“Dark magick is so much cooler than moon magick,” Tansy said under her breath.
Devlinn turned his chair toward me, startling the brown wolf. “Easy, boy,” he said, patting his head, before continuing. “This kind of magick is passed down from generation to generation, which makes it tied to a bloodline. Only someone from that bloodline, in this case, a Kemp, has the power to become a living relic. Right now, the magick is just sitting inside you with nowhere to go.”
Finally, someone had words to explain what was happening to me. This insistence inside of me was equal parts rage and desire.
“Yes!” I exclaimed. “That’s exactly what it’s like.” A rush of relief settled over me. Now that I’d identified the problem, there was only one thing left to do. “How do I fix it?”
Devlinn bit his lip and tapped his fingers on the table again. The gesture made my heartpound. The answer was close. So close I could feel it. “Oh! I’ve got it! You could open a channel between you and the demon from whom the power originated and ask it to reestablish the line of succession.”
Tansy sucked in a breath. “You can’t be serious. Claire can’t summon a demon! It’s not allowed in the Unified Territories. Not to mention it’sdangerous.”
It wasn’t the advice I was expecting, if Iwasexpecting anything. What if the demon said no? Would I be stuck like this? Holding power that I could hardly use? Or worse? My hand rose to my throat, touching the lace collar around my neck. Would the demon take the magick away and leave me empty? Now that I had magick, I couldn’t go back to being useless again. I wouldn’t.
A sense of calm and surety washed over me. Even from where it sat on the table, it was feeding me invisible waves of magick. The power calmed me and focused my thoughts at the same time. No one was going to takeanythingfrom me.
If I wanted my powers, all I had to do was ask for them. It would be easy.
“Claire?”
I inclined my head. A hazy smile on my lips. “Yes?”
Devlinn reached for my hand, slowly, giving me time to pull away if I wanted to. His fingers curled around mine, his touch gentle as he took my hand between his. A warmth spread from where he was touching me. It collected in my chest and cradled my heart. I drew in a full breath, then another, feeling more like myself.
“There’s more to being a living relic than just making flames come from the ground. Are you sure you want these powers?”
Tansy set her hand on my shoulder, and another warm pulse came. “There’s a reason why we left ours behind. Thegods give us these powers, but they don’t seem to care what happens to us once we have them.” Tears shone in her eyes. “Everyone uses magick to hurt each other. I don’t want that life for you.”
My friends were supporting me, and yet scared for me at the same time. It caused an ache to form in my throat. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I just wanted to live a good life with the man I loved. But the only way to make that happen was to fight. To live.
I couldn’t tell them the truth. Not about Mama’s curse. But I could give them another. “I want to use magick to help myself. T-to free myself.”
A pinch. A squeeze around my throat. Warning enough that I was going too far.
“From His Grace?” Tansy asked.
I shook my head, more tears collecting in my eyes. “No. Not from His Grace.”
Tansy and Devlinn wrapped me in a hug, their arms twining around me until I was cocooned in their love. It was a magick of its own, having friends like them. The moment stretched on and on, as they held me and I held them. Tears slid down my cheeks. I was sad, so deeply sad. And angry. And desperate to be the woman, a witch, who could never be hurt again. I didn’t push the feelings away. I let them stay, knowing I was safe with them. At last, they released me and returned to their chairs.
Tansy pushed her teacup aside and leaned in. “We should leave.”
“The tea room?” I asked, confused. Blotting my tears with a cloth napkin.
She shook her head. “No. I mean, leave the UnifiedTerritories.”
I was too stunned to speak. Tansy gestured to Devlinn. “Tell her.”
“There are isles south of here where it’s warm all the time, and no one practices magick. We’ve heard whispers that they all worship logic.”
It felt like cold water had just been poured over my head. Imogen had used the word 'logic'when she spoke about Rosa. Damien and Diana’s daughter. One of the two lost goddesses.
Tansy beamed at me in a way I’d never seen before, almost like the sun was shining on her, even inside this tea room. She brushed her long white braids behind her shoulders. “There’s an island where people are committed to doing things that make sense. No witches. No demons. No war. Just peace and the ocean and logic.”
Logicandthe ocean. RosaandMaris.
“And the world’s best rum,” Devlinn added with a devilish grin. “They use it in fruity drinks that you sip out of a coconut. Because what makes more sense than that?”
I shook my head, dismissing this, because I needed to ensure I was hearing them correctly. “You said the people worshiplogic? And they live on an island in the middle of the sea?”
