Page 42 of Earth Dragon
Sir Patrick nodded. “Which is why I’m here,” he said meaningfully. “To help you stop him before he manages to perform the final part of the entrapment spell and rip the elemental magics from our world.”
“Stop who?” Ewan asked.
“Lord Taggart,” Sir Patrick replied.
It was as though time stopped. Ewan stared at the knight. Had he heard him correctly? Then disgust rose within him and with it, red-hot fury as he turned on Shannon.
“You.” She shook her head, a pleading expression in her eyes as she backed away when he approached her. “You lying, back-stabbing, treacherous swill!” he yelled at her, stopping himself at the layer of tears that appeared in her eyes.
She was very good at that. Playing on his emotions. Making him believe…
But this was why she had been acting so strange ever since her father’s return. This was why she did not want to admit her feelings or explore them further. Because the mating bond was a cover, making him look left while she was off doing nefarious things on the right. How could he have let himself become so blinded?
He couldn’t look at her, so he turned away from her. He was done.
“Please,” she said, but he did not want to hear another word. He merely held a hand up, bidding her to be quiet. She conceded without any further attempts to persuade him otherwise.
“Why should I trust you?” Ewan asked. “How do I know that this isn’t a mere trick? That you’re not still in on it?”
“You can’t,” Sir Patrick said. “But I know what the counter spell is and what ingredients are needed to cast it.”
“And will you cast it?” Ewan asked, eyebrows raised.
“No,” Sir Patrick said, nodding to Shannon. “She will.”
“Me?” Shannon asked, eyes wide. “I can’t. I have no magic.”
“I know,” Patrick said. “But the rest of your family do. And it has to be you. It has to be someone blood bound to the spellcaster. So, we shall have to figure it out.”
“But…” Shannon trailed off. “But he’s my father,” she finally got out. Ewan scoffed softly. “I’m sorry, but he is,” she said, voice hardening. “What if… What if I cannot? What if I fail?”
Sir Patrick sighed. “Then he will most likely die or disappear into himself. Just like your half-sister did.”
Ewan frowned, looking at Shannon with the question in his eyes. She tried to answer it, but words seemed to fail her.
“Oh,” Sir Patrick said. “She didn’t tell you? Lady Quinn is her sister by her father and by the woman he took to bed after ridding himself of her mother.”
“Patrick,” Shannon said tersely. “My mother was a troubled woman,” Shannon continued, addressing Ewan. “We do not speak of it.”
Ewan frowned at how rehearsed the line sounded. Had she stepped back into the role that had been assigned to her or had she never truly left it? How could he ever trust a single word out of her mouth?
Her expression faltered, the way it had earlier, and he wanted to ask her to tell him the truth. He wanted to needle her until she gave all the details up. Until she had confessed and shared every last thought in that head of hers. He wanted to make her do it. As was his right as herbenefactor. But the urge came and went without much pause. He didn’t want to make her do anything. Not anymore.
“Perhaps I should put you both in a cell until we can figure out what to do with you,” he remarked.
“Do that and you give away your very shaky upper hand,” Sir Patrick said. “You know Lord Taggart will be at the moment of transference.”
“There might not be a need for one.”
“I think we both know there will be,” Sir Patrick replied, cocksure and infuriating. “Because you’re not ready yet. You don’t want it.”
“I do,” Ewan frowned. “Do not presume to tell me what I want or do not want.”
“But I will presume,” Sir Patrick said. “Because if you wanted it, truly and deeply, then you would be the Keeper already. Like Malcolm.”
Ewan’s frown deepened. “What are you talking about?”
“You rejected the earthmagic when it reached for you,” Sir Patrick stated. “And you were lucky, if you ask me. The firemagic just consumes whoever is about to pass the trial. As you know, I’m sure. The earthmagic, however, runs a little more logical than that, doesn’t it? It’s a bit more grounded, if you will. You’re of two minds, just like Leon said you were.”
