Page 115 of Untraced Magic
“You know, it took a long time for me to track down this sensor mage to help me find you. To think you were living under his very nose...”
Anger rippled through me at Wesley’s betrayal, my fury boring into him. He dropped his gaze to his feet.
“Once he syphons your power from you, it will be all mine, and I can finally do what I’ve wanted all these years.”
I stiffened at the wordsyphon.Could Wesley really do that?
“And what exactly do you plan to do with my magic?” I sneered. If I was to survive whatever was about to go down, I needed to know what her intentions were. Was the stranger in the basement correct? He had mentioned something about opening the portal to the Underworld...
“There are places you could only dream of, Morgan, ones that exist right under our very feet. Only a power like your own could produce enough magic to take us there.”
“I hate to burst your bubble, Helena,”—I refused to use the termmother—“butthere is nous.”
She curled a finger around a loose strand of her hair. “Very well then. I hope your magic is more useful than your father’s.”
Ice-cold realization slid through me.
I motioned toward the cells. “That’smy father you have locked up in there?”
She ignored the question. “Do it,” she ordered.
Wesley tensed behind me, his body turning rigid against my back.
Helena stepped closer. “Wesley, do I need to remind you…”
“On it,” he replied through clenched teeth.
Wesley’s hand clamped down on my shoulder, and I flung around to face him, anger funneling through me as we clashed in a standoff.
“On your knees,” he ordered, his grip on me trying to force me to the ground, but I refused to yield.
“Why are you doing this? You’re better than this, Wes, and you know it.”
“Now.” His voice came louder this time, as if he was trying to convince us both.
His irises had turned a murky shade of green, so dark they bordered on black, but my feet remained rooted to the ground. I would not bow down to him, to either of them.
I pulled myself straighter, lifting my chin and staring him down.
As if my defiance demanded punishment, an unseen force drove me to the ground and I was at its mercy, succumbing to it immediately. My knees crunched as they hit the floorboards, aching at the forced landing.
His wide eyes darted to Helena with a confusion that I was sure mirrored my own.
The force hadn’t come from him.
“You’re welcome,” Helena said matter-of-factly, looking back at him with boredom. “You know what needs to be done.”
Fear bobbed in my throat, my limbs numb, having completely abandoned me at this point, frozen in place in some haunting stupor.
I slammed my eyes closed, willing my magic to come forward once more, focused on Tyler. His scent, his touch, the bond.Anything. It produced nothing but a stabbing ache in my head, and I cried out.
Frustration poured from me, expelling in the only form it could.
“You bitch! How could you do this?”
Helena’s heels clicked closer. “Your magic won’t work, Morgan. Simple really, once you know how.”
I’d never used the word hate in my life.
