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I resisted the urge to physically whack her and gave her a mental one instead. Her mental laughter increased, bright and light in the dangerous gloom still surrounding us.
“She turned a great-grandson of mine into a thrall and did not even have the courtesy to tell me or ask permission,” Maelle said eventually. “He was the first person I killed. He did not wish that life. He was miserable.”
Well, fuck, Belle said.I guess that explains why Roger was attacked.It’s nothing more than a bit of tit for tat.
I think you’re missing the bigger problem in that statement,I replied.It implies becoming a thrall is not always a choice.
She swore. Vehemently.How the fuck do we protect ourselves against something like that?
We use wild magic to ramp up the vamp protection spells in our charms and make sure everyone we love has one.
I’ll send Monty a message. He can grab Ashworth and Eli on the way home. We need to do this tonight, because your response here with Roger will have alerted Marie to your use of the wild magic.
She was already aware of it—she had one of her people attempt to break into the café, remember.
Yes, but tonight would confirm that you can apply it to spells at will.
And there was absolutely nothing we could do about that now. Nothing except hope like hell she didn’t come after me before either Maelle killed her, or she killed Maelle.
“Can you restore and protect Roger?” Maelle said into the silence. “My magic—and our connection—cannot.”
“Because Marie is stronger?”
The contempt that rolled off her was almost as fierce as the fury. “Marie is myequalwhen it comes to magic and would therefore be able to dismantle anything I construct. However, it is a simple case of ignorance. Neither of us had any reason to use or indeed be taught such a simple spell.”
Because they used blood magic and ritual for protections? Or because there were actually few mages alive who could magically best them?
I rather suspected the answer lay in a combination of both.
“I can try to protect him, Maelle,” Belle said. “But restoring his mind will depend on what has been done and how strong the opposing telepath is.”
“All I ask is that you try.”
“Whether or not Belle can restore him to some semblance of normality,” I said, “it might be worth acquiring some telepathic protection devices for your people. They’re not perfect—a telepath as strong as Belle will break through them with a bit of time—but they will at least add an extra layer of difficulty and give you some warning. I’m not sure where’d you get them legally, but I dare say they’d be available on the black market.”
Monty could probably let her know, given he was wearing one when he first came here,Belle said.
Yes, but let’s not make things too easy for the bitch, because she’s certainly not returning the favor. Besides, I have no doubt she’ll know more than one black marketeer.
“I will make inquiries through my contacts,” Maelle said, basically confirming my suspicions. “In the meantime, do what you can for Roger. I shall be nearby should you need anything.”
And with that, the shadows rolled over the gleam of her eyes and all sense of her presence melted away. She’d no doubt simply retreated into her escape room, but it was nevertheless an unnerving sensation.
In fact, her remaining in the shadows the entire time was utterly out of character. It wasn’t due to fear—not of us, at any rate. Did that mean the takeover of Roger had affected her in some way? He certainly looked far more emaciated than when I’d last seen him, so had Maelle for some reason drained his energy?
Or had it beenMariewho’d done so?
Was it possible she’d used Roger’s connection to Maelle to siphonherenergy in an attempt to weaken her?
Possible.
Morethan possible, I suspected.
“Right,” Belle said, after a deep calming breath. “Let’s get down to business. I’ll need you to dismantle the net around him, because as much as I don’t want to, touching him will make it easier to sort out the damage done to him.”
I quickly dismissed the containment net and also let the protection shield go. I could raise it again easily enough if needed, but it tended to pull on my strength after a while. Given Roger’s repair might take a while, I didn’t need it draining me when Belle might yet need to tap into my energy.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
