Page 29 of Bedrest Blues & Otherworldly Clues
The triplets made their presence known and their magical signatures pulsed around us. Nyssa's shadows twined with her father's. Thaniel's energy merged with Melaina's golden warmth. The three of them bound us together. For a heartbeat, I glimpsed what they might become. Not just powerful individuals, but a unified force unlike anything the magical world had seen.
"They understand," I whispered. "They know what's at stake."
"They're extraordinary." Aidon’s pride was evident.
"And a huge responsibility," I added. "It's on us to guide whatever they become."
"We will," he promised. "Together." He kissed me and left to do his part then.
I settled back, keeping my hand on my belly. "Time for some maternal magical training," I murmured. "Lesson one. How to bite back when a psychotic witch comes knocking."
A flutter answered me. Three distinct personalities acknowledged my words. I visualized our connections as glowing threads of light, each unique yet part of a whole. Lyra didn't understand what she was dealing with. She saw the triplets as vessels, tools. She failed to recognize that these weren't just babies with power. They were my children and loved beyond belief. They’d chosen this family, with all its chaotic, beautiful bonds. And we protected our own—by any means necessary.
Outside, storm clouds gathered on the horizon. The next phase of Lyra's assault approached. But this time, we wouldn't just weather the storm. We would become it.
CHAPTER 9
I’d fallen asleep at some point during my training with the babies. I woke to an empty bedroom. The house hummed with activity, though. Footsteps pounded on the stairs, urgent voices called back and forth, and doors slammed. Something was happening. And once again, I was stuck in that damn bed.
I struggled to sit up, my swollen belly making every movement an exercise in overcoming physics. "Hello?" I called out. "Is someone going to tell me what's going on? Or do I need to start levitating furniture to get attention around here?"
The door opened, and Nina came in. Her face was flushed with excitement, but her eyes betrayed her exhaustion. "They found one of Lyra's locations," she announced as she perched on the edge of my bed. "Aidon and Stella left an hour ago to investigate."
My heart stuttered. "And no one thought to wake me?"
"Mom, you had a rough afternoon. The babies exerted a lot of power, and Clio said you needed rest." Nina's expression softened. "Besides, Aidon didn't want you to worry."
"Because keeping me in the dark works so well for my stress levels," I muttered as I reached for the water glass on my nightstand. "Tell me everything."
Nina hesitated, then nodded. "Murtagh's scouts tracked unusual energy fluctuations to an abandoned temple about forty miles north. The magical signature matches what we detected during Lyra's last attack."
I closed my eyes, reaching for the vanity mirror across the room. The now-familiar sensation of my consciousness extending outward flowed smoothly as I directed my magical sight toward Aidon's location. It went against bedrest, but I didn't use much of my power. And I needed to see my mate and best friend. The mirror's surface rippled, then resolved into a clear image.
Aidon and Stella moved cautiously through stone ruins that had been partially reclaimed by vegetation. Ancient columns were broken and weathered. They framed a crumbling altar at the center. The place radiated neglect. Except for the altar itself. That gleamed as if recently cleaned.
"This is the third site with the same shit," Stella said. Her voice came through faintly. She knelt beside the altar, gesturing to symbols etched into its base. "Look familiar?"
Aidon crouched next to her. His power extended to probe the markings. "This is the same corruption we found on our wards," he confirmed. I heard the fury simmering in his voice. "These were practice sessions."
"She didn’t get good without a lot of practicing." Stella traced a finger along the edge of the altar, where a dark residue had collected in the stone's natural grooves. "She's also been harvesting. Whatever power was once consecrated to this place, she's stripped it away. She hasn’t even left enough to maintain the structural integrity. I’m surprised this is still standing."
"She’s a fucking magical vampire," Aidoncursed as he straightened. "Draining anything and anyone she can of their power for her ritual."
Stella nodded grimly. "Something about the locations bothers me." She pulled out her phone, tapping quickly before turning the screen toward Aidon. "If we map all three locations we've found so far..."
"They form a triangle," he realized. "With our house at the center."
My vision blurred as a wave of dizziness hit me. Nina's hand on my arm anchored me. "Aidon and Stella discovered it too," I recounted. "Lyra's creating a ritual perimeter around our house, using corrupted sacred sites to do it. Her sacred site might not be beneath the Mediterranean after all."
Nina nodded grimly, the memory of what we'd both seen reflected in her eyes. "I'll update Jean-Marc immediately. This fits with his mapping of magical disturbances. It might help him identify other locations in her network."
As she turned to leave, my eyes caught a flicker of movement near the bedroom door. It was a whisper of darkness where there shouldn't be one. "Nina, wait," I said sharply. "We're not alone."
She pivoted instantly, her gaze following mine to the shadow creeping along the baseboards. Unlike Nyssa's familiar darkness, this moved with predatory purpose. It was another one of Lyra's creatures. How had it evaded our detection?
Without hesitation, Nina thrust out her hand. Golden light erupted from her fingertips and struck the shadow directly. It writhed and twisted. Its edges began fraying as her power tore through it.
"I can see its structure," she said, her voice strained with concentration. "It's a magical circuit board."
