Destined (War of the Covens 2)

Trying not to blink, Caia eased away slightly but kept her own challenging gaze locked on his. “Good luck with that.”

With a harsh curse, Lucien jerked away from her and marched toward the double doors that led out of the library. She watched as he hesitated and half turned to glare at her. “Thought you might like to know that Jaeden is home safe and sound.”

Jae? She was all right? Marita had said …

“Is she okay?”

Lucien twisted his mouth in derision. “Safe and sound generally implies such.”

“Sarcasm. Wonderful.”

He grunted and turned to the door.

“Lucien!”

Heaving a melodramatic sigh, his shoulders hunched in defense, Lucien refused to turn and look at her. He threw out an exasperated “What?”

“Is … is Jaeden … has Jaeden … Was there any mention of Jaeden having … abilities?”

He curled his head toward her, enough to raise a mocking eyebrow. “Such as the ability to morph into a wolf?”

She grimaced. “You really are unpleasant when you’re not getting your own way.”

“No. I’m just used to having my orders obeyed.”

“There’s a difference between that and abusing your position to nose into my privacy.”

Scowling, he made to turn away from her, and before he disappeared with a banging of the doors, he murmured, “Don’t think I don’t find the Jaeden question weird.”

When he was gone, Caia blew out a weary breath.

Jaeden was okay.

And she would remain so as long as Caia had any say in it.

Twenty-three hours later after that

Vilhelm stared back at her, wild-eyed and shaking.

“You’re sure this is going to work?”

Caia nodded, poker face on, her body steady as a rock. If they were to pull this off, she needed to project a calm confidence that he wouldn’t question.

She had to hand it to the kid—he was either extremely brave or stupidly in love. After hunting him down, it had taken very little to convince Vilhelm to break Laila out of the Center and take her to Ryder’s. It seemed they were both desperate enough to place their trust in a stranger. They stood now in a janitor’s closet, a few corridors away from the prison.

“You ready?”

Vil nodded excitedly. “Do it.”

With unruffled nerve, Caia raised her hand so that it hovered an inch in front of Vil’s face. Slowly and carefully, her fingers crackling with energy, she swept the air in a vertical motion from the tip of his hair to the tip of his chin.

“Is it done?”

She bit her lip, staring at Vil who was now the exact image of Vanne. “Not quite.”

Softly, she placed a hand on his neck, over his voice box.

“Cold,” he chuckled nervously.

With a satisfied nod, Caia pulled back. “Say something else.”

“I can’t wait to see Laila.” His eyes widened. “I can’t wait to see Laila. Wow, I sound exactly like Vanne.”

Caia nodded. “Remember, you have thirty minutes to get in there and get out of the Center before your face and voice return. Hold out your hand, palm forward.”

He did as instructed and she placed her small hand against his large one.

Lucien had almost caught her researching this act she was about to perform: the transfer of a small amount of her power to another magik. The transfer would last only ten minutes at the most, but they needed this so Vil could break Laila out of the bars in her prison.

Yesterday morning, Caia and Vil had managed to sweet-talk a junior officer at the containment center into giving up the name of the spell wrapped around the bars holding Laila in. He’d been more than happy to show off how the facilities worked for the VIP magik.

With the help of a little something Vil had picked up during an air element lecture, he was able to stop the memory of their having been at the containment center by temporarily starving the oxygen flow to the hippocampus of the officer’s brain, where memories were consolidated from short to long-term.

It tended to be a little painful and cause confusion for a moment, giving them plenty of time to get out before he came to his senses.

Lucien had then interrupted Caia’s research in the library where she’d discovered what kind of spell to counteract the one keeping the magik up around the bars. It was a small incantation that needed to be said while focusing the energy used to produce glamour on the bars. The temporary transfer of her power to Vil was necessary, since he wasn’t really good at anything but using his air element and being a Traveler.

“You remember the password and incantation?”

Vil tapped his brain. “Locked in tight.”

It was weird talking to him when he looked and sounded like Vanne. Filled with trepidation, Caia jerked her head toward the closet door. “You better get going. Remember you can trust Ryder—he’ll keep you safe. Don’t mention Laila being a Midnight just yet.”