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“Yeah, it does fairly regularly these days.”
“Huh. I would love to know how.”
“So would I,” Azriel commented. “The Dušan are not supposed to be active on this plane of existence.”
Ilianna raised an eyebrow, amusement creasing the corners of her green eyes. “So it’s like its owner, and keeps doing the unexpected?”
“Definitely,” Azriel commented, voice dry. “But it does make for a more interesting existence.”
“Undoubtedly.” Ilianna’s amusement grew stronger. “But to get back to the point, these will protect their wearers from most incantations and spells. Given you’re somewhat more sensitive to magic than most nonpractitioners, I imagine you will probably still feel any attack on you, but it will not be enough to influence you—or anyone else who wears them—in any way. It will not protect you from the darker forces, however.”
“Darker forces meaning demon attack and the like, rather than actual spells and incantations?”
She hesitated. “I’m not sure it will protect you against a spell with the full backing of blood magic behind it, but it should withstand most other magic.”
Which was a damn sight better than nothing.
“We’ve only managed to make three of these things,” she continued. “For safety’s sake, Mirr
i and I are going to stay here at the Brindle, so you might want to give one to Tao and the other to Stane.”
“Not Tao,” I said immediately. “Aside from the fact that if we can’t find him, it’s doubtful the sorcerer or even Hunter could, he at least has the elemental for protection. That thing seems to have a sixth sense when it comes to attack.”
Or even being touched. I shivered, and pain ghosted through my hand as I remembered my attempt to stop the elemental reaching Macedon. If Azriel hadn’t been able to heal me, I would have been left with a useless limb.
“You’re right.” Her expression was thoughtful. “And it’s probably the only real protection he needs, when I think about it.”
I frowned. “How so?”
“It’s obvious the fire that gave birth to the elementals still burns within the Macedon sacred site, and as long as it does, the elemental cannot be controlled by other forces of magic.”
“But it can be destroyed by them—can’t it?”
“Yes, but it would take a lot of energy and strength. The elementals are a force of being as much as magic.”
“Our dark sorceress has the strength, though.”
“Yes, but it would drain her. With you so close on her tail, I don’t think she’d risk it.”
Neither did I. Then what she’d said earlier actually hit me. “Ilianna, if destroying the fire will destroy the elemental, why don’t we just do that to free Tao?”
“Because it won’t free Tao. It’ll kill him.” She grimaced. “Trust me, I did think of that solution, but I’m afraid when Tao consumed the elemental, he forever changed his body chemistry. They are too intertwined now to separate. Kill one, and you kill the other.”
“So our only hope is praying that Tao wins the battle for control?”
“Or that, at the very least, they come to some sort of truce.”
I snorted. “It’s hard to imagine what sort of truce would work for two very different beings.”
“Yes.” There was sadness in her expression. She crossed her arms and said, “Who do you plan to give the spare bracelet to?”
“Uncle Rhoan. He adamantly refuses to retreat to safe ground, so this bracelet will at least afford him some protection.” I handed the bracelet to Azriel. “Could you please take it to him?”
“As long as you remain here, under the Brindle’s protection, while I am gone.”
“I will.”
He immediately disappeared. I took the remaining two, slipping one over my right wrist and shoving the other into a pocket to give it to Stane later. The Dušan reacted immediately to the presence of the bracelet on my wrist, slithering up my arm, across my shoulders, then down my right arm. It was a weird sensation, not unlike my skin crawling, but interspersed with needle-sharp pinpricks that were a result of the Dušan’s claws cutting into my skin—though she didn’t draw blood. As the Dušan reached the ribbon-and-stone bracelet, her tail lifted from my skin, curled around the bracelet, then returned to my flesh. The bracelet went with it, prickling and itching as it leached into my skin. After a few seconds, it was little more than a multicolored tattoo that encircled my right wrist. The Dušan then retreated to my left arm and entwined around the leafy charm Ilianna had given me earlier to protect—or at least mute—the force of any ordinary spell or geas used against me. Though Lucian—who’d placed one such geas on me—was no longer a problem, the sorceress was still out there, and who knew what kind of compulsion she might try if given half the chance.
