Finn hates missing the chance to learn something new, but he’d also never choose his own desires over someone else’s safety and security.
Leo figures he could have volunteered, too, but someone has to be here to keep Gideon and Jay from hunting down Professor Kirwan when this goes to shit. Besides, Finn might seem mild-mannered 90% of the time, but he’s still alpha through and through.
Gideon returns with a white pillar candle with a red velvet circle on the bottom, and a jar of chunky sea salt.
“Is that the only candle we’ve got?” Jay whispers.
Leo realizes it’s a low-heat candle used for temperature play. Something new on Jay’s kink list.
“It’s fresh out of the box, Jay Rhodes. What else could one ask for?”
Something that’s not used during sex, maybe?
Nimue accepts the items with a smirk and a tinge of pink to her cheeks. “Thank you, Gideon. This will do the job nicely. Red is the color of power and will add a nice boost. May I have the rest of that water, please?”
She signals for Ignatius to drop the metal crow into the glass, and it sinks to the bottom with a loud clink. It sounds heavierthan it should be—like the weight of the magic it bears has changed its chemical composition.
Pouring enough salt until the remaining water rises to the top of the glass, she settles the wide candle on top.
Ignatius lights the flame, and tiny bubbles rise to the surface and along the inside of the glass. “Nimue is using the four elements to unravel the spell,” he explains.
Grayson’s eyes go wide. “I can see she’s added Air to the salt and Water…the salt is Earth, and the candle, Fire. Now there’s…something green. Like…slime.”
In the next second, the glass cracks down the side and the flame soars, before a burst of Air blows the candle out.
“Thank you,” Nix murmurs, and Grayson sags beside him.
“Someone tell me what the hell just happened,” Jay says quietly, but his hands are clenched into fists at his sides.
“Professor Kirwan gave me that,” Grayson says. “Hey, I can say her name now. What the hell? How did I not notice that before? I mean, I could in the beginning, and I can when I speak directly to her, but not to anyone else since she gave me the foci…”
“You disassembled it, Nimue?” Ignatius asks, removing the candle and swirling the melted piece of metal at the bottom of the glass. Most of the salt had been absorbed, but the few remaining crystals are tinged blackish-green.
“I did. Surprisingly, the intent was twofold: one, to listen in on Grayson’s conversations; two, to prevent him from talking about his time with her to anyone else. It uses his magic to power it, which is why—with his access dialed down—he would feel drained.”
Jay frowns. “That sounds a lot like the—”
“The amulet,” Nix finishes with a shudder.
Ignatius grimaces. “I can see how you might think it’s the same. The Plain is accessed through the soul, and I suppose,given Grayson’s access to The Plain is through your shared soul, that it would seem like it was Dark magic.”
“It felt like it,” Nix growls. “But that requires consent, and Grayson didn’t give her permission. Is that the difference?”
“That isadifference, but not the one that matters here. This time, the difference is that it is actively powered by him—not passively.” Ignatius squints, searching for a metaphor.
“It’s like a rechargeable battery,” Leo offers. “Grayson’s magic was a never-ending supply of energy. That’s different from what Withers did, when he used them up and threw them away.”
“Exactly, Leo. The foci was powered by Grayson’s living access to The Plain—a constantly replenishing source of energy. Arguably, it could go on forever,” Nimue adds. “Unlike Withers’s swath of destruction, this is subtly constructed. A scalpel rather than a hammer. And unless she’s fine-tuned her skill set in the past few years, this would be beyond what Dahlia could do on her own.”
“Food for thought, certainly. How do you feel, my boy?” Ignatius asks. “Better, I’d think?”
Grayson has color back in his cheeks. “A hundred times better. Angel?”
“That pain is gone, but that feeling of warning is still pinging—just not as hard.” Nix throws his arms around Grayson’s neck.
Ignatius slides the glass away. “We’ll dispose of that later. First, I think you need to tell us everything that happens during your visits with Professor Kirwan. I expect she felt the rebound of that spell dissolving. Since I assume you’re back at the Guild tomorrow, we should know what we’re dealing with sooner rather than later. Develop a strategy, yes?”
“I have a strategy,” Nix mutters under his breath, jaw clenched. The expression looks so much like Gideon’s that Leo shivers.
