Infinite Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress Book 5) (23 page)

Shock, then hope, flared in me. “What? How?”

“She turned blue, then poof, she was gone.”

“Holy shit. Only demons are supposed to disappear.”

“And Del.”

My mind raced. “This is good, right? It means she’s not truly dead.”

Nix nodded frantically. “I think so. I
have
to think so.”

Aidan stepped up behind me and wrapped an arm around my waist, leaning down to envelop me. I could feel his relief that I was okay. It flowed through me as well. I had Nix and Aidan.

I glanced around, catching sight of Connor and Claire. They, too, were covered in blood. Connor was sitting on the ground, a shirt pressed to his head. Emile was sitting on the steps, Ralph and Rufus on his shoulders. One of his arms hung at an odd angle, but at least he was upright.

In the far corner, I saw Corin and Alton, from the League of FireSouls. They looked beat to hell, but alive.

“What are the casualties?” I asked.

“Not sure,” Aidan said. “Several Shifters dead. They aren’t used to fighting in human form. Elenora is fine, relatively speaking. She’s vicious in any form.”

Mordaca and Aerdeca approached. Aerdeca’s white combat apparel was entirely soaked red with blood. I couldn’t make out any rips in the fabric. Her gaze was hard, her mind still clearly steeped in battle.
 

So the blood wasn’t hers. Demon blood. Go Aerdeca.

Mordaca was spotlessly clean, but her quiver was empty. I had no doubt that she had taken out a demon with every shot.

“You do know how to throw a party.” Mordaca’s voice was deadpan.

A weak grin tried and failed to pull at my mouth. Until Del was back—
if
Del came back—I didn’t think I’d be able to smile.

“Thank you for coming,” I said.

“We knew what was at stake,” Aerdeca said. “Did you kill him?”

I nodded sharply, thinking of the pile of stone back at the Black Fort. I’d be going back there and dumping it all into the sea. “He is dead.”

“Good.” They nodded and departed. Not much for conversation, those two. But I was grateful for their help.

Corin approached, her short blonde hair flecked with blood. The sword that hung loosely at her side was coated as well, though it was hard to tell if there was any on her red armor.
 

“Is it over?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “How are your people?”

“Our numbers are accounted for,” she said. “There are some ghastly wounds, but we’ve trained long and hard with weapons. We’ll all survive.”

I nodded, relieved but unsurprised. FireSouls often became handy with weapons since we didn’t want to use our magic and possibly reveal our signatures.

“Thank you for the help,” I said.

She nodded, then departed. I was thankful. I couldn’t bear to make small talk right now. Not with the question of Del still looming. My chest felt empty. Nix looked like she was about to fall over.
 

I turned to Aidan, about to request that we leave, when Elenora approached. Her dress was torn, and she was spotted with blood.

Irritation and the beginning of anger seethed in my chest. I wanted to blame her for Del’s death. If she’d believed me when I’d first come to her, maybe all this wouldn’t have happened.
 

It is fated.
 

Aethelred’s words echoed in my mind. I shoved the voice, and my irritation, aside.

“Is Amara all right?” I asked before Elenora could speak.

“Yes. She’s in the castle with the other children. The demons didn’t reach them.”

Relief made my shoulder muscles relax just slightly. Thank magic. Something to be happy about.

Elenora handed me a leather bag that I hadn’t noticed her carrying.

“These are yours,” she said.

I took the bag and peered inside. The twin obsidian daggers they’d taken from me. I didn’t bother thanking her, just met her gaze.
 

“You’ve destroyed him?” Elenora asked.

“Yes. You believe me now?”

She nodded sharply. “I do. We should have taken the threat more seriously, but his parents were killed so long ago.” She turned and gestured to the crack in the ground. “And the Stone of Power. It’s been millennia since anyone has seen it. It’d become a myth to us. Not truly real, anyway.”

“The Alpha Council was complacent in their power,” Aidan said. “You spent too much time on the trappings of government and the appearance of strength.”

I thought of their grand entryway and Council room, the priceless works of art. The round table and bureaucracy. Aidan was right. They’d lost sight of what really mattered.

Elenora inclined her head. “You are right, Origin. We must reassess.” Her gaze met mine. “But in the meantime, you are pardoned. The Alpha Council will not interfere in your life or report you to the Order of the Magica for being a FireSoul. They will all be sworn to silence about what you are.”

“They’d better be,” I snapped. I didn’t have the patience to be grateful. Once upon a time, a pardon from the Alpha Council would have meant the world to me.
 

Now, it was my due. They owed me this after what I’d sacrificed. After what Del had sacrificed.

Elenora didn’t look at Nix, and if she knew Nix was a FireSoul, she didn’t say. Nix was safe, though. None of the FireSouls who’d been here today faced any threat from the Alpha Council.

We were safe. Whatever that meant.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The next evening, Nix and I sat on the floor of my trove, drinking PBR and staring blindly at my treasures. There was so much hope and fear in the room that it was hard to fit words in, too.

After the fight, we’d flown back to Magic’s Bend on Aidan’s jet and immediately gone to see Aethelred, who’d done his seer thing for us. For free, since he’d felt so badly about Del.

“So you believe him?” Nix asked.

“Yeah.” I took a sip of the beer, thinking about Aethelred’s prophecy that Del would return. “He was right the first time. And seers are always right.”

We knew that fact; it was just hard to believe because we’d seen her take her last breath. And we wanted it to be true so badly. We
needed
her to be all right.

“I have to believe him,” Nix said. “Otherwise, I don’t think I can keep going. It’s like there’s a giant rock lodged in my chest.”

“She’ll be back,” I said. And I believed it, too. This was all fated. And Del didn’t feel dead. I’d know it if she were truly gone.
 

She wasn’t.

“So that means we succeeded,” Nix said.
 

“I think so.”
 

Victor was gone. The Chalice of Youth was safe in the Museum of Magical History. The Shifters had the HeartStone back and were repairing the damage to the cavern that protected the Stone of Power. Whatever evil he’d tried to set loose on the world was stopped.

Knowing that Victor was dead felt like a million pounds had been lifted off my shoulders. There was no more Monster stalking us.

I leaned against Nix, letting her warmth flow into me and relax the rest of my muscles.

We were safe. For the first time in our lives, we were safe.

It didn’t take long for Nix and me to get sick of sitting on my trove floor. Without Del, it just wasn’t the same. So we’d polished off our beers and headed down to Potions & Pastilles.

On the plane ride home, I’d healed everyone’s wounds by mirroring Aidan’s healing gift. Connor wasn’t opening up the bar to the public for the night, but he’d said we could come by. Aidan was at his place, getting cleaned up, so I’d texted him to let him know where we were.

The sun was setting as Nix and I walked down the street to P & P, sending a warm orange glow over the city street and the park to our right. As usual, there was no traffic in this part of town, so it was just me and Nix. It was weird to be walking without Del, but she’d be back. I kept repeating it to myself. It was true. I just had to believe it.

When we reached P & P, the glow from the hanging lights shined out the windows and welcomed us. There was a
Closed
sign on the door, which I ignored as I pushed it open and headed inside, and was enveloped by the scent of coffee and whisky. It went together well.

Connor grinned from behind the bar where he was mixing something in a glass.

“I’m experimenting here,” he said.
 

“Excellent,” I said. “Can’t wait to try it.”

We joined him at the bar, taking stools right in front of his mixing station. Whatever was in the glass looked like warm amber fire.
 

He popped a cherry in it and pushed it toward me. “Give it a try.”

I nodded and took a sip, wincing slightly at the burn. It was no PBR, that was for sure, but the aftertaste was good. The second sip went down easier.

“I like it,” I said as Claire pushed through the kitchen door into the bar area.

She held a platter with a big chocolate cake and grinned when she saw us. “Just in time! We have cake.”

“Cake and whiskey?” Nix asked. “Sounds good to me.”

We ate and drank, always conscious of Del’s missing presence, but I was determined to cherish what I had. When Aidan entered the bar, I could feel him before he even spoke. I spun around on my barstool to see him walking through the door.

I hopped off the stool and met him near the door, then pushed him out into the street. The sun had just set, but the night glowed with a soft warmth that felt like a hug.

As the door swung shut behind us, I leaned up to kiss him. He bent down to meet me, pressing his warm lips to mine. I savored the touch, then pulled away.

“You look better,” I said. Now that he’d washed the blood out of his hair and put on fresh clothes, it looked like he hadn’t been in a fight to the death at all.

“So do you,” he said. “Aethelred had good news?”

“Yeah.” I glanced through the window at my friends, and gratitude hit me for all that I had. Sadness and fear for Del lurked just below the surface, but I refused to embrace it.

I met Aidan’s gaze, my heart swelling with how much he meant to me. “Remember how you said you loved me?”

“I do.” His gaze was serious.

“I love you, too.”

A grin broke out over his face, and he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him back, pouring everything I had into it.

When he pulled away, I grinned too. Why had I been so confused about this? It was so obvious.

“You’re not going to regret it,” he said.

“You’re right.” I could just barely hear my friends through the glass as they chatted and ate chocolate cake. I had them all. Del would find her way back. I’d do everything I could to help. And we were free. For the first time in our lives, we were free.

I swung an arm around Aidan’s waist and said, “Come on. They’ve got cake and whiskey, and we deserve to celebrate.”

THANK YOU FOR READING!

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deirfiúr
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Cass’s adventure may be over (for now), but Del’s is just beginning. Her story,
Magic Undying
, will be available in November 2016
.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Thank you for reading
Infinite Magic
. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The Dragon’s Gift series combines my two lives—I am both a writer and an archaeologist.
 

As with my other stories,
Infinite Magic
features historical sites and mythological influences. Some of them you’ve seen in my other books and some are new.

One of the new historical sites was that of Vlad the Impaler’s castle in Romania. When I needed to think of a new headquarters for Victor Orriodor, it seemed like the ideal place for him. Vlad III was the Prince of Wallachia in the 15
th
century in what is now Romania. He had a nasty habit of impaling his enemies on spikes, hence his name. I haven’t had the good fortune to visit the castle, however, so I took many liberties with its construction.

The other major historical and mythological influences
 
in the book can be seen in the scene where Cass goes searching for the broch. She receives help along the way from some characters from Scottish mythology. Caesg’s are Highland mermaids who are part woman, part salmon. The Nuckelavee is a terrifying monster from the Orkney Islands, in northern Scotland. I moved him south for the purpose of the story because he was just too good not to include. The Bauchan is a type of Scottish hobgoblin, who is known to be helpful when necessary. There are images and links to more information about these creatures on my Pinterest page (just search Linsey Hall on Pinterest-it’ll be easy to find).

By far, brochs are one of my favorite types of archaeological sites. These iron age round towers can be found all over northern and western Scotland. They aren’t generally found in the central part of the Scottish Highlands, where Glencarrough is located, but I put one there just so that I could write about it. There is no common consensus amongst archaeologists about why brochs were built and how they were used. Cass thinks to herself that the broch at Glencarrough would have been an excellent defensive structure because that is a natural assessment of a big stone tower. However, there isn’t much archaeological evidence to support that brochs were universally used for this purpose, and many archaeologists today doubt that they were used for defense. You can check out my Pinterest page for more images and links if you are interested.