Page 157 of Enchanted Heir
I understood now the queen hadn’t known which of these messages someone would stumble across, if any of them, so she was repeating the same message in hope that we would check for more of them. But so far she’d really only sent us three messages across the same few journals. And even if we didn’t find a thing more, I still respected her immensely for it. Her husband was spiraling out of control, she was clearly worried about her sons as they neared the end of adolescence, and she’d done the only thing she probably could have to warn others.
Theon has begun trying to figure out how to siphon more magic.
It was a message I had seen before, but I figured I should try one more line. Krew was still standing behind me observing, his breath tickling my neck. He should probably move his hand at my lower back. I wasn’t even sure if he knew it was there or if it was habit.
I dipped the tiny paintbrush into the water and began gently making a line between her words on the paper.
He has learned if he steals another Enchanted’s magic outright, he will only retain their power for a time as they did not consent to their magic being torn away from them.
Okay. So that was new. I again dipped the paintbrush into the water and kept going.
Now he is trying to siphon the magic into an object. His first trials were failures, but if he could somehow convince someone to will their entire magic source into an object, he might be onto something. I am terrified every day he will figure it out. He is hungry for more magic in a way that scares me. Not just for me, but for all of Wylan. For the entire realm. He also burned a journal I wrote in of this. This is the only way I can speak of it, hidden messages I only pray will be found someday.
I gasped and reread it. Then again. And again.
My eyes kept going to the wordsan object. Then I remembered her earlier words aboutwearinganother’s magic.
“Krew,” I bit out.
“I know, I’m reading it too.” He was now standing next to me, not behind me.
“Your father is this strong because he did it.” It wasn’t a mere guess, it was just one of those rare happenings in life where you knew something down in your soul, and nothing could convince you otherwise. It felt more premonition and less gut instinct. “Your father is wearing more than one Enchanted’s magic. Maybe multiple Enchanted.”
Krew hollered for Owen and began rubbing the back of his neck while he sat down in his usual chair at the table.
I didn’t want to point out that though he acted like he was fully healed and fine, he was awfully tired any time he exerted much energy at all. I didn’t want him to rush any part of his healing, I just wanted him better.
“What object does your father always wear?” I asked then dropped the paintbrush. “Oh gods. Is it the actual crown? Does the crown hold an Enchanted’s power?”
Krew shook his head. “It could be a number of things. The ruby he wears on his thumb. His goblet he is adamant about always having. His crown. His weapons. My father is a creature of habit, so it could be multiple things.”
My eyes went wide. “It could also be all of them.”
Owen came in the room. “What is it? You both look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
I gave my head a shake. “No, just had a chat with one though.”
Krew quickly filled Owen in, telling him to send his guard and see when Keir could come to Krew’s wing for this latest update.
Owen didn’t move right away though.
“What?” Krew asked.
Owen kept shaking his head, totally bewildered. “But if he is wearing another’s magic on his person, possibly multiple Enchanted’s magic, this changes everything.”
Krew let out a long sigh. “It does.”
“And,” Owen added, “we can’t make a move until we know which object or objects it is.”
“Correct,” Krew agreed. “However, if we are able to figure out which objects hold the siphoned magic and can somehow remove them from him, it would give us a huge advantage.”
“I will go get Keir,” Owen said, rushing out of the room.
I turned to Krew to find him thoughtful and looking out the window at the snow-covered forest.
“Thinking about which object it is?”
Krew’s eyes met mine. “No. I’m thinking that this newest development will draw things out longer while we work to figure out what’s truly going on with his power.” He swallowed. “And if I have to endure another five years of his reign, I will drag him to hell myself.”
