Grave Intentions (Darkling Mage 3)

I kind of hated that my magic really only had two settings: run, or kill. Carver could put people to sleep, disi

ntegrate their weapons to disarm them, or, in a really tight pinch, break half the bones in their body. I wanted that kind of defensive magic, the stuff I could use to neuter someone, but not necessarily kill them dead.

But before I could react, Herald snapped his fingers. The purple mist around his hand blew away in the sudden, freezing gust of wind that sheared through Heinsite Park. The chill left as quickly as it came, but I realized that Herald wasn’t just literally trying to cool things down. Bastion was grunting, struggling to pull his legs out of the huge chunks of ice encasing his feet and fusing him to the ground.

Yeah. That kind of magic. That was what I wanted.

“Get this shit off me,” Bastion shouted. “Prue. Break this and let me – ”

“No,” Prudence said. “Frankly speaking, you’re being a brat. We have no hard evidence that Dust was behind this. Give him the benefit of the doubt. It could have been a glamour. And if you’re just going to lash out by beating up on him you can – ”

“You’re only saying that because you’re dating his roommate.”

A sharp chill, colder even than Herald’s spell, blew through the park. Maybe the sky even darkened a little. For the first time that afternoon, I saw something cowed in Bastion’s expression, like he realized he’d royally fucked up.

Prudence’s voice cut like ice. “You quit this bullshit, Sebastion Brandt. Here and now. Or I report this to the Lorica.”

In a tiny, meek voice, Bastion answered. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“You destroyed public property. You attacked another arcane person unprovoked. Do you think that being a Hand means you’re above the law? Lower the field, or I swear, Bastion. I’ll do it.”

He gestured at his feet, helpless, struggling, throwing Herald the occasional threatening glance. Herald only smirked back.

“You wait for it to melt,” Prudence said. “Sun’s out. I don’t care. Give you some time to think about what you did.”

I clutched my jaw, letting it unhinge, not even sure how angry I was. Maybe I was shocked. I just felt numb. I knew that Bastion and I had always butted heads, but it had never come to blows like this. Two break-ins by someone who looked like me. First that Salimah woman, and now some mansion? What the hell was going on?

The air shimmered, proof that Bastion had lowered his field. A stray dog yowled at us, surprised that five people had just blinked into existence. It turned tail, then ran off.

Herald tugged on my jacket, hauling me away from the park. Asher followed quietly.

“Yeah,” Bastion said. “You better run. This isn’t over.”

“Sure isn’t,” I said. “See you, Bastion. Watch your back.”

The problem with Bastion was how much he liked to hit.

My problem was that I was learning to like hitting back.

Chapter 5

I sighed as verdant green energy rushed from Asher’s fingers, seeping into my skin. I could feel tendrils curling into my cells, sinking through my muscle and down into my bones. My nerves began to numb, or perhaps the pain began to vanish as his magic cleared away whatever damage Bastion had done to my jaw.

I didn’t know why the Lorica looked down on necromancy and considered it so dangerous. If this was necromancy, then it was awesome as far as I was concerned.

Asher leaned back, his eyes narrowing. “Question. And stop me if it’s a stupid one, but – why didn’t you tell those Lorica people that it was Thea behind it?”

I rubbed at my jaw, still surprised at how quickly Asher’s treatment had taken effect. “Honestly? As much as I know that it’s a possibility, we don’t really know that it’s her modus operandi to go around impersonating me now. I mean, to what end? I don’t know that we should be causing a panic without knowing a hundred percent.”

Asher rubbed his nose. “I mean, I do.”

“You think so?”

“If there’s any chance that it was Thea? Sure. Knowing what she’s capable of, I would have spoken up.”

I bit my lip and stared at the ground. “I guess it’s hard to think straight when someone’s clocked you in the jaw, you know? Can’t lie, that probably jarred my brains around a little.”

“You should give them a call, the Lorica people. Text them. Keep them updated. Can’t hurt to have everyone on alert, you know?”