“I can help.” Maya circled around the corner of the counter, her movements slow, as if she were afraid of scaring Wynn. “When did you go through the transformation?”
Wynn rubbed the skipping stone, igniting the magic. She wasn’t scared, but Azh was safely in the apartment and she suspected she had all the information she was going to get from Maya. She needed to get out of there before the mages realized what was happening.
“I don’t remember anything about the wild magic going through me,” she admitted, feeling the stone warm against her skin. It was preparing to jerk heraway from the pawnshop. But first, Wynn had one more question. “Could the transformation—or whatever you want to call it—scrub my memories?”
Maya looked baffled by the question. “I’ve never heard of it happening. Are you saying you don’t recall transforming into a mage? Or that all your memories are gone?”
There was no reason not to confess the truth. “I woke up one day with no idea who I was or how I got there.”
“How long ago?”
“Let’s just say Queen Victoria was on the throne.”
Maya’s mouth dropped open. She was genuinely shocked by Wynn’s answer. “And you’ve managed to survive with no mage to assist you?”
Wynn clicked her tongue, refusing to recall the nights she’d spent crying herself to sleep. The first few years after she’d awakened she’d been terrified, not knowing who she was or who she could trust. She would have given anything for a powerful mage to reach out an offer of help.
Now, she’d learned that she couldn’t depend on anyone but herself.
She tilted her chin. “I don’t need anyone.”
“I’m not questioning your skills. Obviously you’ve managed to live a lot longer than many mages, but I could teach you to control the magic you absorb.” Maya’s voice softened, a tingle of magic floating through the air. It wasn’t a hard blow of compulsion that a vampire could use to force creatures to bend to their will. Or even the grinding coercion that Azh had first tried to use on her. This was a soft enticement that lured Wynn into agreeing. “Plus, I could give you a home with no need to steal ever again.”
“Yeah, thanks, but no thanks. I prefer my freedom.” With a toss of her head, Wynn easily shattered the spell. “I’ll never be caged. Not by a mage. Or a demon. And certainly not by a—” She cut off the word dragon, silently chastising herself for nearly exposing Azh’s presence in this world. Dammit. She was getting sloppy. “By anyone,” she lamely finished.
Something that might have been impatience flared through the green eyes. Maya Rosen was a woman accustomed to being obeyed.
“You said that you would tell me why you broke into my vault,” she reminded Wynn in sharp tones.
Wynn smiled, but before she could assure the mage that it was stupid to believe anything that came out of her mouth, Peri was abruptly stiffening, her hand reaching out to grab Maya’s arm.
“What’s wrong?” Maya demanded, staring at her friend in concern. “Peri?”
“She’s a diversion. There’s something upstairs.”
“Dammit.”
Maya snapped her head around to glare at Wynn, who was giving them a mocking wave as her magic snapped into place.
“Buh-bye, suckers.”
* * * *
Azh paused to glance around the dark apartment, a pang of irritation racing through him at the sense of Wynn in the empty space below him. She’d promised that she would distract the mages and then return to the safety of her lair.
Not that he was surprised.
Wynn would do what Wynn wanted to do when she wanted to do it.
End of story.
With a shake of his head, Azh weaved his way through the maze of stacked boxes until he could see the motionless form wearing a pair of ridiculous pajamas stretched on the floor. Even at a distance it was easy to determine that the Watcher wasn’t unconscious. He was in a deep stasis. His body was in this world, but his mind was locked in another plane of existence.
Azh’s attention turned toward the beautiful, silver-haired mage kneeling next to him. Her head was bowed and her eyes were closed, but she wasn’t asleep. He assumed she was trying to mentally connect with the Watcher.
The question was why. Was she attacking him? Was she somehow related to the strange green magic? Or was she trying to rescue him?
Only one way to find out.
