“You’re doing that frowny thing that makes your forehead look like a sideways vagina.”
Kalinda flicked her hand, sending a heavy paperweight right at her Cosantiór’s lovely face. Silva ducked and let it slam into the wall, sending plaster and wood everywhere.
“If that had hit me, it would have smashed my face!” Silva yelled.
Kalinda blew her a kiss. “A marked improvement.”
Silva snorted. “At least your sense of humor is still intact.”
That was something Kalinda had to put squarely on the shoulders of her mate. Just thinking of him made her hot. He’d taught her how to let go, to laugh, to give into her emotions. The iron will she had allowed her to control her skill better with each passing day, but the level of freedom she had in being herself made her magic all the stronger.
Slay.
Silva perched on the couch in Kalinda’s office—the former solarium of the Mage Council’s headquarters. The place had a major remodeling after she took office, pushing Amalia, Lennox, and Yon into the west wing of the estate so she had the entire east wing to deal with her business. Not that she stayed there often, because home was where Romano was, but she had times where she had to spend days on site, and it had enough space to house Silva and her collection.
The Fae Queen had slowly started gathering items from her homeland that showed up in portal cities from across the country. Spent a pretty penny too, but there was nowhere safer for it to be. Silva still couldn’t get back home just yet, and she wasn’t so sure she wanted to. According to her, leaving Kalinda unprotected wasn’t an option, and Kalinda wasn’t ready to travel through the Chaos Realm to get there.
Yeah, that was a well-kept secret Kalinda hadn’t been able to share with her pack or mate. The Chaos Realm was actually a byway from the Fae world to the Human one, a separation only those who had Fae blood could traverse without losing their goddamn minds. But for some reason, the Chaos Realm wasn’t letting Silva near it without sending her magic into a dangerous spiral.
Silva snapped her iridescent wings—today’s color was cherry-red to match her dress—and rested them over the back of the seat. “Where are the Three Stooges?”
“My Trinity are currently on assignment to the FBMC to get me further literature on the Pendulum Swing of the 1950s.”
“So … busy work.”
“Partially. As much as I want to hate them for trying to wreck my life, Lennox did believe the Ales was to be controlled by the Trinity, based on the little information he was afforded from the National level. Can’t really blame them for what they attempted.”
“What about what they did to Zahara?”
“That’s why I said partially. Benedict had a lot more to do with it, but they shouldn’t have let him run wild like that. Maybe if they hadn’t, Dominic would have grown to know his mother and had a different life.”
“Not that I want to get philosophical, but there are reasons for everything. If he hadn’t lost her the way he did, he may never have met Zoey, or you wouldn’t have met Romano.”
There was that. She couldn’t argue what they’d done had indeed given a new path to the ones they’d tried to control. But Kalinda still couldn’t look them in the face without wanting to punch them, so she sent them away.
“Either way, understanding how the Pendulum Swing occurred may help us ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
The Pendulum Swing of the 1950s had spewed magic into the Human world from the Fae—an amount no one was prepared for. It forced those with magical gifts to be exposed and their number increased. Of course, there was magic long before that moment. Kalinda’s bloodline was a testament to that fact, but their public awareness wasn’t something they’d had to contend with. And since the Chaos Realm was still very dangerous, and twisted beyond what it once had been, Kalinda wanted to understand why.
Why were there no more of the Ales bloodlines?
Why was the concentration of magic so diluted to where only a few held great power?
In essence, the lower mage plight was a microcosm of other issues in the world, and Kalinda was going to do what she could.
“When are they set to come back?”
Kalinda stretched in her seat, joints popping as they realigned. “When they have something useful.”
“That could be forever.”
“That’s fine with me.”
“You’re such a bitch, and I love you for it.”
“Of course, you do.”
They laughed, a moment of levity in the otherwise fast-paced job Kalinda had taken on. It’s why she appreciated having Silva with her. The Fae wasn’t just a pretty face; she could be a drill sergeant when needed, and she also made sure Kalinda was never bored. And while she didn’t remember everything from her past, she was slowly regaining some of the regal thought processes Kalinda relied on when she was working with Encantado policy.
