She threw up her hands because that seemed preferable to taking them and strangling the man in front of her. She’d heard Acair express that desire more than once under his breath and she was starting to understand what he meant by it.
“I don’t know,” she exclaimed. “Do whatever it is you do.”
Soilléir studied her for a long moment. “That isn’t why you called me, is it?”
She didn’t want to tell him what she’d been thinking, mostly because it was beyond ridiculous. Men were men, stable lasses were full of good sense, and the whole of her life recently felt a great deal like a waking dream.
She looked around herself for a distraction but only wound up looking at the place where the rune had somehow carved a spot in the world. It should have seemed like nothing past a bit of fresh air after the dust and fear that evil mage had stirred up and sent crawling after her, but somehow it was something altogether different. She could see the fabric of the world, see the threads of time and dreams and something that looked a great deal like gold—
She stepped backward and sat down, hard, right on Acair’s belly. That he didn’t move was alarming. What she was seeing in front of her was worse.
She forced herself to look at the man standing in front of her. Whoever, whatever he was, Soilléir—she couldn’t bring to mind at the moment where he called home—was full of magic soterrible and beautiful, she could hardly look at him. He was the one, she reminded herself, who changed things and changed them for good. And if he could change things—events, crowns, destinies—perhaps he could change even her.
It was, after all, why she’d called him to where she was. She had thrown that damned golden rune into the air because she had deliberately set aside the part of her that disbelieved that he could do what she needed him to do.
She was going to trust.
She scrambled to her feet and took a pace or two toward him. “Change me.”
He frowned. “I beg your par—”
“Change me,” she said impatiently. “Change me into a mage. Then I can help Acair and save my grandfather.Change me.”
He didn’t look at all startled, which led her to believe that he hadn’t expected anything else.
“Give you magic, you mean?” he asked quietly.
She could hardly speak for the terror that had lodged in her throat. She knew she had come to the place where she was for exactly the step she was preparing to take, but that didn’t make that step any easier. If she continued on the way she intended, she would never be able to turn off that path. Her life would be altered in a way that could never be undone.
She knew it was a choice she had to make, one she needed to make, one she would make freely and call the consequences her own.
“Aye,” she managed. She pulled out the charm that Mistress Cailleach had given her. “Acair’s great-aunt told me I could breathe fire, so I shall. You can help me.”
Soilléir smiled faintly. “I don’t think you want me to turn you into a dragon.”
“Nay, but you could give me magic, then I could turn myself into a dragon.”
“I don’t think you understand—”
“What Iunderstand,” she said shortly, “isthat.” She stepped aside and gestured toward Acair. “I understand that. I understand that Acair used magic to try to save us and this is the price he paid. Mansourah of Neroche is likely dead and there’s a damned mage over there where I can no longer see him who would likely slay us before he took the trouble to find out our names.” She glared at him. “Look you what’s become of us all. I can’t save Mansourah, but I can save Acair.”
He looked at her gravely. “There is a price and that price is dear.”
“Iknowthat,” she said, through gritted teeth. “A piece of my soul or some other such rot. I don’t care. We’re in a bit of a rush here, if you haven’t noticed. I think Acair is still breathing, but I’m afraid that won’t last unless I do something fairly soon.”
Soilléir considered. “There are many types of gifts, Léirsinn.”
“I’m speaking of magic.”
He nodded. “I know. And if you want the truth, there is none in your blood. No magic in the sense you’re talking about. Sight, perhaps, but that is all.”
“Then change that!”
He clasped his hands behind his back. “I could instead give you a handful of spells—”
“And if we encounter something that those spells won’t see to, what then? Acair used that sort of thing and look where it got him.”
“I imagine he didn’t limit himself to a spell that worked on its own,” Soilléir said with a faint smile.
