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Plopping down in his seat, Irany groaned into his hands. “A twelve.”
“A thirteen is the least of what I need in terms of power in order to break it.”
Ah. That made perfect sense to Luka. He even saw the logic behind it with this information. “Everything you listed is wind-based except the hair. I take it the hair is the physical binding agent to attach the rest to?”
Amaru pointed at Luka. “Even a dragon gets it. Granted, my Luka is brilliant, but if a non-mage can grasp it all, then even you should get it, Irany.”
“Can you stop being mad at me already?” Irany lifted his head to reveal a grimace. “I didn’t do this on purpose.”
“You ignored my warnings. Repeatedly. I’ll stop being mad at you later.”
“When’s later?”
“I’ll consider it next decade.” Amaru pointedly turned to the rest of the table. “Anyway, we need them. Not just for this, either, but I need them in order to fix Sam’s core.”
Everyone startled, not just Luka. Wait, what?
Sam half lunged over the table, grasping Amaru’s hand in a fierce grip. His eyes searched Amaru’s in desperate hope. “You can fix me?”
“I can.” Amaru’s expression softened. “Sorry, I haven’t had a chance to properly examine you. Dimitri put a bug in my ear about it, it’s just we’ve all been too hectic to spare ten minutes. Still, I can see from here the gist of what’s going on.”
Sam looked torn between crying and screaming in joy. Still, he stayed firmly planted in his seat.
It was Sora who spluttered out, “Explain. Please. Why do you need malignant elements to fix his core?”
“Because it’s a curse.” Amaru said this matter-of-factly.
Uh. What? “Babe, run that by me one more time.”
Luka wasn’t alone in this; every person at the table stared at Amaru in a poleaxed way. Like he’d announced he was going to live underwater from now on, as soon as his new gills came in.
“It’s a curse.” Amaru looked uncertainly from face to face. “You, uh, did know this? No, I can see from your faces you didn’t.”
Sora put up both hands in a pleading motion. “But his core is broken, correct?”
“Not in the sense you mean it. I’ve seen evidence you have tried to apply healing to the core, but that won’t work while the curse is in effect.”
“And you are absolutely sure it is a curse?”
Irany looked as confused as Amaru. “Of course it’s a curse. What did you think it was?”
“A magical backlash.” Evora had to swallow, hard, to gather her composure enough to force words out. “When Kaiser Jaeggi used the spell to destroy all the major mage families, the spell was insanely unstable, and the backlash hit him and through him impacted his entire clan. There isn’t a Jaeggi who isn’t affected by it even generations later.”
“Uh. That’s not how backlashes work.” Irany scratched at his hair, sending it in interesting directions. “Like, that’s completely impossible.”
Amaru was more patient explaining. “I know a lot of magical theory and knowledge got lost in the Wars, so let me outline this better for you. If you do an insane spell that’s not stable, it will backlash, yes. It will backlash against the caster and possibly whoever is nearby. As in, in the same room. But it can’t carry farther than that. It’s not sentient, after all, it’s just power. Raw, uncontrolled power.”
Of course. Of course, why hadn’t Luka realized? Said like that, it was obvious.
Sam’s brows were compressed into a straight line as he thought hard. “Then how…? You said curse. Did someone intentionally curse the Jaeggi line?”
“Must have. Probably for revenge. You had whole mage lines dying left and right, after all. I’m sure someone got mad and cursed the whole family line in return. I certainly would have, in their shoes. But a curse is the only way to explain why Jaeggi who are still being born today are having the same issue with their cores.” Amaru pointed a finger straight at Sam’s chest. “And I can see it clear as day, too. That said, we can’t just break the spell on one of you and have it do a ripple effect. Sadly. We’ll have to fix you guys one by one. But the good news is, once we have you fixed, the curse stops with you. None of your children will be in danger of having it.”
Sam sagged, leaning in against Dimitri, and a tear slipped from his eye.
The weight of it had been dragging at Sam for years. Luka knew this, knew how hard Sam had fought even being mated to Dimitri because of his broken core. To hear Amaru so matter-of-factly explain the cause, all while knowing the cure, must have felt like an answer directly from heaven.
For his friends, Luka was thrilled. Also relieved. He didn’t want Dimitri left alone in fifty, sixty years because Sam hadn’t been able to bond to him.
