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I didn’t know how shifter magic worked, but Lucius was definitely stuck. More Fae than wolf, I decided—tufts of white on his cheeks, his neck, with elegant, pointed ears sticking out from the thick fur.
“Funny you say that because Ifeelstuck. Magic doesn’t always work the way it should and I’m old, which means most days my power works even less well. That’s the thing about age. You think you have everything all figured out, then reality comes along and bites you in the arse.”
“How so?” I nodded to his sandwich, which he still hadn’t touched. “I hate eating alone and it’s rude to leave your food untouched.”
Lucius sighed, but he picked up the sandwich and took a careful bite. His fangs were long, one of them cracked, the tip missing. Even in his state, I saw where Tavion and Julian got their good looks.
The old male had been handsome, probably still was once he fully transformed back to his Fae form. He was broad in the shoulders, ropey muscles stretched over big bones,but blue eyes that had once been clear were fogged with a helpless sort of grief.
He was utterly ruined in body and soul.
“Magic is fickle, even magic such as ours. We spend the first twenty years of our lives learning to master the transformation until it’s second nature. Shifting comes from here.” He lay his hand over his heart.
“Rooted in the deepest part of ourselves, the truest part of ourselves.” His face turned somber. “Break your heart and break your magic. The last time I shifted…I couldn’t change back to my mortal form.”
“Could you turn back into the wolf?”
“Perhaps…probably.” He sighed heavily, resting his elbows on the counter. “But I have no wish to become a mindless animal for whatever years I have left. As hideous as this is…” He shrugged. “At least I can still talk and think.”
“You’re not hideous.” I set down my sandwich. “Just…stuck. Could a healer help?” As if in answer, my magic stirred within me. Maybe, after taking Julian away and causing this, I could fix him.
He shook his head. “No, I’ve consulted them all. A couple mages. A witch or two. Nothing helped. The witches made things worse, so that was a mistake.” His sheepish grin told me how wellthatencounter had gone.
“Dane warned me, I should have listened.”
“If I could, I would try to undo this…but I can’t control my magic, much less make it do anything useful.” I set my elbows on the counter, mirroring his pose. “And I hate not being able to help you.”
“I don’t expect you to fix me, Anaria. It’s enough that you want to help me,” he said kindly. “Is there anyone to help you learn your power?”
“No. This magic is too different from everyone else’s.”
“Change doesn’t happen overnight. You have to give yourself time.”
I clasped my hands together, searching his face. “But what if we don’t have time? What if I need to figure this outnow?”
“Then you do your best. There’s no rushing magic, I can tell you that.”
Lucius put his hand back over his heart, his next words freezing my blood. “Julian believed you were the only one who could unite the three realms. I always thought Tavion was too bitter to believe in anything. But he believes in you.”
I stiffened at the absolute surety in that statement. “Tavion doesn’t care about anything but himself.”
“A lie, and you know it. My son carestoodeeply, he’s just afraid to lay his feelings out for all to see,” Lucius said baldly. “But Tavion is his own worst enemy, as you have no doubt discovered. There is something maddening about Tavion…I can’t tell you how often I wanted to wring his neck when he was young.”
“Oh, I know.” I couldn’t explain why it was so easy to talk to Lucius when I could barely stand the sight of his son. But I could, as if I’d known him my entire life.
Maybe, if Tavion was more like his father…No.
I didn’t need Tavion being anything but the prickly bastard he was. Animosity kept things between us simple.Uncomplicated.
“You remind me of Julian.” I curled my hands into fists at what a fucking waste his death had been. How effortlessly he’d made me trust him, after just a few seconds. “He was kind and he held to his beliefs.”
“He most likely died for those beliefs.”
I held my head high. “He did.” I was every kind of a fool, but I had to tell Lucius the truth. A grieving father had to know how his son died, even though he’d hate me by the end.
“Lucius…I’m the one who killed your son. My magic…killed him.”
He just nodded sadly. “I know. It’s the only thing that could have.” For a long moment we stared at each other over the wreckage of breadcrumbs and cut up cheese.
