by Izzy Shows
Reed chuckled. “There’s nothing I can do to help with that, but I’m glad there were no complications in getting you properly healed.”
I averted my eyes at that, afraid it would start another conversation about how it hadn’t been too difficult to heal me. The way he’d said it, it sounded like it usually was harder, and I was an abnormality. I didn’t like that. I didn’t like to draw attention to myself.
“Diego, maybe you can help me,” the healer said, and I brought my eyes up again. So, this Wizard’s name was Diego. What did the healer need help with, and did it have anything to do with me? I should really be going now that the healing was complete…
“Of course, sir. Anything you need,” Diego said, walking farther into the room until he was standing by my cot. I suddenly felt crowded and wanted to move away, but there was nowhere to go without being rude and walking between the two men.
Besides, I didn’t know where to go.
“Ms. Sheach, here, seems to think she doesn’t need to become a part of the Order,” Reed said, gesturing towards me. “I’ve tried to convince her otherwise, but she’s proving to be quite stubborn.”
“Ah, I see that side of Aidan has rubbed off on you,” Diego said with a warm smile.
My gaze shot to him when he said Aidan’s name. How could I not pay attention? I dearly wanted to know more about Aidan, about the man who might have mentored me if things had turned out differently.
“For your information, I’ve always been stubborn,” I said with a smirk, “and Aidan didn’t need to do anything to help that.”
He grinned back at me. “Now, little lady, there’s not a whole lot I can do to change your mind—”
“Exactly what the good doctor, here, said.” I interrupted him. “Which should mean that you won’t say anything at all.”
He barked out a laugh. “That’s never been my way. I’m going to make every effort to change your mind.”
“And why is that?”
“Because it’s what Aidan would have wanted. Y’all were close, right?”
I looked down at my lap, picking at a string on my jeans with my newly healed arm. Gods, but it felt good to be able to move that again. “As close as you can get in a weekend,” I said, shrugging. “He was the first person I felt I could be myself around.”
I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye.
“I figured as much. Aidan didn’t let too many people close to him, so if he let you in, that means he saw something in you. Thought you could be something. I’ll tell you right now, no sugar-coating: you won’t reach your highest potential outside of the Order. You just won’t have the resources for it. You don’t have to like being a part of it. You can thank your lucky stars you ain’t on the High Council and have to attend their ridiculous meetings, but you do need to be a part of things. Otherwise, you’ll find you won’t have any slack cut for you in London.”
He was starting to get to me, but I had to jerk my gaze up at the last comment. “What is that supposed to mean, I won’t have any slack?”
“They’ll assign someone else to London. They’re probably going to do it anyway, but if you make it through the Proving, and someone steps up to mentor you, they’ll probably take over London, and you’ll be working with someone directly instead of trying to stay out of someone’s hair.”
“I don’t do that very well,” I said, frowning. Staying out of things would be difficult after what I’d become accustomed to. “I guess I’ll have to give it my all, then.”
He grinned at me. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”
Thirteen
There were thirteen trials, and so far, they sucked. Three hours in and only one trial down, I was sweating like a pig and ready to call it quits. But I couldn’t do that. Couldn’t let Aidan or Diego down. Luckily, they were letting me have a breather after each trial, although I suspected that it was more for them to confer on how I had done rather than to give me a break. They’d said that these were the easiest ones, that they were just there to determine whether I should move forward at all. I could understand that to a certain degree—the first one had been as simple as lighting and extinguishing candles, although they’d made me do it a thousand and one times. That was a spell I’d performed before, almost every time I’d gone down into the basement, but they made me do it one candle at a time. Control—that was what they were looking for, and it was hard for me to reign it in. I was much more used to throwing a fireball at things, but no, they said, we should start small.
Three hours to light a bunch of candles. Feh. When were we going to get to the good stuff?
I was standing in one of the training rooms, the same one I’d done the candles in—there was a dais where the judges had sat and several rows of candles in front of them. I didn’t get anywhere to sit; I’d had to stand in front of them as I lit and extinguished each individual candle. It had turned out to be exhausting work, focusing on one flame at a time and making sure I didn’t blow it up instead.
I stretched, reaching my hands up as far as they could go, then twisted from side to side. It felt so good to have both of my arms back in working order again. I found myself wishing, not for the first time, that I had my punching bag to unwind with instead of being left there alone in the room.
I was stretching my body sideways, leaning down as if I were going to touch the sides of my boots, when I heard the door open.
Finally, they’re back, I thought as I turned around to face them.
It wasn’t the Council, but rather just one man. I didn’t recognise him. He was about as tall as I, stocky build, with thick black hair and swarthy skin. He had a scowl on his face already, and a longsword was hanging at his hip. What the hell had I done wrong?
He strode toward me, determined, and my internal alarms started going off. I didn’t feel safe—but did I ever feel safe? I felt decidedly less safe than normal—and I knew I needed to get away from this man before something happened to me. Without a doubt, it felt like something bad was about to happen.
“Who are you?” I crossed my arms over my chest, refusing to move back when he finally cleared the room and reached me.
“I’m the one who’s going to chop your head off,” he said with a malicious grin, his green eyes sparkling.
I shook my head. “I don’t think so, buddy. See, I’ve already been through that part of this whole charade, and I came out clean.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said. “You only got out because that paladin came to save your skin, but she’s not here now, is she? No one’s here.”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“You should be.”
“And why is that? Because you’ve got a sword that’s clearly overcompensating for something?”
He glared at me and took a step forward. I refused to move, which left him invading my personal space.
“I’m going to enjoy cutting that head off your pretty little neck.” His gaze darted down to my neck, and the look in his eyes… I felt dirty.
My hand flew to my neck, and I faked a concerned look. “Oh, no. You think my neck is pretty? Now, I might agree that it needs to go, if that’s the case. Wouldn’t want you getting any ideas.”
Danger gleamed in his eyes, and he grinned. Oops, I might have given him an idea I shouldn’t have.
“Need I remind you that the Council is going to come back any second now? Are you even allowed to be in here?” I narrowed my eyes. “I get the feeling you aren’t. What’s your name?”
“Why? Do you want to be able to moan it when I take what I want from you?”
I brought my elbow up and slammed it into his chin, driving my knee up and into his groin at the same time. He fell to the floor, clutching at his nether regions and cursing up a storm.
“Do not ever speak to me that way,” I said, snarling down at him. “I will end you before you can even think about touching me. I am Blair Sheach. I have destroyed hordes of the undead, vampires twisted beyond their natural order, and I�
�ve taken down demons. I’m not afraid of someone as little as you, and you’d better get that through that thick head of yours here and now.”
“You’re going to pay for this, bitch,” he said, dragging one leg under him and then pushing up to stand again. “I’m going to enjoy beating the shit out of you before I kill you.”
The door opened again.
“Oh, look, it’s your masters,” I said with a grin. “Best behave now.”
Fourteen
Before they called an end to the day, I had to endure four more trials, each as tedious as the first had been. Now, we were in the same hall where my hearing had taken place, with me standing on the swivelling platform in front of the half-circle of Wizards.
“You have done well today, Blair Sheach,” the Chancellor said, though the look on his face didn’t seem to agree with that. If I went by his look, I’d say I failed in every way imaginable. He definitely wasn’t pleased that I was moving forward.
“Thank you,” I said, smiling brightly at him. Kill him with kindness, right? I probably couldn’t just kill him; you didn’t get to be Chancellor of the Order without having the might to back it up, I thought.
He grunted. “You may return to your home for the evening, but you must not tell anyone what you have seen, done, or said while you were here.”
“What about Emily?” I said before I could stop myself. “She was here earlier.”
He glared at me. “The secrets of the Order cannot be shared with anyone. The Proving is a rite of passage that all mages go through and none outside can know about.”
That would explain why Fred and Raven hadn’t known a whole lot about it. Aidan must not have said anything to Fred. But unless they were going to magically bind me to keep me from talking, I wasn’t about to stand by their rules. I owed them nothing.
“There is one more thing, before you go,” he said.
I arched an eyebrow, but miraculously stopped myself from saying anything.
“As you have successfully completed the first five trials, you will continue through the Proving, naturally. These first trials were designed to test you, to see if you contain the control to be a mage of the Order. The rest will determine what power you have and whether you could turn Warlock if given the chance.”
My gut clenched at that—I already had a brand from a demon on my wrist. What more proof could they want, if they found it? I really needed to figure out a way to get rid of it, now that I had survived the hearing and was going to go through the rest of the trials. Although if they hadn’t noticed it yet, who was to say they would notice it at all.
“As such, it is necessary that you know the Laws of Magic. I don’t believe Aidan instructed you in them?”
I swallowed a hard lump in my throat, thinking about Aidan. “He didn’t have the time,” I said. I would defend him ’til my dying day.
“I thought as much,” he said, then cleared his throat. “The first law: Thou shalt not kill. Your magic is a dangerous weapon, and you are responsible for what you do with it. You are allowed to kill another Wizard only in a situation when it is necessary for you to live. You are never allowed to kill a human.”
Hm, so vampires and other monsters seemed to be excused from that law. Good to know. Also, good thing I hadn’t killed those thralls back at the vampire’s house.
“The second law: Thou shalt not swim against the tides of time. The outcome could be most dire, because of the ripple effect. The third law: Thou shalt not bind another to your will. The fourth: Thou shalt not invade another’s mind. The fifth: Thou shalt not reach beyond the grave. The sixth and final law: Thou shalt not mingle outside the human race.”
I couldn’t help it; I had to comment on that one. “I’m sorry, are you saying there’s a law about who people can sleep with?”
Diego covered his eyes, groaning, and the rest of the Council stared at me slack-jawed.
The Chancellor looked at me like I was the biggest idiot he had ever seen, and sighed. “There have been Wizards who have…mingled with other races, and the abominations created from such mating had to be put down for the safety of those around them. As such, it has become law. Do you have any other questions?”
Abominations? I supposed it was a good thing I’d already made my own rule about sleeping with Mal, but being told I wasn’t allowed to—well, you know me and being stubborn. It made me want to drive right over to his flat and jump his bones, no matter what kind of disagreement we were having at the moment.
I shook my head. “No, sir. I think I’m fine with all of that.”
“Good. Commit the laws to memory. Violation is punishable by death.”
I managed to keep my mouth shut and not gape at him in turn, because I thought killing someone for sleeping with a vampire or a shifter was just plain crazy. And outdated. And stupid. Gods, I so didn’t want to be a part of this boys’ club.
Nodding, I shifted so that my hip was leaning against the railing. “Am I free to go?”
The skin around the Chancellor’s eyes tightened, and I didn’t have any trouble imagining that he wanted to kill me. I was insubordinate, and I had no tolerance for their silliness, which they thought was all-important. Of course, they didn’t want to have me around. I was bad for business, as far as they were concerned.
But thanks to Emily, they were stuck with me. I was eager to get out of there and find her, find out why they had listened to her and what she had meant by ‘one of the Seven.’ It occurred to me that Emily hadn’t told me a whole lot about how she had become a paladin, or even what that meant. The only thing I really knew was that she had to be called to a fight. She couldn’t just decide to whip her sword out, all willy-nilly.
Which sucked for me, because sometimes I needed her to do just that.
“Yes, you are dismissed,” the Chancellor said, jerking me back to reality.
I took in a calming breath and let it back out, pretended to curtsy, and walked out of the room without a backwards glance. I was sure we’d be meeting in this room again, so there was no need to commit parts of it to memory as if I was never going to see it again.
On the other side of the door were several men wearing uniforms, with swords at their hips. Both Gregor and the man who had harassed me earlier were in the group, Gregor heading it up. My eyes narrowed on the one who’d harassed me, and I realised he had to be a member of the First Hand. Which meant that sword he was wearing was a hell of a lot deadlier than I had originally thought.
The First Hand couldn’t be just a group of nobodies who didn’t have a better use for their time. It was only logical that they be a group of elite fighters. I probably should have been more afraid of him earlier.
Also, it probably hadn’t been the best idea to knee him in the groin. Judging by the way he was looking at me now, I knew he was remembering that, and wanted to take my head off for it.
“Hey, boys,” I said, because I had to make a joke. “How’s it hanging?”
Gregor’s face didn’t change at all. The guy was a bloody robot. “We’re here to escort you back to your home.”
“I assume you’re not going to beat me up this time?” I smiled at him. “Because that wasn’t so much fun. Also, are we doing the blindfold thing again? I have to tell you—” I stepped forward, leaned in, and lowered my voice. “Your kink is not my kink.” I winked at him.
OK, I was desperate to get some sort of reaction out of him, now that I had seen how stiff he was.
He didn’t so much as blink at me. “You will be blindfolded during the transportation of your person to and from the Order until such time as you have finished the Proving.”
I huffed out a sigh. “Fine. But no handcuffs.”
“No, you will not be handcuffed.”
“Woo-hoo!” I grinned. “Now you’re talking. Let’s go—I want to get home before I’m eighty.”
Gregor proceeded to tie the blindfold around my head, plunging me back into darkness. Now that I wasn’t panicking so much, I realised that the
re was a little bit of space between the cloth and the bottoms of my eyes, thanks to my nose. I could look down and see the floor in front of me, which meant that I wouldn’t stumble over stairs anymore.
He gripped my forearm—I was going to have his handprint marked into my skin by the time all of this was over; I just knew it—and led me forward.
It was easier walking this time around. I wasn’t in excruciating pain, and I could see somewhat. We made it out of the building and down the steps with relative ease. He let go of my arm to open the car door, and I used my hands to guide me into the car, thankful that I hadn’t been thrown in again.
I waited until everyone else was in the car and we were driving away before I decided to interrupt the quiet.
“You know, this whole blindfold situation really is sad, because the best part of a road trip is staring out the window and letting your imagination run wild. Can’t really do that when all I’m looking at is a black cloth.”
No one responded to me.
Granted, I could tilt my head all the way back, and then I’d be able to see out the window, but then they’d know what I was doing, and I felt they wouldn’t like that a whole lot. There was also another way to be able to see everything going on around me, and that was to See it: to open my other Eyes and look around and see the truth of everything. The truth of those who were escorting me, the truth of the world we were moving through right now. I had no doubt that if I were to open my Eyes, I would See through the blindfold, but I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to see the men around me.
I leaned my head back against the seat and allowed myself to doze off for a little bit, the rhythmic movement of the car doing much to aid me in that quest. It had been an exhausting day, both mentally and physically, and I hadn’t been given much opportunity to rest.
A hand on my shoulder woke me what felt like a minute later, but when the blindfold was lifted a moment after that, I realised we were in front of my house. I squinted at it to make sure, but yep, that was my house.