Mine to Spell (Mine #2) (23 page)

Both Lukas and Chadwick’s spells dart to cover the unprotected flank, but before they can meet in the middle, a pulse of silver snakes through and swirls itself around my ankles. The shields meet just as my ankles burn with icy pain. My magic itches to free itself, to attack the spelled chains that are causing pain to creep up my legs, but Lukas’s warning stops me.

Waverly helps me move closer to the house, further from the threat as the pain shoots up my legs. The attackers are thrusting spells at us while Chadwick and Lukas throw spells back. The zip of lights and the rainbow of colors are smashing together in a cacophony so wild I can’t follow them.

As the spell around my ankles tightens to blade-like pain, I realize even if I could show my magic, it wouldn’t make a difference. How can I know what to throw at whom and how to shield when it is all lost among the reds, greens, and yellows hurtling across my vision?

The pain grows so intense, links so tight, that my feet become numb. I sway. Suddenly, Bethany is at my other side, helping Waverly to keep me up. I pinch my eyes shut against the blinding array of colors.

“Hold on, just hold on.” Bethany’s voice is distant.

We’re losing. I’m losing. My entire weight slumps onto tiny Bethany. Her grunt at the suddenness of it is far off. The lights continue flashing, but with my eyes closed, there’s no telling what colors they are, or if any of them are doing good or ill.

“I’ve got her,” Waverly’s voice hovers above me as my weight is shifted.

Something touches my face.

“Stay awake.” Bethany’s command is quiet and firm, yet I can hear the fear she’s trying to hide.

The numbness crawls up my legs, almost blissful as it replaces the aching chill. I lean back, letting my weight shift on whatever’s behind me. I force my eyes open. Bethany’s face hovers in front of mine, eyes tight with worry. Behind her, the sky is alight with the rapidly-flashing spells.

I lull my head to the side. Lukas. There are fewer attackers now, but they’re still flaying at the shield. This feels like one of those no other choice times I'm allowed to use my magic. There must be something I can do to help. What?

A fiery orange and red, puckered with teal, hurtles toward Lukas's shield in a giant ball.

I cry out, but too late. It slams into the shield with obliterating force. The ball flying toward Lukas is smaller but still strong. He throws up a second shield, a small olive-green covering only the area in front of his chest.

The light splats into it, demolishing the shield and most of the spell. A few remaining sparks spit onto Lukas. From behind, it’s impossible to discern how much damage has been done. I reach my hand toward him while calling my magic together in a burning ball, imagining it forming a shield. If nothing else, I can help protect them.

An arm darts from behind me and slaps my hand down.

“
Look,” Waverly says, and I realize it was her that slapped me away.

I want to ignore her, to cast the spell that will give Lukas the aid he so desperately needs, but movement catches my eye. Zade, running toward the attackers with bright yellow and green flares shooting from him.

The attackers don’t even try to defend themselves. They run, their dark robes quickly becoming one with the night around them.

I swing my gaze to the other side where Chadwick is still holding up his shield, but there are no attackers left on his side, either. There are, however, several guards running who must have come from the other side of the estate when they heard the commotion.

Lukas is at my side before I realized he was even moving toward me. He kneels down, and in a few moments, a black spell streaked with crimson and hints of green breaks the chain spell around my ankles and dissipates into the air.

The feeling returns with sharp pricks, but it's not nearly as painful as what caused them to go numb.

“Anyone injured?” Zade asks as he jogs to us.

“
Only Cynthia,” Lukas replies.

“
I’m fine.” At least now I am, or will be after rest. My legs ache, head is a bit spinny.

Conrad stands guard close by like he's unwilling to leave my side after such an ordeal, but the others spread out, forming a wide arc around us.

“I’m going after them,” Chadwick says.

“
You can’t,” Waverly replies. “Not alone.

“
It’s too late anyway. They’re long gone.” Lukas says.

Waverly’s still holding most of my weight. I try to push off her, to bear myself up, but I fall toward the ground. Lukas catches me, lifting me up into his arms. As my head rests against his shoulder, I start to drift off. His warmth is comforting after the aching chill.

“
Don’t worry,” he whispers. “I have you.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

The next morning, I wake feeling wholly like myself. It seems as if a spell that chilled me to my bones like that should have some lasting pain. But the only thing I feel is worry over endangering lives yet again and frustration that I couldn’t keep track of all the spells flying around last night. And worse, I froze up, unable to think of how to help.

I quickly dress and am putting up my hair in its bun when there’s a knock on my door.

“Come in.”

Serena enters, looking as if there weren’t enough spells flying around last night to keep her from sleeping.

“How are you?” Because I know, regardless of how she looks, that all that magic had to take her back to memories and thoughts she doesn’t want to relive.

“
The question should be how are you? I’ve been worrying about you all night. Any lingering effects of the hex?”

Of course, the only hint she’ll give me about her own feelings is her worry over me. If she’d been with us when we were attacked, she probably would have jumped in front of me to take the hex herself, despite her hatred of magic.
But it does stir up foggy memories of being in Lukas's arms. The thought leaves me warm and buzzing, much more than I should after yesterday.

“
None. I feel the same as always.”

Her shoulders lower slightly, the only hint of the stress escaping her.

“What about you?” I ask. “Are things well between you and Zade? Did you come to an agreement before the attack?”

Her lips twitch with a suppressed smile. “The only thing I’m saying is that while our lips did a lot of moving, we didn’t speak much.”

“Serena!” I giggle.

“
Well, we didn’t expect he’d be running off so quickly. Otherwise we would have had time to turn the lip moving into talking as well.”

This makes me laugh harder. Whoever thought we’d be together in Thomas’s house discussing her kissing the man she’s engaged to with happiness instead of duty and fear?

“He’s waiting with Lukas in the kitchen to speak with us.”

“
Let’s go then.”

It doesn’t take me long to finish up. Zade and Lukas are waiting for us in the kitchen.

“Morning,” I say to them and quickly move to get something cooking. I tell myself it’s because I’m hungry and not because I want to avoid discussing my failure to comprehend a single spell last night. As we work, I grab some eggs while Serena starts putting together some biscuits.

“
We need to bring your entire family to live here,” Zade says.

“
After last night?” I demand. “What if they would have been here? Something could've happened to them. We have to keep them safe.”

“
They were attacked last night, too.”

His quiet response makes me drop an egg. Lukas hurries to help me clean it.

“Is anyone hurt?” Serena’s voice shakes.

“
Everyone is fine. Cynthia got the worst of it.”

“
Oh, thank goodness.” If any of them would have been hurt…

“
If your family comes,” Zade says, “we can pool our resources together. Have all the guards in one place, not stretched across an area we can’t protect. I think it will be safer for everyone.”

“
I didn’t know it was getting so bad,” Serena says. “Perhaps it was a mistake to come here.”

“
No, it wasn’t. You were right. And I was wrong to be angry at you for it. You need to be here, and even if you didn’t, it’d still be safer for everyone to be together. Chadwick went to help see them here safely.”

I’ll get to see my sisters and mother soon. I can’t wait to see them, though I do wish the circumstances were different. How are they all? Have any of them grown since I’ve been away? I’m sure the baby has, at least. They change every day. And with mother so far along with this pregnancy? I hope they stay safe while traveling here.

With Lukas’s help, we finish cleaning the last of the egg mess. “Thank you.”

“
Do you need help with anything else?”

“
No. Unless Zade has any more shocking news, I should be able to manage.”

“
There may be some,” Zade says.

“
Bad enough to make me drop more eggs?”

“
Maybe.” Zade’s words make me hold still, afraid to touch anything else until I know how bad it is. “The council is growing stricter with their rules. The Grand Chancellor seems to be gearing up for something.”

I didn’t think they could grow any stricter, and I’m not sure I’m ready to know what he could be getting ready for. “What are they changing?”

“No matter that they've been relying on other countries for much of their income for years, they’re making it harder for foreigners to enter the country. Those of us already here have surpassed the changes being made, but for the rest, there’s a lot more paperwork, all of which has to be approved by the Grand Chancellor or Chancellor Ryan.”

Serena scowls. “They won’t let you approve it?”

“Not unless I suddenly change into one of them. Even then, I doubt they’d accept me.”

“
They're getting even stricter,” Lukas says.

Somehow it is, even though I keep thinking they can't get any worse. With this news weighing things down, breakfast is a somber affair.

***

After Zade and Lukas go outside to check on the guards on duty, Serena pulls me into the hallway.

“You really are excited for the tournament, aren’t you?” she says.

“
I am. Though I'd prefer if it didn’t come with the worry for my life and the lives of those I love, but I’ve always enjoyed casting spells. Being able to do it in front of so many people is something I never thought could happen.” It still might not.

“
Would you explain it to me?” Her hand fists into her skirt. “Those hexes we always dealt with… I never wanted anything to do with magic. It’s hard to understand why you’re not only fine being around magic, but that you actually want to cast spells.”

“
Being hexed was ghastly. But when I realized there was a power inside me, something that let me cast spells as well, I wanted to use it. I wanted to explore it and eventually to do what I could to help. Like Bethany. Remember when she came to Zade’s house hurt?”

She puts a hand to her chest. “How could I forget?”

No one could. “When you went to find Zade, I did what I could to ease her pain. It wasn’t enough, or even much, but it was better than not doing anything, better than letting this power inside me go to waste.”

Her eyes lose focus as she thinks about this. “I can see wanting to help, but I don’t know. They say I have magic in my blood, but I don’t feel anything. I don’t think I can actually cast spells or do anything to help. I’ll have to stick with this.” She pats the pocket of her skirt where I know she keeps her gun.

I hope it’s enough, but more than that, I wish I knew how to show her more of what’s hiding inside her. If I can’t show my own sister, make her understand, how am I going to make other women understand it’s not just me that can do magic?

Chapter Twenty-Five

Mother and the girls arrive in a flurry of guards, their faces etched with worry. I hurry to mother’s side, putting an arm around her, and helping her in. “We shouldn’t have moved you.”

“It’s no matter. There’s no point in special treatment for bearing yet another daughter.”

Her words slice into me even if they’re true. It shouldn’t be that way. Casting spells in front of everyone at the tournament doesn’t seem like a way to fix it. The girls have all gone ahead of us, hurried in by Serena, Zade, and Waverly, but Bethany hovers close by us, waiting to help should mother need more assistance no doubt.

“How was the journey? Everyone looks tired and a little rattled.”

“
Rattled? Is that all?” She snorts, the most undignified thing I’ve ever heard her do. “We were attacked on the way over. I don’t know what happened for certain, being in that dark carriage and all, but it was awfully noisy.”