Burn’s lips turned down and he waved his hand. “Nah, not at all. He’ll be fine. Probably a hiccup.”
I slumped back. Hiccup? That was what Burn called Ryker’s complete downslide? Did he not want to tell me Ryker was sick? No. He couldn’t be sick. He looked like the healthiest person I knew.
“How’s the reading coming along?” Burn asked.
“Fine.” Just like that, he changed the subject. It was as clear as the sun shone that I wouldn’t get any answers from him. That was fine. If Ruck started losing it, I wouldn’t rat him out either. My only hope was that Ryker kept it together for a little while longer until I got out of my current mess.
“I’ve a got a book on magical theory that might interest you,” he said in between trying to swallow a piece of dried meat.
“Thanks for the offer, but if the words are bigger than ‘dog’ or ‘cat,’ it might be a bit premature.”
“I’ll drop it to you anyway. It’s worth the struggle.”
“Sure. Thanks.”
We both fell back into silence, but at least he wasn’t staring at Marra anymore.
I was lying in my bed, flipping through a book with the prettiest pictures, while trying to pull all my magic close to me. The place had gone quiet hours ago, with only the occasional candle glowing in a window to show life. It was the perfect time to practice trying to get my magic under control without distractions.
How much progress I was making was debatable, but something was happening. It was brutally uncomfortable every time I tried, like I’d stepped inside an inferno.
If I was doing this right, I couldn’t imagine ever having complete control. I was drenched in sweat when Ryker appeared at my door. I’d left it open, hoping the night breeze would help.
I dropped the book to the bed and sat up. At least things seemed to be getting back to normal with us.
“I can’t control it. Every time I do, I’m boiling up after a few seconds.”
“Your magic doesn’t want to be confined. It’ll get better.” He leaned a shoulder on the doorjamb.
He’d come here for something, and I knew he’d tell me what it was without having to chase him down. In situations like this, my patience was infinite.
As he watched me, something about the intensity around his eyes made me want to fidget.
“What’s up?” I asked. Patience was overrated. It only made things take too long.
“There’s something we’re not seeing.” It was late. The sun was down. There was plenty we couldn’t see, but I was certain this was a lot deeper than what Ruck and my neighbors were up to.
Always with the mysterious stuff. He knew I wasn’t the patient sort. Did he do it to screw with me? No. It was simply him, the Cursed King, in all his dark and shady glory.
“Could you elaborate on that?”
He walked farther in the room. “I can’t figure out what the Debt Collector is waiting for. I don’t know if he’s using us to collect more stones and then he’s going to attack here, or if he’s waiting for you to age.”
“Why would he wait for me to age?”
“Souls are like fine wines. Some age better. He might’ve decided to let you age a bit more before he takes you.”
“You think he wants my soul to age out?” I shouldn’t have asked questions, at least until the morning. That was some creepy shit to have to sleep on. Some things shouldn’t be said at night, only in the early light of the morning to help dull them.
He shook his head, as impatient as I was for once. “Not your soul. Your magic.”
“I thought he got my soul.” Which was plenty, in my book.
“I’m wondering if he gets both.”
Fuck. Shit. He had to be kidding.
I watched him. He didn’t look like he was kidding.
No, he definitely wasn’t kidding.
“Huh,” I said, rocking back a bit. “Well, that’s interesting.” And creepy and disgusting.
He nodded, as if agreeing with all my unsaid thoughts. He turned and left. I was smart this time. I didn’t ask him to elaborate on anything else.
14
Burn came running up to me as I left my room. “We need to talk.”
Instead of talking, he grabbed my hand and dragged me behind him.
“About what? I’ve got practice.” Not that I should care if I left Ryker waiting for me. He didn’t care if he wasted my time yesterday, as I’d sat on the boulder eating dry biscuits. Still, I did need some work. I had all sorts of issues and wasn’t too proud to admit to it.
“Ryker is waiting at his place for us.” He continued to tug on my arm, dragging me after him.
I nearly tripped in a rut in the road but caught myself. “Burn, what’s going on? You’re going to yank my arm off my body.”
He stopped suddenly, looked down, and dropped my hand, as if he hadn’t realized he’d been dragging me. “Sorry. Got excited.” He leaned forward, grabbing my shoulders. “I might’ve found something for your problem.”
“Really?” He didn’t look like he was messing with me. Burn wasn’t the type to screw with you anyway.
“Yes,” he said, eyes wide as he stared back.
“What?”
His lips parted, then his face crinkled. “I’d rather explain it all at Ryker’s. Easier that way.”
Ryker’s wasn’t too far away. I could make it there and not burst. I started off in that direction, ignoring the fact that I already sensed a big old but about to hit in Burn’s fix.
Burn and I were walking at a brisk pace when Ruck jogged up and joined us.
“Where you guys heading?”
“Burn thinks he has something to fix me,” I told him, not slowing down. “Why aren’t you sleeping?”
Ruck tilted his head back toward the direction of the tower. “Ben was late to shift, so he’s making up the hours today. I’ve got some time to kill.”
“Great, you can come with us.” I looped an arm around Ruck’s, not giving him a choice. He’d probably want to be there anyway. He’d already complained about having to hear everything important second hand. Plus, I might need moral support for the but that would follow.
Two minutes later, we were at Ryker’s, the door wide open.
Ryker was standing in his living room, along with Sneak and Knife. Ryker’s gaze landed on me, before shifting to my entourage.
Burn walked in and went to the center of the room, pulling all of the attention in his direction.
Ryker leaned against the wall, crossing his arms and making himself comfortable. “Well? What did you find?”
My attention darted to Knife and back to Burn. “Should we do this now?”
“It’s fine,” Ryker said. “He won’t repeat it.”
Ryker didn’t say or else, but it was definitely heard.
“You know the book we got from the Cave Dweller?” Burn asked, looking to Ryker.
Ryker nodded. At least he knew. Considering I was the one whose life was on the line, maybe I should be kept up to date as well. But that was a fight for later. Now I needed to know what Burn found out, and if it came from the Cave Dweller, it might be something legitimate.
“The Cave Dweller is helping?” Knife asked, surprise in his voice.
“We’ve got a deal with her,” Ryker said, not mentioning the part where Ryker had promised her protection and the Cave Dweller had given her eye to seal the deal.
I could still remember the bitter taste as it squished in my mouth. I couldn’t help glancing at Burn. He’d lost a touch of his coloring—probably reliving the taste too.
He got himself back together pretty quickly and pulled a book out of the back of his pants, placing it on the table. It was small and covered in black leather that was worn on the edges. “If I’m understanding correctly, there is a spell that merges magic together.”
The pieces immediately clicked into place. Ryker had said it was suspected that your magic was tied to your soul. If my magic was tied to someone else, did that mean…
<
br /> “Would the spell lock my soul down with whoever I tied my magic to?” I asked.
Burn smiled widely, happy I was seeing the link. “In theory, I think so. It would block the Debt Collector.”
“Or he’d take both lives,” Sneak said. He wasn’t a big talker, but when he spoke, it was typically worth listening.
Burn was shaking his head. “No, I don’t think so. He’d have to have a signed contract to take two. I’m not saying that there aren’t some downsides, but nothing that I believe would cause a huge problem.”
And here came the big but. I waited for Burn to continue.
“You can’t kill the other person. Hopefully whoever you did this with wouldn’t care if they couldn’t kill you. Another issue is, there’s nothing written about how to reverse it.”
Burn was watching me for a reaction as I walked over and took a seat on the couch. “That doesn’t sound too bad so far,” I said. As far as a but, it could be a lot worse.
“There’s one other thing,” Burn said. “The combined magic could shift to whoever pulled on it. One person could conceivably take all the magic and leave the other with next to nothing if they were so inclined. I’m guessing the stronger Wyrd Blood would have a considerable edge in determining that balance.”
I nodded. That wasn’t a total deal breaker. I’d have to find someone who was weaker than me. That ruled out Ryker. I could never do this with him and leave myself that vulnerable. He’d be able to take all my magic.
Ryker stepped forward, picking up the book and flipping it to the spot that Burn had bookmarked.
“I’ll do it,” Knife said.
He was the last person I expected the offer from. I’d thought Sneak or Burn would offer first, maybe Ryker. Not Knife.
“Why?” I asked.
Knife leaned on the table. “That’s the most obvious thing in the world. You’re strong. You’ll be an asset. You’re worth the risk.”
Now I got it. There was an old adage: There’s more than one way to cage a Wyrd Blood. It was especially true for females. I’d heard plenty of stories about Wyrd Bloods marrying to shore up an alliance. This was, in essence, marrying our magic. It wasn’t the life I wanted, but you couldn’t always be picky if you wanted a life. At least with Knife, I’d have the upper hand. My magic wasn’t fully matured yet, and chaotic, but it was stronger than his. There wouldn’t be as much of a risk.
Knife must’ve seen the wheels turning or noticed I hadn’t outright rejected it, because he added, “Dorley is a good place to live. You’d be happy there. I’d make sure of it.”
A swell of magic filled the room, enough to make all of us break out into a sweat soon if it didn’t stop. Ryker’s magic was ricocheting off the walls and bouncing all over the damn place, making the air nearly unbreathable. Except Ruck seemed perfectly comfortable. Damn how I envied him sometimes.
Burn slumped to sit on the table and ran an arm across his brow. Ryker pulled it back in, as if he hadn’t noticed. He was lucky he hadn’t killed any of us.
Ryker turned to Knife. “She’s not going to Dorley. You’re not taking her anywhere.”
I was afraid that even if his magic was under control, his fists wouldn’t be soon. Figured he’d have a problem with this. Who was going to help him get more stones if I didn’t need him anymore?
“She’s got a problem. This is a good fix,” Knife said, straightening to his full height, which was still shy of Ryker’s by an inch or so.
Ryker looked at me and then back to Knife. “Even if she wanted to, and it doesn’t look like she’s jumping up and down with excitement at your offer, you aren’t strong enough. You join your magic with hers and you’ll be dead in a day.”
I’d thought Ryker was going to beat him black and blue from his expression, but it wasn’t Knife’s flesh he was looking to bruise. Ryker had given Knife’s ego a kick to the gut, the kind that knocked the wind out of you.
“I’ll be fine. No worries,” Knife said.
Was that true? If I killed the guy, what would be the point in any of it? If he died, I’d be hanging out there with no ties to stop Bones from getting me anyway. Unless Ryker was wrong. How did he know how it worked? None of us had heard of it until a few minutes ago.
I stepped forward. “Why do you think my magic would kill him?”
Knife smiled so widely I thought he was going to break out into laughter. Ryker had the exact opposite reaction. His full attention turned to me. “You’re considering this?”
“I have to.” Why did he make me feel like the worst of traitors right now? My life was on the line. Of course I was thinking about it. Anybody would’ve.
The room fell silent. Magic sizzled just above what was tolerable as the tension escalated and stayed there for a few minutes.
“You aren’t doing it,” Ryker said, as if he had the right to make that call.
“It’s my life on the line. My decision.”
Ryker didn’t respond, and it was almost worse than having a drag-out brawl. He kept staring at me like I’d betrayed him as his magic swirled around me like a cyclone. His jaw was so tense that I feared it was going to break in two.
I got it. He’d lose his ward breaker. Considering what he was hunting, I wouldn’t want to lose me either. Did I want to leave here? Not even a little. This was the best home I’d ever had, and I didn’t want to get stuck with Knife forever. But maybe I wouldn’t be. Burn said he wasn’t sure if it was final, but I knew death was.
Knife tilted his head toward me. “What do you say, Bugs? Wanna get magically hitched? I don’t think I’m a bad catch, and considering it’s me or death, I’m looking pretty good right now.” He buffed his nails on his shirt.
Ruck leaned in and whispered, “He’s not bad looking. You could do worse.” Ruck cleared his throat to get Knife’s attention and then waved a finger back and forth between the two of us. “If she goes to Dorley, you know we’re a package deal, right? She goes, I go.”
Knife looked Ruck over briefly. “You’ll be welcome and made very comfortable.”
Knife was staring at me, and so was Ryker. Except I couldn’t meet Ryker’s eyes anymore because of that weird guilt I was feeling. What was wrong with me? And him? Did he expect me to continue hunting stones until I suddenly ran out of time and died?
Either way, I wasn’t answering anyone now. Life had never gone in the usual pattern for me. I was used to some crazy twists and turns, but I still wanted time to think over something as drastic as this. Bones had given me months. I wasn’t jumping into anything until I had to.
Thinking clearly about anything was nearly impossible right now with my head clouded by Ryker’s overwhelming magic. It was going to bring me to my knees soon. I’d have to leave so I didn’t explode.
“Ryker, you gotta pull back—”
“I’ll do it,” Ryker said, staring at Knife, who was breaking a sweat, along with the rest of the room.
Wait a second. What was he going to do?
“Do what?” I asked. He couldn’t mean merge. He didn’t even get stuck with the same girl more than one night a week.
“We’re going to merge our magic.” Ryker’s magic had suddenly calmed. It didn’t matter anymore because my head was reeling without it.
“You will?” Burn asked. His surprise was so canned that I wondered if it came with a side of potatoes. In that second, I knew he’d wanted this from the very start. That little manipulator. What was he playing at?
Ruck covered his mouth to cough, but it sounded more like a laugh.
“Huh?” I said. It echoed through the room.
“You’re only offering so I don’t get her,” Knife said, his words as sharp as his magic supposedly was.
“It doesn’t matter when I offered. First off, she’s mine. Second, you’re lucky because I’m saving you from yourself,” Ryker said.
“Hang on a second here,” I said. “I haven’t agreed to anything.”
“Exactly,” Knife said. “Tell ’em, Bugs.”
Ryker ignored me, pointing at Knife. “There’s no choice. You’re not capable. Even the smallest amount of her magic attached to you will shred your soul like a rag doll. I have to do it.”
“I’m willing to take the chance. Let her decide,” Knife said.
“Fine, you want to hear her tell you she won’t kill you? Fine.” Ryker turned to me, fully expecting me to do just that.
What the hell was wrong with him? He’d rejected me not even a week ago. Now he assumed I was going to choose him to lock magic and souls with? Risk him taking all my magic for himself so he could leave me weak and abandoned as he collected stones? I didn’t know if I’d be stronger than him one day, but today I knew I wasn’t.
“Bugs, tell him,” Ryker said as if it was a done deal. As if the idea of being joined to him was a foregone conclusion because he said so.
He acted as if there was some grand mountain of trust between us. There wasn’t. Why would there be? We only shared the confidences that we had to. He couldn’t even stand to sit at the same table with me lately, and I was supposed to trust him not to use me for all I had, especially since he’d been trying to do that since I’d gotten here? Knife wanted to use my magic too, but at least with him, I’d have some control of my life.
“I need a minute.”
“What do you mean, you need a minute?” Ryker stared as if he didn’t know my name anymore.
And then it clicked. He thought I would do whatever he wanted because I’d tried to sleep with him. He was so used to the women giving him whatever, falling all over themselves to do it, that he couldn’t fathom me saying no. What an arrogant, egotistical bastard.
“Yes. I need a minute.”
He put a hand on my waist, steering me to the far end of the room. “Are you really going to chance this because of your pride?” he asked softly.
I saw Ruck, the closest to us, slap a palm to his forehead as soon as Ryker said the words.
“This has nothing to do with my ego.” Yes, maybe my pride wanted to stick its tongue out at him, but my decision had nothing to do with it. I’d wanted to sleep with him; I’d never wanted to hand him complete control of my magic.
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