AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He shakes his head and turns away so I can’t see his face. Before I can talk myself out of it, I cross the rest of the distance between us and force myself into his line of sight. His lips are pressed tightly together, and he still won’t focus on me. I grab his face with both hands, and his eyes flutter closed.
He shakes his head. “This isn’t—this isn’t what I want to be.”
“I know.”
“I can’t rule like her,” he whispers. “I won’t.”
“I know.” I pull him in against my chest, and he gives little resistance, his forehead coming to rest on my shoulder, the last of the tension finally releasing him. “I know.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
The estates launchanother attack on Westcott’s compounds the following night—one they found near the Carrington estate, and not too far from where I’d stayed with the wolves in the barrens.
It feels like I’ve been pushed out of a plane and I’m barreling toward the ground, everything around me moving faster by the second, but my grasp on dark magic isn’t getting any better.
Reid lays a comforting hand on my back as if he can feel the anxiety building inside of me as we reach the area of the garden I’ve been using to practice the past few days. But as we step through the trees, a figure is already standing among the shadows.
“Where have you been?” I demand through my teeth.
She takes a step forward, enough for the light of the moon to fall on her eerily familiar face, and blinks innocently at me. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you find that you want me around? That wasn’t really the impression I got last time.”
“Is this some kind of game to you?”
“See, that tone isn’t exactly screaming,Thank you, V. I soooo appreciate you offering your time for the help I so desperately need.”
Sounds drift toward us on the breeze, voices and footsteps and heavy thuds of moving furniture—the servants preparing for the coronation tonight—which serves as a reminder that I won’t have nearly as much time for practicing as usual today.
Bickering with myself isn’t the most productive use of it.
“Fine,” I force out. “Thank you.”
She beams and claps her hands like she’s preparing to teach a class. “So I vote we practice with Prince Charming over there. It can be easier to summon your power if you have a clear goal for what to do with it. Now, it’ll be a lot harder with an unwilling vampire, especially if they’ve ever trained in mentally shielding themselves from magic, let alone working on large numbers at once. In my experience, it’ll be easier to infiltrate their body than their mind. To make them move, speak, that kind of thing. But they’ll be aware that you’re pulling their strings like a puppet. The next level would be to get inside their mind to make them think it’s their idea in the first place. But for today, let’s start with something small and just in the body. Might I suggest making him take off his shirt?”
Make them move, speak.I think of the Marionette who jumped from the tower. I assumed he’d been glamoured, but what if it was something else? If someone was using dark magic on him? Tocontrolhim?
I glare at V as Reid watches me, confused since he can’t hear a word she’s saying. He lifts an eyebrow when I blink back to him.
“She wants me to try something simple on you first,” I explain. “Only if you’re comfortable with it.”
His lips twitch. “I’m guessing that’s not all she said.”
“I took some creative liberties.”
“Practice drawing that energy up first,” V suggests. “And try to hold it. You’d use the same method for dark spells too, so it’s a good thing to master either way.”
“Give it a try,” Reid encourages.
I grimace as I squeeze my eyes closed. I’ve tried this a million times already and always gotten the same result. My magic warms in the center of my chest, ready to help, and I try to ignore it, searching for wherever this second source is. V said to draw up from my shadow, but how am I supposed to connect with something that’s not even inside my body?
I grit my teeth as I bunch my hands into fists and let out a frustrated breath through my nose.
“You’re trying too hard,” says V. “This magic is a part of you. It’ll feel natural when done right.”
“I can’t feel anything,” I mutter. “I haven’t for days.”
“Well, I guess that’s that then!” V claps her hands together like she’s dusting them off. “Everyone else can suck it because Valerie Darkmore isn’t nearly as powerful as she’s led everyone to believe.”
“You’re not helping,” I snap.
