That’s where I had to figure it out on my own, he didn’t exactly have a way to hold my hand through this learning process. I cast out my magick and…nothing. Only silence.
“Not all magick is strong enough to register, as you know, and some go under the radar completely. Illusions are an example of that.”
“Then how do I…?” This didn’t make any sense.
“You’re not looking for magick exactly, but minds while they'reusingmagick,” he explained. “Try again.”
I cast my net wider after still getting nothing from around campus. Along the edges of my reach, there was a small flicker of… something. It was empty, like a void. A shadow of magick.
“Latch onto it,” Ezra commanded when I told him about it.
It was harder than it sounded because it moved like smoke. Like something not solid. After several minutes and a growing headache, I caught it and followed it back to an oily mind. One I couldn’t read, and that was definitely too far away to control—not that I wanted to—but I knew exactly where the owner of the illusion was. Their location lit up like a bright spot on my mental map.
Ezra smiled, and I released the connection.
“You did great,” he said and bent over to double knot his sneakers. “Now it's my turn.”
I tried not to think about my role in that person’s impending demise. There was no other reason for a djinn or an illusion tobe this close to campus. It was obviously a hunter or someone sent to kill me. Keeping that in mind, it was a little easier to accept going on the offensive. A quick dinner, another round of flashcards, and I passed out the second my head hit the pillow. Using magick was exhausting.
A routine formed over the next couple days, and I grew stronger at what I considered my new trick. Using my magick was like flexing a muscle to build its strength, an ability I could never properly develop while I was on the run. Now, it was all too easy to find a djinn within my reach and send Ezra out to hunt them. I started subconsciously leaving my net out, like a warning system to alert me ofanymagick used within my range.
What I wouldn’t give to have known about this ability growing up. It would have saved me and my parents a ton of heartache. There would have been fewer close calls and traumatizing memories. It was comforting to know nothing could sneak up on me, and I slept easier knowing I’d have a heads-up if danger came knocking. At least until that warning blared an alarm loud enough to wake me from a dead sleep.
Kaiden was nearby. His flare of power lit up my mind like a firework, mixed in with the icy tendrils I recognized as Ezra’s magick. Breaths came too fast for me to calm them, I scanned the room for danger, but the battle wasn’t happening inside. I honestly didn’t even need my new trick to sense it, any super nearby would know something big was going down.
When had my bond returned? And what followed him back?
twenty-two
Kaiden
This emergency meeting was utter bullshit. Gathering the faction heads and their heirs was completely unnecessary, and I wished I didn’t face losing my seat by not coming. The only reason I showed up was because I knew the djinn heir was required to be here as well.Here.Not back at campus near my vulnerable bond.
She was safe from his illusions too. That damned pit bull belonging to Kol didn’t venture far from its master. It followed him everywhere, both as a deterrent and a smug example of how strong the heir was to maintain a continuous flow of magick with nary a thought.
What a dick.
It wasn’t a shock to me-that the order to kill my bond came from the heir to dickdom himself. We’d never gotten along, and the announcement of my pairing with Eryn meant I’d be the winner in our endless battle of who was stronger.
Kol couldn’t stand to lose. But especially not to me. Still,going against a tribunal ruling—nightmares were supposed to be protected now—and the outright risk of attacking another heir’s bond? He must be desperate. If caught, his entire faction would suffer for it, putting them so far behind in the power grab that it would take generations for them to catch up.
“I don’t like this,” my mother whispered harshly from beside me.
We were seated in the meeting hall, waiting for the last tribunal members to trickle in. The room was shaped like an amphitheater, with raised seating for open meetings. Today, only the faction heads and their heirs sat around the large table here at the bottom.
“You’ve left your bond too far away to defend, and with only thatmongrelto keep watch over her.”
I sighed but kept my face neutral in case others grew interested in our conversation. “Ezra is quite capable of protecting her.”
“And you?” she countered. “He’s supposed to be protectingyou. That’s his sole purpose in life.”
I allowed the slightest roll of my eyes. “I’m perfectly capable of defending myself. And attacks at a sanctioned meeting are punishable by death.” She huffed. “What else would you have me do, Mother?”
“Bring your bond home so that she’s surrounded by our people and properly protected.”
I didn’t want to argue about this again, and thankfully, I didn’t have to. The meeting had finally begun. Already there was a layer of tension in the room that had nothing to do with the little spat my mother started with me. I searched for the source. The five factions present stared back at one another warily until the head of the oracles stood.
She wasn’t the most powerful of us, due to her magick notbeing offensive in nature, but her kind’s unique skillset allowed for her to be the impartial leader of these meetings.
