Amelia walked slowly to the car, a deep frown marring her expression. “Maybe he is an asshole,” she mumbled in a fatigued rasp.
Once I was in the car, she sighed, slumping into the steering wheel. “That didn’t go as expected.” Tears streamed down her face and when she’d stopped wiping them away, I took over. “I guess I wasn’t as convincing as I believed,” she admitted with a wry smile. I gave her hand, resting at her side, a squeeze.
She stayed like that for nearly fifteen minutes. Her resolve came slowly before she shifted back in the seat, offering me a beleaguered smile. Amelia’s breathing was soft and steady, and the sharp edges of her frown had eased, although it concerned me that her face was devoid of any emotion.
“I’m okay,” she said when she started the car. She wasn’t, but I believed she eventually would be.
I’d expected the drive home to be somber, and for Amelia to cycle through her emotions of dread and depression. But there was a lightness to her as she explained it was Vina who had attempted to poison me earlier with the intention of abducting me. Her voice cracked several times.
“How does it feel?” I asked.
Her hands rubbed over her chest as if she were trying to conjure words from the space. “Calm,” she whispered. “There was always something unsettled in me… Before you say it, I know her actions weren’t mine to take on. But if given the opportunity to stop it, it was my responsibility to do so.” She glanced over at me. “I made it better and stopped more attacks against you.”
Her confidence emboldened me. I took it as the small win I needed, chastising myself for not appreciating the biggest success of all: Amelia was alive.
“How did she learn about the draveths?” I asked.
Amelia shrugged. “She’s definitely allied with them. I suspect some agreement to share the magic if they were able to tear the veil and get to Umbryth.” The same fear and apprehension must have run through her as it did me because she shook her head.
“Power-hungry people don’t keep you around if you can’t be useful. She no longer has the huge well of magic, and I suspect Cirrian will make sure neither she nor the draveths get to you.”
I took the segue given to talk about how they’d managed to link up. No words were needed. I simply shifted in my seat and narrowed my eyes at her.
“He approached me,” she said.
My brow rose, urging her to continue because there was no way she believed that would suffice.
“Cirrian approached me and explained that Vina’s action had caused an imbalance and the only way to repair it would be her death. Girl, I thought he was asking me to kill my mom.”
“You think he wasn’t?” I wasn’t convinced he wasn’t. He’d saved Amelia’s life. A life for a life.
There was a long moment of consideration. “He’s very creative with his words. It didn’t seem that way at first. It seemed like he was asking for my help to prevent the destruction of Umbryth. It felt like a grand assignment. Like I was the only one who could save the world type of responsibility.” She shrugged. “I wasn’t gullible enough to believe that. But I did get the impression that what she’d done would have consequences. And I would be used to find her. I got the impression that not only was I saving your life but hers as well. I don’t want her dead.”
Amelia wanted remorse, and for her mother to willingly relinquish the stolen magic, a grand redemption arc I was confident she’d never see.
“He gave me the thaumavore, allowing me to right so many of her wrongs. She’s magicless.”
“And so are you.”
“I have the protection of my coven. She has diminished value to anyone who wishes to use her to get to you or even replicate what she did. And she’s a cautionary tale. How likely is someone willing to risk doing what she did when the result could be the complete loss of their magic?”
I believed there were some witches who’d consider the risk worth the reward.
Rubbing my hand over my chest in the manner she’d done earlier, I smiled. “Gratitude and pride,” I offered. She beamed. “Iwish you would have told me instead of being so sketchy about it.”
“No one knew the specifics, not even my coven. It would have complicated things. You all would have tried to talk me out of it or stop me. I needed to do it,” she admitted. “I’ll have to tell my coven everything. Most of everything,” she revised, knowing that to adhere to the oath, her deal with the shadow god had to be omitted.
As she turned into my driveway, we both got a glimpse of the massive wolf. Amelia quickly pushed the gear into park and hopped out of the car, following the huge animal trotting into my backyard. “You’re beautiful,” she prattled, slowly approaching him. The flattery removed the menace from his face.
Shallow, conceited beast, I thought uncharitably.“Wolfie? Obsidian? Coal?” Amelia mocked. “No wonder he didn’t like any of them.” She sat on the ground and so did he, nestling against her and seeming to enjoy her chastising me.
Sitting down next to them, I asked, “What should we call him?”
He looked at Amelia with a confidence he’d never shown me, giving me previously hidden insights into his personality.
“Magnus?” she asked the mercurial wolf, who nodded his approval before dropping his head into her lap.
“Magnus it is. Latin for great,” she explained to him. I suspected he already knew.
