I go cold.
There is no magic within her.
Nothing to awaken.
My stomach lurches as I realise the weight of my flippant thought.
The absence feels inherentlywrong, like the grate of an out-of-tune violin in a string quartet. It is utterly jarring and terrifyingly familiar. I’ve lived with that same absence this last decade and more.
‘Rosey? What is it?’ Ruben’s face is blanched as he looks at me. ‘What is it? What do you feel?’
Lowering my hands, I turn to face him, trying to control the tremble in my voice.
‘There’s no magic, Ruben,’ I whisper. ‘Her magic. It’s gone.’
Chapter 6
Silence sweeps into the room as Ruben sidles up beside me, shaking his head in confusion but not in disbelief. I appreciate the distinction.
‘How?’ he asks. ‘Magic stays with a person until they return it to Mortidem.’
‘Right …’ My voice is a murmur as I stare at Noleen, even more certain of the emptiness I felt. ‘When did you last see her use her magic?’
He looks towards his mother and rubs the bridge of his nose. ‘I don’t know. She … she wanted a fire before I left, but I lit it with matches because she was struggling. I thought it was because she was tired. I don’t … I don’t know when she last made a flame herself.’ He turns back to me, eyes pleading. ‘You can’t just lose your magic, can you? Not unless you drain yourself. And there’s no way she’d be foolish enough to even get close to that. No way.’
I wish I could offer him some sort of reassurance, but I’ve got nothing. ‘Maybe I was just reading it wrong,’ I say weakly.
Magic is supposed to be passed to Mortidem at the moment of death in order to be given out again at birth. Attheprecisemoment of death. Not before it. Every Morathkian knows that.
Which means I have to be wrong. That is the only option. Noleen’s magicmuststill be there. I just can’t sense it.
I cling to the thought as if insisting on it might make it true. But the way my stomach continues to tighten, slow and inexorable, tells a different story.
I know what I felt – or rather, didn’t feel.
‘Let me fix the tonic,’ I say instead, moving away from Noleen, not only to give Ruben and his mother some privacy, but also to stop him from seeing the anxiety that is clawing inside me.
Back at the stove, I stir the contents of the pan, watching iridescent swirls glimmer within the liquid as the tonic thickens, colours catching and sliding over one another as coils of nacreous steam weave upwards. I stare into the opalescent air, allowing my thoughts to drift with the steam.
And theydefinitelydon’t drift to Kyor. He doesn’t deserve my thoughts. My love. I wish I could turn it off as easily as he has apparently done.
Then again, if Thea is to be believed, he probably didn’t ever truly love me at all. The rain that fills the sky is likely little more than show – a way to ensure I can’t stop thinking of him. Yes, he’s certainly narcissistic enough for that. Gods, my heart hurts.
‘This is good to go,’ I say at last, keeping my voice steady despite the prickle of unease that refuses to leave me. ‘Can you fetch me a sieve to drain it?’
‘Sure,’ Ruben replies, reluctantly leaving his mother’s side to join me.
In a matter of minutes, the tonic is drained and the final ingredients are added, at which point I pour it over the ice and take the cup straight to Noleen. Ruben wakes her gently.
Just like with the water, Ruben holds the liquid up to his mother’s lips and coaxes it into her mouth. But the effect is nearly instant. Her chest drops in relief at the ease of the pain.
‘Thank you, Rose,’ she whispers before closing her eyes again, the shadow of a smile still gracing her lips. Within moments, the soft reverberations of sleep rattle from her lungs.
‘If you want to give her some more, re-boil it first,’ I instruct Ruben. ‘Then cool it the way we just did. She’ll probably need a little more than we gave her just now, as the magic within it weakens with time.’
‘Thank you, Rosey. She’s definitely breathing easier.’
I try to smile, but it’s hard when I really don’t feel like I’ve done much. Dulled some pain, eased her breathing. Not exactly top-tier healer stuff. My mother would have barely counted it as the beginning of the consultation. I haven’t found the source of Noleen’s problems, merely treated the symptoms. But as new to my powers as I am, it’s all I’ve got to offer. Maybe I’ll be able to do more after a year or two of practice with my magic.
