Infinite Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress Book 5) (7 page)

“Fold in your wings!” I yelled. I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t hit Aidan with my magic, but as long as he was close to me, it was far less likely. He often used his wings to protect me. But that wouldn’t help now.

The magic roiled within me, desperate to be set free. I’d have to try something non-deadly, not only to soothe my conscience, but to guarantee that Aidan wouldn’t get killed in the blowback.

I called upon Dermot’s weather witch power, hoping wind would do the trick. What had previously felt like a warm summer breeze now felt like a tornado raring to be set free. It roared within me, pounding to get out. I threw out both arms and envisioned a wave of wind bowling over my enemies.

The gust burst forth, roaring out of me in all directions. It up-ended all the furniture and people, slamming everything and everybody into the walls. Then the walls in the room collapsed. And then more walls as every wall in the house blew away. The noise was thunderous.

Aidan stumbled to his knees beneath me, but remained upright. I looked up, wondering why the ceiling hadn’t fallen on us.

Above me, the roof was flying into the blue sky, propelled by the wind I’d produced. I’d created a dome of wind, blowing everything up and out.

“Holy shit,” I breathed.
 

The roof overhead grew larger.
 

Shit! It was now falling back to earth. The wind had died.

“Aidan! Go!”

He staggered to his feet and took off, his massive wings carrying us away from the house. His powerful body surged beneath mine as he hurled us into the air.
 

Dermot’s house had been in a forest. There were no other buildings nearby. We were in the trees when a loud crash echoed through the woods. I spun to look.

The roof had fallen back onto the house. My insides clenched as the black tar of guilt washed over me.
 

I’d killed all those people.
They didn’t necessarily know they were working for someone evil.

And I’d killed them. My skin grew cold and my stomach sour. Hot tears prickled my eyes. Had I really done it? Killed all those people?

I couldn’t look away from Dermot’s house as it grew smaller in the distance. The massive pile of mangled stone and wood that we left behind was a horrible visual of the carnage I was capable of. I shuddered.
 

I really needed to get control of my power. Because if I didn’t control it, my magic could be as dark as Victor’s.

CHAPTER FOUR

I clung to Aidan’s back, my mind racing, for the entirety of the ride back to Magic’s Bend. The wind was cold enough to chill my bones, but I barely felt it.

When we landed on the wide expanse of his green backyard, I stumbled to the ground. Aidan’s house was located at the edge of Enchanter’s Bluff, the nicest neighborhood in town. He owned a big plot of land that butted up to the ocean, and I could hear the waves crashing against the rocky shore. I sucked in a deep breath of the fresh sea air and tried to clear my head.

Gray light swirled around the massive griffin who watched me with concerned eyes. A moment later, Aidan stood in its place, looking as calm and put-together as usual. No matter what kind of fight we were in, he usually ended up looking like he’d just stepped out of a catalogue.
 

“Are you all right?” He pulled me into his arms.

I melted into him, thawed by his heat. For just a second, I let his strength support me. We’d only been together for a couple of months, and none of it had been normal, but I couldn’t imagine my life without him.
 

“Cass? You okay?” His breath was warm against the top of my head.

“No,” I mumbled. Images of the blown-apart house flashed in my mind.
I’d
done that? I’d just meant to blow folks over. Stun them a bit so we could make our escape. Instead, I’d…

“I killed all those people,” I murmured. My stomach still felt like it’d been dipped in acid, and my tears had dehydrated me totally. There were none left. “There were so many of them, and I killed them.”

“You don’t know that.”

I looked up at him. “Come on, Aidan, of course I do. Did you see that? A house fell on them.”

He gripped my shoulders. “You didn’t mean to. You were defending yourself.”

“I know. But tell that to their families.” I shook my head, trying to banish the image of the crushed house.
I’m turning into a monster.
“I have so much power that I could have ended that all without death. But I can’t control it. I never should have used it. That was so careless of me.”

I clenched my fists in his shirtfront. This much power was a problem. A huge problem.
 

I looked down at my hands. “It’s just that this new power I have…
 
It makes me so much stronger than everyone else. I’m so aware of it now. It was one thing when it was an even fight and I was scrapping for my life. But now, it’s just unfair. I can blast people away with a thought.”

Understanding lit his gray eyes. “It’s understandable that it makes you nervous.”

“I just feel like I’m finally growing a conscience.”

He grinned. “You’ve always had a conscience. You’ve just valued protecting your
deirfiúr
over anything else.”

“Yeah.”

“Just because you are now stronger doesn’t mean you aren’t at risk. That your
deirfiúr
aren’t at risk.”

“You’re right. I need to get my head in the game. I guess I spent too much time mulling things over in prison.”

He pulled me toward him and hugged me tight. “I think it’s good you’re taking your power into account. Becoming more responsible. But don’t forget to protect yourself. I admire your honorable heart, but you can’t let it paralyze you.”

“I won’t.”

He stepped away. “But you do need to practice your magic.”

I nodded vehemently. “God, I hope I can master it.”
 

“You’ll learn and become more comfortable. In the meantime, I’ll send men to check on the house. To see about survivors. Maybe they survived.”

I knew they hadn’t, but I appreciated it. “Thank you.”

He kissed me again, then pulled his phone out of his pocket. As he made the call, I realized he hadn’t worn a mask to see Dermot. Until now, Dermot hadn’t known he was involved.
 

He hung up the phone, and I said, “You didn’t wear a mask.”

“No.” He shrugged.

Understanding dawned. “You weren’t planning to let him live.”

He gave me a look like I was crazy. “He threw you in the Prison for Magical Miscreants. He plans to use you in some horrible plot. Of course I wouldn’t let him live. Neither would you, I don’t think, no matter how you’re feeling about your new power.”

I nodded slowly. “You’re right. I wouldn’t have killed his men, but I’d have made myself kill him to protect my
deirfiúr
.”
 

“It would have been the right thing to do.”

I knew he was right, but I didn’t want to think about it. I tugged my phone out of my pocket and glanced at the time. It was three o’clock. “We’re going to need to alert the Alpha Council soon, but I want to know more about this greater power that Victor is seeking. That sounds really bad.”

Aidan scrubbed a hand over his face, his gaze worried. “I agree. Whatever he’s seeking, we can’t let him get it. And we need to know more about his Transylvanian castle. If we’re going to rescue any FireSouls, we’ll need more details abut the castle’s defenses. Going in blind is a death wish.”

“We could ask Aethelred to scry for us.” Aethelred was the only seer who I knew personally. He wasn’t always a fan of me, but he’d help.
 

“Good idea,” Aidan said.

“I’m going to call him. If he’s in Darklane, I can head over there now. You can call the Alpha Council and tell them what’s up.”
 

“We have no evidence of Dermot Mulvey’s betrayal or Victor’s intentions, so I’m going to have to talk to the Alpha Council in person and hope they believe me,” Aidan said. “And now that Dermot is dead, it’s going to be even harder.”

“Good point.” Accusations should be made in person. That way, they’d at least take the claim seriously. Just calling up on the phone and naming names was suspicious.
 

But it was too dangerous for me to go with him when they could possibly sense what I was. I’d gone to their stronghold twice before, and both times had been risky as hell. I couldn’t go back. Mathias, the one Shifter who knew what I was, had made that clear.

“Call Aethelred,” Aidan said. “I’ll go with you to Darklane, then I’ll head to Scotland to meet with the Alpha Council.”

“Good plan. While you’re there, I’ll practice my magic.”

Aidan glanced around. “You shouldn’t practice here.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” I looked around at the big, beautifully manicured lawn. The house sat on the grass back from the sea, edged on both sides by trees. I’d blow this place right up.

“I’m not worried about the house,” Aidan said. “But we’re too close to the city. Dermot’s home was hidden by illusion, so hopefully that concealed most of the blast. But here, someone could see. If you thought folks were scared of you when you were a FireSoul, that’s nothing compared to how they would feel if they knew what you can do now.”

I blanched. “Good point.”

“You can practice on my land in Scotland. It’s near the Alpha Council headquarters.”
 

“All right. I’ll call Aethelred, then we’ll head to Scotland.”

Fortunately, Aethelred was home when I called. He agreed to meet with us in exchange for a bag of Connor’s famous Cornish Pasties. I hadn’t realized he was familiar with Conner’s specialty, since he rarely left Darklane. Apparently his powers extended farther than I thought, and he knew where to get the best grub in town.

When we pulled up to Aethelred’s door in Darklane, the part of town where the dark magic practitioners hung out, it didn’t look like anyone was home. The curtains were drawn on the narrow windows of the tall row home. Like all the rest, the home’s exterior was a soot-covered Victorian building with intricate architecture and bright paint peeking out from beneath the grime. In Aethelred’s case, the house was blue. Or it had been once.

I climbed out of Aidan’s car, the bag of pasties clutched in my fist. I’d snuck one on the way here—a beef and potato that had been delightful—so I was no longer hungry. Hopefully Aethelred wouldn’t notice that the bag wasn’t
quite
full.

“It’s always so dark here,” I said. It was like the tall, narrow buildings blocked out the sun. Or the taint of dark magic polluted the place.

“It’s not my favorite part of town, either,” Aidan said as he climbed the narrow steps ahead of me and rapped on the door, using the brass falcon door knocker.
 

The door opened immediately, and a wizened old man dressed in a navy velour track suit peered out at us from behind silver spectacles. His beard reached all the way to his waist, part of it tucked into his trousers. Like before, I couldn’t help but think of him as Gandalf in athleisure wear.

“Hi, Aethelred.” I held out the bag.

He snatched it and peered inside. “Good. Though I see you ate one.”

“Nuh uh. It’s full.” Had he used his seer ability to spy on me?

“You have pastry on your lip.”

I rubbed at my lip, and a piece of flaky pastry crust fluttered to the ground. I glanced at Aidan for backup, but he just shook his head, unwilling to lie to an old man for me. Damned honorable Shifter.

“I was poison checking,” I said.

“Sure. Because Connor dopes up his pasties.”

“Fair point. He doesn’t. Could we come in?”

“Oh, all right.” He stepped back and gestured us into his dark little foyer.
 

We followed him into a dimly lit living room. Shelves lined every wall, stuffed full of books and trinkets. Dust motes glittered in the light that streamed through pulled shades. I caught sight of the
Magic’s Bend Times
lying on the coffee table. It said today was Tuesday. Things had been so crazy, it’d been hard to keep track. Tuesday was Black Bingo night, if I recalled correctly.

“Going to Black Bingo tonight?” I asked, hoping that a little conversation about his interests would endear us to him. Aethelred loved Black Bingo. According to our mutual friends Aerdeca and Mordaca, he hadn’t missed a game in a decade.

“Yes,” he grumbled. “That’s what the pasties are for. It’s my turn to cater.”

“Hmmm. Glad we could help.”

“Well, it wasn’t done out of the goodness of your heart. Why are you here?”

I winced, though he was right. I really should work on the goodness of my heart.

“We need some help. I was hoping you could scry for us.”

His gaze traveled to Aidan. “For the right price, maybe. Though you still owe me some transportation charms.”

“I know.” We’d borrowed some from him last month. “But there’s been a shortage. We don’t have a single one ourselves.”
 

Which put us at a huge disadvantage to Victor.
 

“We think the shortage is the fault of the man we want you to scry for,” Aidan said.