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Blume got his phone out and placed it on the table between us. “Right,” he said, as he pressed the record button. “A full report on both this afternoon’s and this evening’s events.”
“What, now? You have to be fucking kidding—”
“The sooner you comply, the sooner I can be out of your hair.”
You want me to do a little mind tinkering? Belle asked, sounding a little too eager. I’m sure I can find a way through his shields if I try hard enough.
As much as I’d love to say yes, it’s probably not the best idea with everyone else in the room.
I resolutely made the required report. It was quick and to the point, but it nevertheless took more minutes than I really wanted to waste.
“Anything else to add?” Blume said when I finished.
Nothing that I want to tell you. I shook my head.
He stopped recording then glanced at his phone as it beeped. “They’ve lost the vampire’s trail again.”
“No surprise, given what we’re dealing with,” Anna stated.
“I take it there’s no point in trying a location spell this evening?” Blume asked.
“We could try, but he’ll probably counter any such effort. It’s better to try tomorrow when the sun has forced him to sleep.”
Blume grunted and rose. “Then I will see you tomorrow.”
He was barely out of the door when Anna switched to attack mode. Her expression sharpened and her demeanor became more intense. My guard instantly went up, though against what I wasn’t entirely sure. It wasn’t as if she could read me. The spells in this place might be battered, but they weren’t defeated. I’d feel any attempt she made to short-circuit or slip past them.
“Who produced the spells that protect this place?”
It was a question I certainly hadn’t been expecting. “I did—why?”
“Because their construction is unusual.”
I forced a smile. “Because—as I’m sure you’re well aware—I’m not a vetted witch.”
“Accreditation has nothing to do with it, as that is little more than an allegiance ceremony.” She paused, her gaze narrowing. Her magic played across mine, but it wasn’t an attack. It was, instead, the sort of examination an entomologist might give a newly discovered bug. “All incantations have strict lines of structure—it is a formality that is deliberate, and one intended to protect both the witch and the world from which we draw power.”
“Are you saying my magic is dangerous?”
“Possibly, given it not only possesses little in the way of recognizable structure, but also an unrestrained wildness. I’ve never come across anything like it.”
“The wildness is easily explained—I cast a spell in the cemetery last night, but the wild magic caught and altered it.”
“That is not unheard of, and generally why it is recommended not to cast when near a wellspring,” she said. “But it doesn’t explain the wildness in your magic.”
“It does if remnants of the wild magic were still clinging to me when I boosted the layering protecting us.” I shrugged. “As to the unstructured nature of my spells, well, it isn’t altogether surprising given my lack of official training.”
Which was only a half lie—I certainly hadn’t received any training after I’d run from my family and Canberra. But witches from the royal line started learning spells and control almost as soon as they could walk. By the time I’d left home, I’d had more than sixteen years of study behind me. I might not have honed my skills by moving on into university, but my knowledge was nevertheless fairly extensive.
It just wasn’t as extensive—just as I wasn’t as powerful—as any of my siblings’.
Her expression remained unconvinced. “Even if you didn’t receive formal training—and I find that highly unlikely—why is there no record of you in the archives?”
My heart began to race. This was not a line of questioning I really wanted to get into. “Because I’m not from Victoria.”
“Perhaps, but there’s also no record of you in the South Australian archives, and that is where you told Hart you were from.”
“No, I said Belle and I had come here from South Australia. I didn’t say I was born there.” I shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “If you’re looking for my birth certificate, try Darwin. But it’s not going to tell you much other than the name of my parents—who are Kate and Lance Grace, if you must know.”
