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Mira’s scream lodged in her throat. She clasped her hands over her mouth. She wanted to stop him, but she was too scared to break his concentration, which could result in severe brain damage for Cavender and Maureen. Instead, she stared in quiet horror, watching Dawson invade the minds of the two students.
Spells to erase memories were incredibly difficult to master, and Dawson had cast it on two Wielders at the same time with little effort.
Dawson’s fingers stopped moving, but the Wielders remained frozen.
“What have you done?” she asked.
“What was necessary,” he replied evenly. “I’m excellent at what I do, but even then, some memories can leave traces so I like to replace them with something shocking.”
“You’re going to fabricate memories?”
He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Do you know nothing of memory erasure spells? Wielders can’t create fake memories.”
“Oh how silly of me,” she huffed. “Of course, Wielders can only destroy things, not create them. Please, do go on invading people’s minds. Far be it from me to interrupt your illegal activity.”
Slowly, his fingers curled around the shadows he was still controlling and she wondered if he pictured strangling her.
He took a deep breath before he spoke again. “When memories are freshly removed, they can leave small glimpses behind,” he explained. “The better the Wielder, the less likely that’s going to happen. But I still like to have a shocking moment follow the memory erasure. It helps block any last remnants.”
How many times has he used this spell?
“So when I release them, I’m going to burst the water pipes above them and we’re going to coin travel back to the estate.”
She had watched him kill with ease, but his casual use of this spell on fellow students was almost more shocking. She wanted to protest, but it had already been done. Dawson lifted his hand and the water pipe above them rumbled. Then the pipe burst, drenching the two Wielders in front of them in water.
With a snap of Dawson’s fingers, Cavender and his girlfriend unfroze. Maureen screamed as water drenched her. Dawson didn’t hesitate and grabbed Mira’s arm as he flipped the coin.
When her feet hit the marble floor of his living room, she started yelling at him. “Are you out of your mind? You erased the memories of two students!”
“And what would you have me do? Throw a little white spell at them and ask them nicely to not talk?”
It made her sick to think how often he must have performed the spell in the past to have mastered it so well.
Would he use it on her? When she was done with this assignment? She had already learned too many secrets about the Dawson heir. Was that why he had shared things with her? Because he knew he could take it all away just as easily?
“It’s an invasion,” she fumed. “It’s wrong.”
He laughed at her, making her even more furious. “How someone can come out of this war and remain so naive is almost a feat. I’m impressed.”
“I’m not naive; I have morals. Something you apparently lack entirely. It’s because of the war that I know the importance of not using magic lightly. You worked for Mercer. You should know all about the risks of Dark Magic.”
The edge of danger returned to his features. “Does it make it easier for you to compartmentalize things? Mercer used Dark Magic, ergo Dark Magic is bad. Don’t you think you’re forgetting an important part of history? The one where Wielders helped you win the war?”
“Yes, a war Wielders started.”
“Dark Magic isn’t evil. But that doesn’t fit your little self-righteous image of the world, does it? Better to despise Dark Magic, even when it’s in your veins.”
“Life must be so much simpler when you always do what you want without remorse. And congratulations, now it’s not just Mercer who makes me hate Dark Magic.”
His eyes flashed a shade darker at that.
She held her hand out. “My sample?”
For a moment she was worried he might make her forget he had used the spell on the two Wielders. It would be easy for him, and he was so fast at casting spells, she was sure he could beat her shield.
Instead, he went to his desk, unlocked a drawer, and retrieved the spent magic sample from Buckley’s house.
When he handed it to her, she coin traveled away without another word.
