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The men weren’t there when Roanac did his ritual. By the time they burst in, it was all but finished, and I was unconscious.
“He started chanting,” I say, trying to recall. “He cut me open and then he was saying all these words that I didn’t understand. It kind of reminded me of my vision from when he had himself cut open and all that magic put into him, but it was different. The words he was saying, I mean.”
I was in a lot of pain so I feel kind of fuzzy on the details, and I definitely didn’t know what language he was talking in. “But I remember I felt weird, even before he started to take the blood from me.”
“Roanac said you had a lot of power in you, in your blood,” Cain says slowly. “He wouldn’t want to transfer that blood to himself unless he was absolutely sure, though, right?”
I nod. “Makes sense.”
“So he would want to activate that power and make sure you absolutely had it, then transfer the blood to himself. But the ritual wasn’t completed. We interrupted it before he could drain you dry.”
“Which means that was how I was healed?” I guess. “My power was activated, and it saved me somehow?”
I look around at the men. They all seem to agree with me on it, and I don’t know what other explanation there could be.
“If that’s true,” Raven says, “then the blood in you is now as powerful as the blood in Roanac.”
“Well, I’m not sure I’d say that. I’ve only got my own power, whatever the hell that is. Roanac’s also got the magic that he was given beforehand, in that first ritual, and whatever he’s learned from being a mage all this time. I’m not exactly a match for him.”
“But you are more powerful than before. You can connect with other fae in a way that I don’t know anyone else has ever been able to.” North’s voice is firm, and I don’t think he’ll change his mind on this.
“If you really are more powerful, there’s an easy way to test it,” Raven points out. “Use your glamour.”
All fae have glamour, the ability to create illusions, but I haven’t exactly been the most proficient fae in the world. I can glamour small things like hiding my backpack to pick up after a robbery job, and I glamoured handcuffs onto us for our sneak attack on Roanac that went sideways. But I would bet that Cain and Raven can use their glamour far better than I can.
Or at least, they used to be able to.
“I’ll give it a shot,” I say. After all, what’s the harm in it?
Okay, what should I try, what should I glamour? Hmm.
I think about what I’d like to be doing right now. Where I’d like to be. And I’d like to be on a damn vacation. Away from all the problems that have been hounding us. I want to be on a beautiful vacation, I want to relax. I want to be with my mates without worry that someone is going to rip us apart from each other or try to kill us.
Mmm, how about a beach? A lovely beach where it’s warm and sunny, and I can feel the sand between my toes. I can run into the ocean, smell the sea breeze and the sunblock lotion, cool off or warm up how I want to. Take a nap, just sleep and relax all day, play volleyball with my mates, rent a nice hotel room or cabana somewhere…
As I think about it, the room around us changes. And not in the way that I would expect. Glamour is visual. It’s an illusion, but that doesn’t change what you feel or hear or smell. At least, I didn’t think that it did. As far as I know, glamour is just like putting a special effect on top of something like in a movie, only it’s in real life. There’s not really a space ship there but you can make people think they’re seeing one.
A fae’s glamour can be stronger or weaker, it depends on the fae. It’s like how some people are naturally stronger than others. You can do only a small glamour, maybe, or only glamour one thing at a time, or you can only keep the glamour up for a short amount of time.
I close my eyes, and I imagine the beach as strongly as I can. I imagine the sound of the waves. That slight tropical tang to the air that you get only in regions like the Bahamas. The warmth of the sand beneath me and the cool breeze wafting in from the ocean.
And then, I can feel it. I can hear it. I can smell it. It’s all there.
“Holy shit,” Cain says. I can hear Raven inhale swiftly.
I open my eyes, and I find that it’s all real.
Well, not reallyreal. We’re still in our crappy safe house underground. But it sure feels like we’re on a beach on some beautiful tropical island.
“You can smell it,” North says wonderingly.
All three men stare around us like they’re not entirely sure that they’re awake. I’m pretty damn shocked myself. How am I doing this? It’s easy, I haven’t exerted any energy, it feels like I just breathed and had the thought and bam. Now here it is.
But I’ve never been able to do anything like this before. I don’t know of any fae who can glamour smells and sounds like this.
Cain gets up and walks around. The sand squishes between his toes and the sea breeze ruffles his hair.
“I can feel it,” he says. He turns and looks at us. “Holy shit, Kiara.”
