Page 86 of Magic Hunted
I knocked on the door and stepped inside. Anise was in the center of the room, dwarfed by her dragon mates. Shanyirra stood next to her, looking at a sheaf of parchment in Anise’s hands.
“When my half merged with Serafine’s I read a message. It said ‘too late’, but the words reformed into scribbles. No matter what spell I try I can’t read it. Can you?” Anise said.
Shanyirra’s milky eyes glowed as she concentrated on the words. “No. It’s indecipherable and will be gibberish until it is whole again.”
“Why would it do that?” Anise said.
“Because of the grimoire. To protect the magic in its pages and ensure that all sections are returned. One section is powerful enough on its own. The magic can only heal our worlds if it’s put together. This is a failsafe if it did fall into the wrong hands. The king planned well,” Shanyirra said.
“You mean King Cedar? The Fae king?” Damon said.
Shanyirra nodded. “Haera can confirm.”
I shivered, remembering the vision I’d had of King Cedar. I was aware of every other set of eyes pinning me, too.
“Is this true, Haera?” Naet said, his burnished skin glowing in the light thrown off by the candles in the room.
“It was the only vision I’ve had, and it just happened to be him. And yes, if what I saw was correct, he put everything he had into making the grimoire. I think he understood what was going to happen.” I didn’t mention the toll it had obviously taken on him, or the worry it caused his bond brothers. Yet, he’d still handed the grimoire over to the human who’d created the portal millennia ago. “It was done with a heavy heart.”
It had cost him greatly and he hadn’t come out unscathed. It also meant death and hardship, the risk of two worlds and the people who lived in them.
Now though, I was more than ready to release the grimoire. It had been the purpose of my life for so long. A part of me. Now that it was finally going to happen, I felt strange. As though I was going to lose a part of myself.
“You’ll still be you and we’ll still adore you,” Dias said. A thread of yellow stroked mine.
It was exactly what I needed to hear from my mate. Exactly what I needed to feel to let my nerves go. “Thank you, Dias.”
“I, for one, will be happy to see what this grimoire of yours looks like,” Savvas said.
I laughed because I’d often dreamed about what it looked like. It had always seemed to be a golden ball of magic in my mind’s eye. “Tell me what to do, Shanyirra.”
“You’ll be able to do this easily now your bond is formed. Hold out your hands and give it permission to leave. Let it know it’s safe to appear,” Shanyirra said.
“You make it sound as though it’s alive,” I said. Although I’d often felt as though it had some sentience on the odd occasion. The look Shanyirra sent me gave me pause.
“Magicislife, child,” Shanyirra said.
I concentrated in that place deep inside me where I’d felt the grimoire hiding. It wasn’t in a physical place in my body, but somewhere between the physical world and the next. In the place where I’d existed when I’d died and had traveled to see the king’s face frozen in anguish. A place where spirits existed before they moved on from their physical life. A place where thought gained enough power to become reality. Not a part of any world, but the place in between them all.
I followed a thread of golden light, deep down inside me until I saw pages of parchment similar to the ones Anise held. I held back my surprise. The pages fluttered, sensing my approach and golden bubbles rose from them, popping into showers of sparks.
I caught a whiff of emotion from it. Excitement! Pages couldn’t be sentient, but I was sure the magic imbued into it might be able to replicate something similar.
“Come on, grimoire. It’s time for you to show your face,” I whispered, feeling a little silly talking to it but giving it permission all the same.
It wiggled and the tether that had tied us both together simply dissolved. It rose, free for the first time in years and a weight settled in my hands as it disappeared from its place inside me.
I opened my eyes, my heart stuttering. I held the grimoire.
The grimoire was in my hands!
At least my section of it. It was really there. A small part of me never imagined it would ever be free of me. The section fluttered in an invisible wind, stretching its pages after being confined. Little sparks drifted upwards, zigzagging in the air. I glimpsed stunning illustrations of a beautiful landscape and creatures that couldn’t be from Earth as the pages flicked to and fro. Writing of a sort surrounded the images, but it was nothing but reforming lines that moved across the page in ever-changing patterns.
“You did well protecting it, Haera,” Ashir said.
It hadn’t occurred to me I was its protector, or that I should be thanked for keeping it safe. He put his muscular arm around me and the bond washed with pride. I looked between my mates and the bond surged.
“You’re…proud?” I swallowed down the lump in my throat, not quite reconciling the way I’d survived in the past with their admiration.
