“My recalling the oath means you will no longer be collected when you fail to fulfill it. You don’t have magic and there is no way you can complete the task. When Amelia dies, I’ll take her and leave you here with your locked magic to serve as the vampires’ pet. The lineage magic continues because you’ll be able to help others with theirs.” He frowned. “I guess that part isn’t true, since your knowledge of everything is so limited. How could you be left so ill-prepared?” He waved his question away.“Nevertheless, you are of no use to me.” As cruel as he was being, there were notes of desolation in his voice. How rare were ashinwas?
“I accepted the oath and agreed to release your friends. You have no right to break our agreement.”
His gaze shifted past me. “Why didn’t you have your Spellrend?”
“I don’t know. Could it be because my parents died before I was old enough to go through it?” Them telling me about my great magic made some sort of sense now.
“It’s not age specific. It’s based on whether it is believed you’d successfully pass. Because it’s lineage magic, any ashinwa could initiate it. It was the only restriction that could be placed on your magic to mitigate the harm. You either pass and are gifted with the magic, or you fail.” He washed a hand over his face and when it dropped, I got glimpses of fleeting emotions that I couldn’t place. Maybe sorrow? Dejection? Whatever the emotions were, they accompanied bereavement. That was an emotion he couldn’t seem to hide. Sympathy for him slipped in. He really wanted his friends released and the lost opportunity had affected him deeply.
“You make it seem as if my magic is so evil. There is no such thing as any magic being all bad. Just like no spell is all bad.”
“You don’t have magic,” he reminded me quietly. With a nod, he added, “You are right about spells. But what about curses? Has there ever been one that caused no harm? Some magic is so potent it is nearly impossible to be controlled by anyone but the wielder. It’s up to them whether they use it for good or evil. Historically, ashinwas were self-serving and cruel with their magic. It was the first time someone from Umbryth intervened in your realm. The Spellrend was a mitigation made to oblige ashinwas to do the least amount of harm with their gifts. Even with the Spellrend, your ilk finds ways to get around that.”
“Like you did with the rule that restricts you from taking a life,” I countered, displaying my arm. The marking had disappeared.
He took hold of my arm, his fingers tracing the periphery of where it had been.
“But you’re able to see me,” he whispered, his bravado and confidence now replaced by sheer confusion.
“Yeah, and so did William.”
“I meant at Cloak and Dagger.”
“Because I could see you.”
“I was veiled from the eyes of those in your realm. Your magic is the only thing that allowed you to see me. The strongest ability of ashinwas is being veil destroyers. Most veils, oaths, and wards don’t stand a chance against your presence.”
Well, that explained a bit. My magic seemed to be breaking through somehow, or there was a flaw. Nevertheless, it gave me bargaining power.
“I can’t make sense of you or this situation,” he admitted, shaking his head.
“It’s the first thing we’ve had in common.”
He moved away, shrugging off whatever had passed as kindness and understanding. “I don’t need to make sense of it. You are no longer an asset. The oath is void,” he started again.
I rushed up to him. “I will fulfill my oath,” I insisted. Amelia wouldn’t be sacrificed for this.
Making a sound that landed between a bitter scoff and a chortle, he shook his head.
“Iwillsave Amelia and release your friends.”
Desperation had me making promises I should have avoided. I’d figure out a way to pass the Spellrend, unlock my magic, and fulfill my oath by releasing his psycho friends—and yes, I was convinced they were sadists or sociopaths deserving of imprisonment. Then I’d make it my duty to fix whatever chaosensued from the release of his friends even if it involved returning them to their prison.
I was emboldened by the thought that my potential magic surpassed that of the all-mighty Cirrian. Magic for my taking, behind a Spellrend ritual paywall. I wanted the magic desperately, and my sights were set on getting it.
“Why hasn’t anyone come for you? There are so few ashinwas, someone should have come to help you in your parents’ absence,” Cirrian asked.
I was wondering about that as well. There were so many things unanswered, leaving me to speculate. I assumed the magic came from my father’s side because surely my auntie would have made sure I’d gone through the ritual. Unless she’d never passed and didn’t believe I could, either. Or maybe she didn’t want it, allowing the magic line to end with us, never to be spoken of or explored. I needed to speak with her.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. Despite steadying my voice, the tinge of sorrow couldn’t be missed. I’d never felt so alone in the world. Before, it was me and my magicless parents and their lofty expectations of me becoming a magical powerhouse. Now it was a lifetime of deception that I was having a hard time grasping. I blinked back tears. Cirrian hadn’t missed them because his eyes quickly darted from mine.
Desperation and hopelessness had removed all pride. Saving Amelia was my priority. If I needed him to pity me to keep the oath in place, so be it.
“Amelia wasn’t the target of the curse, I was,” I admitted. “And it’s not the first time.” Then I revealed the attack by the draveth, how he was killed by a protection spell on me. Retelling the events of the attack caused the same phantom heat over my body that the claws caused when they stabbed me, and rekindled my desperation to preserve a life that was slipping away.
I left out the part that their attempt was nearly successful and that if it hadn’t been for Vina, I’d be dead. I couldn’t risk him connecting the dots and discovering that Vina was Amelia’s mother. And attributing Amelia to saving my life would cause him to question how she’d acquired such magic. I wished I could be completely transparent with Cirrian, since he was a wealth of knowledge that I wanted access to. And I wanted to know more about the ashinwa magic that he coveted and loathed so much.
I gave him a nearly accurate retelling of the incident, skating over Vina’s involvement and where the torus ended up, giving him the impression that Amelia was responsible for saving my life. Which wasn’t a complete lie.
