Page 185 of A Fate of Blood and Magic
Once we made it out of the hiking trail, the girls ran inside, past where Alastor waited for us on our patio. Although she didn’t need it, I helped Teddy up the steps. She looked back at me amused, and once I leaned against the post, I drew her back to me.
I wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something about the moment I wanted to hold on to, and I wasn’t quite ready to let her go.
“The spell the book revealed to you should help Etienne,” Alastor said. “It won’t heal him entirely, but it should improve the number of seizures he’s experiencing.”
“But . . .” I didn’t have to look at Teddy to know she arched her brows.
“There is no ‘but.’ It’ll help him and won’t require any more from you than any other spell.”
Teddy ran a finger over the scars on my hand when I covered her stomach.
“What aren’t you telling us?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I think the spell would work best if Brenton gave some blood as well.”
“No, absolutely not,” Teddy snapped out.
“That’s why I wasn’t going to say anything.” Alastor’s smile cameslowly.
“Why would Brenton’s blood help?” I asked.
Teddy shifted, and although I kept my attention on Alastor, I knew she was glaring at me.
“Blood magic—mage magic—they both respond to our emotions,” Alastor explained. “It was why Leanora was able to get as strong as she did. Her emotions were heightened with her desire to avenge our people, and the magic answered in kind. Brenton wishes for Etienne to be well. Most of the decisions he’s made of late are for that desire. The magic will respond stronger to him because of it.”
“Then we use Finley,” Teddy suggested. “She’ll want Etienne healed far more than Brenton.”
“Finley isn’t bonded to you or your magic.”
“Why don’t you want Brenton giving his blood?” I asked Teddy, kissing the top of her head.
She spun away from me, folding her arms across her chest like the tiny warrior goddess that she was.
“Just as the magic pulls from our emotions, it feeds it back to us,” Teddy said. “Brenton’s desire for Etienne to get better comes from a place of pain. That pain will only intensify after the spell. Is that right?” she asked Alastor.
His smile was that of pride. “You’ve been studying.”
“That’s why you told me that if I ever feel off while doing a spell, I should stop,” she said. “It would mean I fed it the wrong emotion, kind of. Right?”
“In a manner of speaking, there is no wrong emotion to give to a spell,” Alastor said. “The higher the emotion, the more potent the spell, but if you are feeling unwell or off-center while doing the spell, that emotion will only grow and attach itself to you.”
“I was anxious before we did the protection spell on thehouse,” Teddy said. “Why didn’t the magic take that emotion from me?”
“I was merely showing you how to do the spell to give you a feel of what it was like,” he answered. “With our familial bond, I didn’t actually need you to do it so I was able to box in your emotions. Once the spell was complete, it was my emotions you felt.”
“With my sibling bond with Brenton, can I box in his emotions?”
“It would require too much from you,” he answered. “I wouldn’t risk it.”
“I won’t risk Brent spiraling any further.” She shook her head. “He’s already in too much pain. This would . . .”
It would make everything worse.
“So we try it with just the two of you,” I said. “The seizure medicine has already decreased the number of seizures. If this spell lessens the amount as well, then it could be a temporary fix until our healers figure something else out.”
“I’ll summon Hayden to take the girls to Bon’s and then us to Etienne,” Alastor said.
“We really need to find a new form of transportation,” Teddy said.
