked into the Brigantian with a thousands-year-old secret gift-wrapped for the Magi?”
“Maybe you’re not as stupid as you look.” With two long fingers, Lynch pinched a bit of skin on his cheek and pulled meditatively.
“They don’t know about you, do they?” I asked. “Senni does, of course. He tried to comb through my mind to find it for you. But the rest of them think it was Penny’s to guard. They think you’re looking forher, not trying to find the secret to immortality for yourself so you don’t blow into the wind. I told them, though. I told them everything you did to her, to me, so don’t expect you’re just going to walk back in there and get whatever you?—”
My mouth snapped shut with a wave of his bony hand.
He examined me for a long time, beady eyes glinting dangerously. He didn’t really look like his son, though as ancientas he appeared, I doubted I would see much of a resemblance other than the long nose and the high cheekbones. Everything else was decayed, though I wondered if he might have been a handsome man in his youth.
“You speak entirely too much for a woman,” he informed me. “I suspect it’s learned behavior. Penelope was exactly the same. She didn’t shut up until forced either.”
His power swirled, shadows reaching through the cell and wrapping around me.
But unlike the last time, they had no hold, and I Saw his weakness through their flimsy strikes.
His power was waning—it was why he relied on shadows to do his work for him. Their flimsy non-reality was the only thing that would respond to magic that wanted to return to the earth and be freed from this mortal cage.
It made my choice clear.
Mind bend. At all costs.
I lunged for him, and though I missed his body again, I was able to grab his cloak. That alone carried enough of his thoughts—fear, mostly. Greed, yes, but fear.
Of me.
Let. Me. Go, I ordered.
Lynch paused, but it wasn’t quite enough. He mumbled a spell that made the cloak burn under my fingertips. I released it with a yelp, and he swept the loose fabric up and over his shoulder.
“Youwilltell me what you know,” he hissed. “And while I may not have the strength anymore to force you, there are others who have.”
As if on cue, steps echoed through the chambers, and another fae appeared: Senni Perumal, the other seer on the Council.
“Senni. Time is of the essence,” Lynch said. “I am weakening, and Bertram hasn’t delivered the potion.”
“I was delayed,” Senni replied. “You caused quite the uproar. What happened to coming through the caves?”
“I saw an alternative, and I took it. The Speaker was stupid enough to open the wards for them.”
“And you were stupid enough to warp with depleted power.” Senni approached me, rubbing his hands together. “So, we meet again, little seer. You will find I am better prepared. There will be no more mind bending this time.”
“She tried it with me too.” Lynch sounded almost bitter as he leaned against the wall for support. “Just as sly and dishonest as her supposed ‘mate.’”
“And just as disorganized,” Senni said. “I’ve already Seen what she has. It’s a mess. The foolish memories of a little girl and millions of others she got from who knows where. She has no control over what she Sees, and can’t keep anyone out either. It will take months to find everything and clean her brain properly.”
“We don’t have months. Weeks, at best.” Lynch glanced in the direction we had come. “Perhaps she’ll need some different persuasion. The boy may be of some use after all.” He gave a great cough that literally made his bones shake, then checked an ancient pocket watch. “Bertram should be arriving. I’ll take the draught and return.”
Senni nodded. “Go. I’ll find what I can.” Lynch left me with the seer, who was rubbing his hands eagerly. “We were in the middle of something. I think we will return to it.”
He didn’t have to touch me to seize my head. And this time, it was far more painful than in the Council chamber. Now, he squeezed me like a tourniquet, and it was obviously where Caleb Lynch had learned part of the technique he had used to wring memories from Gran and me in Manzanita—though how, exactly he had managed it with a sorcerer’s power was a puzzle. Maybe Senni had been there the whole time.
It was impossible.
Itshouldbe impossible.
