Page 217 of A Winding Wave of Magic
I, however, was too focused to notice. Because something else was happening that Senni clearly hadn’t considered. Every time he looped a thread of my memory into his mind to make a copy and send it to the Council, a bit of his power touched me. Even without a physical connection.
And that shape he was providing was suddenly available.
Mentally, I formed a pair of hands that reached out to the fabric he had woven between us, a tapestry of my memories connecting to his. It was rich with life. Colorful in a way I never realized. If He hadn’t been stealing them all, I might have enjoyed the view.
I grabbed the fabric and wrapped it around my mental wrists. And then, with a great internal shout, I pulled.GET YOUR FUCKING MIND OFF ME!
Senni fell back like he’d been punched in the face, crumpling to the ground. The light show above darkened, and the room fell back to its normal, dim lighting.
The seer rocked, head in his hands, moaning in Tamil.
“What happened?” Mbotu asked. “That’s an odd scent. I’ve never smelled it before.”
“It’s territorial,” said Miriam, looking intrigued. “The girl has marked her shape and forced Senni to leave.”
“Did she shield?” asked one of the sirens. “Her energy doesn’t feel that way.”
“That’s because she bent my fucking mind!” Senni managed to sit up at least and thrust a finger so intently that I wonderedif lightning itself might appear and scorch me where I sat. “She broke the law. Mind bending is a punishment by death, Tashi. You know this is the truth.”
I blinked as the belt of air around my body loosened. “I—I didn’t know. I didn’t mean to—I was protecting myself from the way you were digging around where you shouldn’t have been! You were taking memories that don’t belong to you, and you definitely weren’t sharing them with the Council.”
Jonathan seemed to be able to move again too. He ran over, gathered me from the chair, and pushed me behind him.
What did I do?I couldn’t help but ask.
Nothing,came his curt response.And maybe everything.
“It was the self-defense of an unmanifested seer,” he argued. “You were violating her right to privacy, whatever the Council decided.”
“Mind bending is one of the highest crimes of our kind,” Senni snapped. “All seers are taught that from the time they are children. Those who manifest it are put to death. You know this,sorcerer.”
“Can you prove it was mind bending?” Jonathan demanded. “Or was it only an effective shield? You cannot expect her to be subjected to that kind of violation and not erect boundaries.”
“She changed my motives and actions!” Senni screeched. “I heard her command as if it were my very own!”
“Stop.” With a flick of his hand, Chancellor Se sounded the gong-like vibrations, this time loud enough that everyone in the room covered their ears again and winced.
Jonathan, however, only covered one, determined to keep his other arm wrapped securely around my shoulders.
Do not let go, he said.I never should have let them separate us to begin with.
When the vibrations fell away, the chancellor fixed his fiery orange Sight on me. “I See.”
What, exactly, I could not say.
“The Council must convene privately to discuss our findings and Ms. Whelan’s future,” he said. “You may exit, and Celine will escort you to the courtyard.” His gaze leveled on me, a steady, slow burn of a thing that belied more power than I wanted to contemplate. “You will go there together and await our decision.”
59
GIVING IN
O’er those true hearts by trouble riven;
And a song of praise goes up to Heaven.
— EDMUND JOHN ARMSTRONG, “PILGRIMS”
“Wait here.”
