Page 18 of Magic Claimed
“None.” Titan spat the word out. “I’ll have my wand maker see if I can improve on our latest formula.”
“That is assuming we can find all of them,” Esoti said.
“Once we have a piece, we can lock onto the others, I’m sure,” Titan said.
“Gods, Esoti. Have you turned the heating up in here?” Drisella said.
“Maybe it’s a hot flush, Drisella. God knows, you’re mature enough,” Titan said.
“Shut up or I’ll sew your lips closed,” Drisella said. If I was Titan, I’d heed her words. I saw her do that to someone once and it wasn’t pretty.
“Enough,” Esoti snapped. “I’ll speak to Samuel and have him make a stronger wand and try again. We should have years to perfect the magic flow,” Esoti said.
“Not too strong, I hope. If you obliterate her, we could lose everything. We need that magic,” Drisella said.
What in the seven hells were they going to lose? Their kicking bag? And what magic? There was nothing inside me other than my tired soul.
“Shall I try? I’d need to take her with me.” Titan sniffed. “Although I’ll give her a bath before I take her anywhere. I don’t know how you can stand the stench, Esoti.”
I clenched my teeth against the words that wanted to shoot out of my mouth. Let’s see how good he’d smell if he had horses to sleep with and no access to a proper bathroom. The dark well inside me snapped open as helpless rage bubbled up. If only I had power, I’d be able to stand up and fight, instead of being kicked to the curb every day. What good was eternal life when you had nothing to protect yourself with?
My fingernails scraped on the stone when my hands clenched as I tried to reel in my anger, but it was harder than ever to drive back inside me. I had to. I didn’t want them to know I was conscious. Not when they could all too easily work another round on me. I didn’t know how much more I could take before I cracked.
“Is she awake?” The air snapped with heaviness with the combined weight of their attention.
I stayed as still as I could, hoping they would go back to their meal, but it was hard. The rage and the hate and the injustice kept firing up and up and I was losing the battle to keep it all contained.
A golden light glimmered in the far recess of my mind, soothing the rage, tempering it down until it was less of a writhing mass and more controlled and could lock it deep down inside me where it couldn’t get me into trouble. Stay down. Stay low. Stay off everyone’s radar. The light caressed me like a loving hand before it dimmed back into darkness.
I didn’t have time to wonder about it before Drisella spoke. “I for one, will look forward to not having to do these conclaves, but in the meantime, here is the key, Esoti. It’s your turn to safeguard it while we wait for the location.”
Key? Conclave? My heart hammered in my chest. This was what the shifters wanted me to do. To spy, but I had told them the truth. I’d never heard any conversation like this from Esoti or any of The Six. The only possible reason they spoke about it was because they thought I was still unconscious.
I squinted through heavy eyelids to see the three seated at Esoti’s breakfast table. Drisella handed Esoti a large, iron key on a long chain. He took it and placed it around his neck before tucking it under his shirt. “Have you heard where Christian is planning on holding it?”
Titan chuckled. “That guy is nothing if not downright secretive. I don’t think his left hand knows what his right hand does.”
“That’s for our own safety,” Drisella snapped.
Esoti smirked. “Now, now, children. Let’s play nice. He’ll let us know when the time is right. Soon, we won’t have to worry about it at all.”
“I’m looking forward to that day,” Drisella said.
“I think we all are,” Titan said.
There was a knock at the door and Ben, one of Esoti’s servants, entered. He bowed so low he was perpendicular to the floor. Ben was a suck up and loved Esoti with a fervor that bordered on fanatical, the poor misguided fool. “Can I get anything else for you, master?”
Gods, I’d like to kick Ben in the face. As soon as I could lift my leg.
Esoti flicked his fingers in my direction. “Take that away, would you? I’m finding it hard to digest my breakfast.”
Ben bowed again. “As you wish, master.”
His heavy-footed steps headed my way. His fingers tightened about my wrist and then I was dragged across the floor by one arm, out of Esoti’s room and dumped against the wall in the corridor. Ben plodded away, leaving me in a heap on the ground. For the first time in my life, I wished I was in Esoti’s chambers to hear their conversation.
Titan and Drisella left after a while and the corridor became quiet as Esoti moved about the castle on his daily checks. He was pedantic about them. He had to know where everyone was and what they were doing before he returned to his rooms. If anything was out of place, the servants knew about it. Violently.
When I was sure the corridor was deserted, I wobbled to my feet. Using the wall to stay upright, I staggered to the small space beneath the stairs three flors down. My safe place. Mysecretplace.
