“Each of you will get two,” Danzig said. “However, the situation has changed. The kitsune has eight tails. The eighth is small and newer, but it should still be enough to keep him alive. Barely. That leaves an extra tail, which I will be taking as well.”
Bailor and Raiden shifted, their robes swaying. “That is not what we agreed upon!” Raiden was the first to speak up.
“Absolutely not!” Bailor did seem excitable tonight.
“The plan is mine. Neither of you could have conceived of this without me,” Danzig argued. “And I am in control of the Warlock Council. You would do well to remember that you serve me.”
Oh, that did not go over well.
“And we executed the plan,” Raiden argued. “You would never have been able to do this without the two of us.” Raiden threw a hand out, indicating himself and Bailor.
Danzig’s lips curled. “Perhaps I should keep all the tails for myself.” He pulled out a recognizable blade. The last time I’d seen it was when Tenzen had taken my tail. No ordinary blade could cut through my flesh. This one was special in all the ways I hated. I had no idea where Tenzen obtained the blade from originally. All I knew was the pain it caused when it met my skin.
“I am the one Huxley approached. I am the one he gave the blade to,” Danzig argued.
“Not something to be proud of,” I muttered, too low for most to hear and if they did, I was ignored in favor of arguing with each other. It was the distraction I’d been hoping for. While it wouldn’t take me long to dismantle the spell entrapping their magic, it might take the magic a moment to reorient itself. Itmight also take Niki a hot minute to recover even with the added magical boost.
Some extra time out of the spotlight would be welcome.
No time like the present. Eyes slipping closed, I shut out all the extraneous background noise—no easy feat considering the heated discussion. I focused on Danzig first. Reading the magical spell used to entrap his magic was as easy as breathing. Unwinding it was nearly as simple. Between one heartbeat and the next, the magical barrier fell.
Danzig was so engrossed in his argument; he didn’t seem to notice. Quickly moving on, I divested the other two warlocks of their magical prisons.
The freed magic flared around the room, filling the space as it expanded, able to fully breathe for the first time in who knows how long. The dark colors morphed into something lighter and brighter. Even the magic that kept its darkened hue contained a luminescence it hadn’t had before.
It was beautiful. Given any other situation, I could have watched it all day and never tired of its swirling intricacies. Joy radiated from the magic—bliss and relief. And while that was wonderful, what I truly needed was for the magic to take note of my warlock’s need.
For one heart-stopping moment, I was afraid the magic would ignore Niki. Too joyous to be free, it may not be eager to tie itself to another. Some of the magic did indeed choose that route. Thankfully, the majority of the magic didn’t just take notice, it flooded Niki—surrounding his body, sinking into his core, and cajoling him to wakefulness.
Niki’s breathing eased and his body stirred. Magic swirled around his torso, lifting him off the ground before gently depositing him again. With a low groan, Niki’s eyes fluttered open only to pinch as the raised voices of the unhappy warlocks met his ears. Relief like I’d never known flooded me as I slumpedinto my restraints. My cheeks felt damp, and I belatedly realized I was crying when a few of those tears slipped from my skin, hitting the floor.
“H-Hikaru?” Niki’s voice was soft, but I heard it, and I swear I’d never heard anything so beautiful in the world.
“Hey, sleepy head.” My gaze flicked over Niki and to the bickering warlocks. Their argument seemed to be winding down. Bailor held his hands in front of his face, twisting them back and forth. Raiden was doing something similar. Looked like they were beginning to figure out something was terribly wrong.
“Best get up, Niki,” I prompted, knowing we were running out of time. I might have stripped most of their magic, but there were other ways to kill that didn’t require an ounce of magical ability. The blade gripped in Danzig’s hand was one of them, and that blade wouldn’t just cut my skin. Niki was at risk.
The emotions flooding Niki’s eyes were fascinating. Confused worry morphed into concern which promptly turned into anger. That anger built into an inferno of rage. The magic fed off that fury, adding its own. These warlocks had trapped it, kept it prisoner and twisted it until the magic barely recognized itself. Niki wasn’t alone in his thirst for revenge.
Going up on hands and knees, Niki stood. All signs of his earlier fatigue were gone. Hair wild and twisting within the hoard of magic surrounding him, Niki’s fingers splayed apart. Stripped of his rings, Niki’s bare fingers appeared naked to my eyes, their blackened tips starker against his pale skin. My eyes widened as I watched that dark ebony leach down his long fingers, past the first knuckle, running down to the second.
One could typically tell a warlock’s age and power by how much black covered their fingers. Niki may not have physically aged in the past few minutes, but the magic flooding his body had definitely donesomething.
Niki’s head tilted to the side, noting the change but barely reacting. Lowering his hands, Niki turned. I swear time slowed. Dawning realization blanched the three warlocks Niki now faced.
“What have you done?” I’d never heard Niki’s voice so cold and emotionless.
Danzig took a step forward, his fingers tightening on the dagger clasped in his hand. “What havewedone?” Hood pushed off his head and pooling around his shoulders, Danzig’s furious eyes were on full display. His poisonous gaze flicked from Niki to me and back again. “What have you done? My magic is…” Danzig either didn’t want to say the words or couldn’t form them.
Niki’s shoulders squared. “I have done nothing.” Tilting his head my direction, Niki added, “I believe you have Hikaru to thank for liberating your trapped magic. What you have left is all you ever should have had—all that willingly stayed.” Niki’s fingers extended and fisted, multicolored magic flaring every time he tightened his grip.
Danzig’s lips twisted, pulling away from his teeth. “That magic is mine! You stole it.”
“Istolenothing.” Niki’s quiet rage seethed within those few words.
Tired of remaining silent, I sneered, “That’s rich coming from the warlock who plans on stripping me of mine. I guess I can add hypocrite to the list of reasons the world would be better off without you in it.” Lowering my voice, I spoke to Niki. “He means to take my tails. That blade in his hand can slice through them.”
Niki’s reaction was instantaneous. Magic pulsed, pushing out from his body, hanging heavy in the room. “I see.” Those two words dropped into the room with the weight of a frozen bomb.
