Roger nodded and turned, looking out at the trees. “We’re trying to wait until the end of the school term so we have the whole summer.”
Reagan smiled briefly. “You’re hoping the start of school will be enough to pull her back out of the Flush?”
“I’m hoping.”
“Roger, come on. She’s a princess. A princess—”
“We’re not sure of that,” Roger said.
Reagan’s eyes widened, and she pointed to where Charity had stood when she’d expelled her magic. “Really? Not a princess? The backlash of her magic earlier nearly blew my eyebrows off, and thanks to Penny, I just had to have them regrown. That woman is a beast. Besides, do you really think Vlad would be this interested in her if she were any normal magical creature? He got barbecued, man! Barbecued. And do you know what he’s doing right now? Sitting in the vampire lair in the Realm, all pasty and half charcoaled, drafting plans. He’s more intrigued than he ever was. He still means to capture her and use her. If he gets her, then his focus will shift back to me. It’s in everyone’s best interest if you keep that girl out of his hands. So cut the crap, and start thinking rationally. She needs help, and only her people will give it to her.”
Devon held his breath. As a rule, no one spoke to Roger that way. Not unless they wanted a hard lesson in respect.
But Roger just blew out a breath and tucked his hands into his pockets. “We’ll see what Karen has to say.”
“You guys set too much stock on a silly type of magic,” Reagan muttered.
A grin tweaked Roger’s lips. “If we were talking about anyone but Ms. Bristol, I’d agree wholeheartedly. Which you know, since you’ve been on the receiving end of her…fortunes, as well.”
Reagan scowled. “Fair enough.”
Roger sobered. “I doubt Charity will let us take her out of school unless she’s on her death bed.”
“Wait as long as you can, sure, but don’t wait too long,” Reagan said. “Otherwise, you’ll have a dead Arcana on your hands, and several very angry live Arcanas at your door.”
Roger shook his head and watched Penny and Emery wave their hands in the air, obviously weaving magic. “She was magnificent in that battle. Courageous and brutal, fast and efficient. Everything I’ve heard warrior fae are supposed to be, and she is completely untrained in her magic. She worked with my wolves perfectly, with the loyalty I’d expect of one of my shifters.” He threw a glance at Devon. “If we’d had a host of warrior fae at the Mages’ Guild, we would’ve dominated without question. And Vlad’s changing party would have been a nonstarter.”
Reagan turned and stared directly into his eyes, a challenge by shifter standards. Roger didn’t seem to notice.
“Vlad is planning big things. Huge things. Things that will greatly affect us all. Here. In the Realm. And even in the Underworld. You cannot let him have Charity. He’ll know exactly how to use her to manipulate the warrior fae. She needs to be in the protective fold of her kind. I cannot stress that enough.”
“I heard you the first time,” Roger growled.
The door opened, revealing a grim-faced Alder. “She wishes to speak with Devon.”
Roger motioned Devon in before turning back to Reagan.
“I now have a vested interest,” Devon heard Reagan say as he headed toward the house. “I shouldn’t go too deeply into the Realm, at present, but I’ll help in the Brink.”
“What about Darius?” Roger asked.
“Darius will have to make a choice—”
Alder closed the door behind Devon, muffling their voices. The chair Charity had sat in was now vacant. Alder moved around the table to take up his previous position, as though Ms. Bristol needed protection.
“Where’s Charity?” Devon asked.
Karen tilted the martini glass back, sucking the last bit dry. “Outside.” The glass clinked as she set it back on the table. “She needed to go for a walk and get some fresh air.”
“What’d you see for her?”
Karen’s blue eyes cut through him, her gaze nearly as sharp as Roger’s. “That’s none of your business, young man. You don’t own her. Now, let’s see…”
She leaned forward and looked into his eyes. Goosebumps crawled along his skin. Karen nodded and pulled the crystal ball in front of her.
White mist rolled and boiled within the glass. Colors flashed from deep within, and he started. He hadn’t expected that. Black threads wove through the white, followed by flashes of green. Then streaks of orange. Devon’s small hairs stood on end as tingles swept across his skin. Magic rolled and boiled in the living room like the mists within the glass, potent and powerful. Devon had heard about Ms. Bristol’s magic, but he hadn’t believed all the hype.
Now he understood why Alder stood by her side, in rapture. Her magic was almost a living thing, stretching out to the limits of the universe while nestled in the confines of that crystal ball. Devon’s wolf practically cowered within him, awestruck, sensing something that defied the laws of physics.