I dragged myself off of him, trying and failing to ignore the way his shirt had ridden up, exposing tan, toned skin pulled tight across his lower abdomen. I exhaled slowly and forced myself to focus, even as he smirked up at me with those sparkling onyx eyes.
“I’m about to make you leave,” I said.
Sitting up straight, he held his hands out in feigned innocence. I cleared my throat and asked, “Alright, so how do we get rid of someone’s magic?”
“I’ve never heard of a person having their magic taken away, short of them leaving the borders of the empire.”
I chewed on my thumbnail. The magic of the Veridian Empire only extended to our coasts. Once you left, magic didn’t exist in other areas of the world—that we knew of—and therefore,ourmagic couldn’t exist. It was why not many people ever left. There were a few accounts I’d read about some explorers who traveled too far out to sea and temporarily lost their ability to perform magic until they crossed back into the boundary of the empire.
“I wonder if there’s a way to get Gayl across the borders,” I said, then an idea hit me. “Can Striders carry other people?”
“I don’t think so. Chaz never mentioned anything about it. You can’t transfer powers over to others like that.”
“But what if youcould? That’s the whole point of this—to think about things in a new way.” I hastily pulled my father’s book into my lap and flipped through the pages. There were a few spells that came to mind. It was a stretch, but it wassomething. “What if there was a spell or combination of spells that let you transfer magic into something else? Even if only temporarily?”
His eyes lit with intrigue and he moved to sit next to me, peering over my shoulder. His chin grazed my neck as he used my waist to balance himself. His fingers pressed into me, the rough pad of his thumb slipping beneath my shirt. When he caught me pausing, he chuckled low in my ear. “I’ll be good, I promise.”
Wetting my lips, I turned back to the Grimoire. There was a powerful replenishing enchantment I’d found in here days ago. It was for refilling herbs or other physical objects, but who was to say we couldn’t strengthen it and use it on more intangible things? Not exactly what I needed, but maybe combined with something, we could reverse the effects and make it a depletion spell, instead.
“What about this?” Leo asked, pointing at a page as I was about to pass it. “A siphoning spell. Used for siphoning water and other materials away, or”—he leaned closer to read my father’s faded scribbles—“he says he tried it for healing purposes.Siphoning away fluid from the lungs and infections from the body.”
He looked at me as he finished speaking, and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing. “What if we could siphonmagic?” I asked breathlessly.
Grinning at me, he said, “There’s only one way to find out.”
59
Rose
“Do I have to go to the ball?” my cousin whined from his slumped position in the chair by my bed. His floppy brown hair swayed to the side as he looked behind me at Morgana.
A swift tug at my head had me rearing backward. With my hair still in my aunt’s hands, she twisted to face her son. “For the fifth time,yes. Now stop complaining and let me finish Rose’s hair.”
She caught my eyes in the large mirror before us and smiled sheepishly at the wince on my face. “Sorry, Rosie,” she said, loosening her grip. “What do you think, up or down?”
If it were up to me, I would’ve gone to this ball with my hair still wet from my bath, but Morgana had glowed at the chance to help me get ready. As little as I cared about this ridiculous masquerade in the midst of everything else, seeing her so excited after these weeks of torment by Ragnar’s side was something I couldn’t take away from her.
My features softened when I smiled at her in the mirror. “Whatever you think would look best.”
Beaming, she turned to rummage through her bag, pulling out a comb and several pins. As she worked, and as she and Beau talked about palace life and shops in the village and all the newpeople they’d met, I felt my anxiety and looming sense of dread fade away. These moments of peace andnormalcywith my family were so rare, I didn’t want to forget a moment of it. No matter how fleeting it was.
“Once I’m done with Rose, it’ll be your turn,” Aunt Morgana said, pointing her comb at Beau.
He gaped at her. “What for?”
“I’m going to finally cut that mop of yours.” She waved her hand in the air. “I’ve let it go on far too long—no, no arguing, it’s got to go! Rose, don’t you think his hair needs a good trim?”
They both stared at me expectantly. “Oh, I’m not getting in the middle of this,” I said with a laugh. “But—youdokind of look like a mangy dog, Beau Beau.”
Aunt Morgana cackled while Beau threw his hands up. “Women,” he huffed, which made me break out into another fit of laughter. He crossed his arms and looked out the window. “Pa would be on my side.”
The moment he said it, the air in the room seemed to still, and his eyes widened. “Sorry, I?—”
“Your father would certainly want you looking sharp,” Morgana interrupted, turning her attention back to my hair as she twisted the ends into an elegant knot. “Especially if he knew you’d been eyeing that girl from the palace for weeks.” When she gave Beau a smile, the tension lifted.
“What’s this about agirl?” I sang, winking at my cousin.
His cheeks reddened. “Aww, Ma, come on…” he grumbled, but the hint of a smile formed.
