We both ignored him.
“Come on. Let me try,” Zethan said.
“All right, but if he starts gathering more—”
“I’ll disconnect.”
“What if you can’t?”
Zethan gestured to the shirt. “Use the null shield.”
A temporary measure, and one that wouldn’t save his life, but I agreed. We had to do something. Despite Valek’s protest, Zethan grabbed his brother’s hands.
“Send the power back,” I instructed, imaging how I would release souls into the sky, including the pure joy of it—a feeling I’d missed.
I waited a lifetime. Deep lines of strain scored Valek’s face.
“No,” Zethan said. “Take the energy from me.”
After another couple of centuries, Zethan wilted, but held tight.
“That’s it,” Zethan encouraged. “Almost there.”
Picking up the null shield just in case, I fisted the fabric. It wouldn’t be big enough to cover both of them.
“Just a...little bit more.” Zethan’s head dropped as if it was too heavy to hold up. “Stop.” He opened his hands and pulled back, but Valek clung to him. “Stop.” Zethan glanced at me with wide eyes. “He’s drawing power again.”
Dropping the shield, I grabbed both their hands, hoping the blocking effect worked with direct touch. Magic sizzled along my arms and ripped through me. The force pushed me back. Pain exploded in my head and a loud crack sounded. Then it all disappeared in a snap of black.
* * *
When I woke, I felt as if I’d been struck by lightning. I groaned, and Heli helped me sit up.
“Not lightning,” she said. “I promise. But probably a mini flameout.”
“Valek?” I asked.
“Still out,” Heli said, pointing.
He lay a few feet away. I scooted over to him. His skin looked almost translucent, and dark smudges ringed his eyes. I smoothed his hair and trailed my fingers down his cold cheek. Someone had put the null shield back on him. Good.
“How long?”
“Four hours.”
Not long, but I pressed my hand to my abdomen as a new worry flared. Did the magical explosion harm the baby? I hoped not.
I glanced around. We were in a small wooden structure. Perhaps a barn or shed. “Where are we?”
“Empty cabin somewhere in the Krystal Clan. We had to find a new hiding place, and the big guy took charge.”
“Ari?”
“Yeah.”
“Where is everyone?”
“Ari and Janco went to fetch the horses. Fisk and his people left to return to the Citadel. Leif and Mara are in the other room with the twins and Teegan.” She quirked a smile. “Leif mentioned something about cooking supper.”
Which meant he’d recovered from his brush with death. Thanks to Valek. I checked his pulse. Steady.
“How’s Zethan feeling?”
“Probably about the same as you, but he wasn’t out as long.”
Ah, youth. Ten years made a difference.
“Tea?” Heli asked.
“Please. And could you ask Leif to come?”
“Sure.”
Leif brought the tea. Even though he was pale and haggard, he still smiled when I crinkled my nose over the smell of the tea.
“How are you feeling?” I asked him.
He rubbed his chest. “Sore, but I don’t care. I’m happy just to be alive! That’s the closest I’ve come to death.” Leif glanced at Valek. “He certainly took his role as my best man seriously. Did you know Valek could do that?”
“No.” I gazed at my husband. “We haven’t had time to talk about anything.”
“He’ll wake. The man doesn’t know how to quit.” Leif studied my expression. “How are you doing?”
“I’m not sure.” I asked him about the baby.
“I don’t know. Let’s ask Teegan.”
“Teegan?”
“Yeah. Kid’s impressive.”
Leif fetched Teegan, who was happy to help. The boy gazed at me and said, “Two strong heartbeats.”
That was impressive and a huge relief. “Thanks, Tee.”
He grinned. “Anytime, but why are you siphoning my magic?”
Surprised and alarmed, I asked, “I am?”
“Don’t worry. It’s not like you’re stealing it from me. It’s just when I used my magic to...scan you, something pulled it. When I stopped, it stopped.”
“Do you think it’s the baby?”
He shrugged. “No idea.”
“Hold my hand and see what happens.”
Teegan grasped my hand and frowned. “It’s like a null shield, blocking my magic.” He released me as if I’d burned him. “Sorry, but that’s...awful!”
“I know. But it gives me some protection.” And perhaps a bright side to losing my ability to use magic.
* * *
I remained by Valek’s side as one day turned into two. Leif brewed his healing teas, and I dripped spoonful after spoonful into Valek’s mouth. My worry grew. What if he didn’t wake up? Was this how he felt all those times our positions had been reversed? I think I preferred being oblivious rather than nauseous and on the edge of panic.
At the end of the third day, Ari called everyone into the main room for a meeting. We gathered around the hearth.
“We can’t stay here much longer,” Ari said. “Bruns has sent patrols to search for us, and we’re too close to the garrison. Any ideas?”
“We report back to Ixia,” Janco said. “They can come with us as...political refugees.”
“You can’t,” I said.
“Why not? The Commander needs to know what’s
been going on.”
“He already knows.” I filled them in on Bruns’s and the Commander’s plans. “I’m pretty sure once they take over Sitia, Owen is going to kill the Commander.”
“Holy snow cats,” Janco said. “We’re screwed.”
Trust Janco to sum it up succinctly.
“We need to stop them,” Ari said.
“How?” Leif asked. “There are nine of us, and a million of them.”
“Ten.” Mara elbowed Leif.
“Oh no, you’re staying far away from danger,” Leif said. “When I saw you in Bruns’s custody, I almost died. I’m not going through that again.”
“You were shot in the chest and almost died. So by that logic, you’re staying away from danger, too.” Mara’s stubborn expression matched Leif’s.
“We can hide on the coast near The Cliffs,” Heli suggested. “No one lives there or would dare come there during the storm season.”
“Are we really going to hide?” Janco asked. “That doesn’t sound like us.”
“What sounds like us?” Ari asked.
“Being in the thick of things, causing trouble and—”
“Being captured and thrown in jail,” Zohav said. “Have you forgotten that they have magicians, Curare, Theobroma, weapons and garrisons full of soldiers?”
“Fisk and his people would help,” Zethan said.
“And Loris is dead,” Janco added. “I’m feeling pretty happy about that.”
“Ben, too,” I said, but unlike Janco, I didn’t relish the fact that I’d been forced to kill him.
“Are you sure? ’Cause these guys have a tendency to fake their deaths, and I don’t want any more nasty surprises.”
“Yes.”
“We could try to warn the Commander about Owen,” Ari suggested.
“If you can get near him, and if you can block Owen’s magic,” Leif said. “And then what? The Commander still wants Sitia.”
“The Commander doesn’t want Sitia,” Valek said from the doorway.
Relief poured through me, cleansing the worry away. I jumped up and rushed to him, wrapping him in my arms. “How do you feel?”
“Like I wrestled a snow cat and lost.”
Leif took charge. He made Valek sit down and eat. When Leif was satisfied, he allowed Valek to explain.
“I don’t think the Commander has any desire to rule Sitia,” Valek said. “But he’s probably afraid a rogue magician or magicians will take control of Sitia and invade Ixia. And with all the Sitian resources—magicians, Curare, Theobroma and the glass messengers—he knows he can’t win a war with Sitia. Which is probably why he agreed to the Cartel’s plan.”