Chapter 586: A Visit With Ameline
It required all of my forced poise to keep from wiping the smirk from her face in the most violent way possible. My demon grumbled with increasing volume as I felt one of my molars crack under the pressure of my grinding.
"The Dumont family magic was stolen," I said, skipping any kind of polite intro. Her perfect black bangs were still perfect over her smooth white skin, but one eye widened enough I knew her eyebrow arched in interest.
So Mom hadn't told her. Interesting.
Still, Ameline didn't seem surprised. Just curious. Which told me volumes.
"You had a hand in it." Accusations-R-Us.
Ameline's cold smile and small head shake, her long, black hair rippling around her, stirred my hate for her again. Even in prison she was so disgustingly flawless I could scream.
"Not I," she said. "But I do know who planned it. And knew it was coming."
No big shocker there.
"Why do you think I tried so hard to reach you?" Ameline's tone didn't match her words, coldness having nothing to do with empathy.
"To gloat." I'd finally defeated her, brought her to justice, stood here a free witch/demon/Sidhe/vampire/yada yada while she was a prisoner. So why did I suddenly feel like she found a way to win?
"As you are now painfully aware," Ameline said, stressing the word "pain" absolutely on purpose, "the information I had for you comes far too late."
Pain was Mia's Goth name. Ameline's bitch meter just jumped sixteen gazillion points.
"I, naturally, planned to act, to stop the Brotherhood." Her pink bow lips pursed, head tilting to one side, light shining from her hair as she leaned back in her chair, crossing one long, slim leg over the other. "The last thing we need," like "we" needed anything, "is for the Brotherhood to have control of so much witch magic." And she was on our side. Sure she was. "A pity you wouldn't listen when there was still time to act."
My fault.
Hell no.
"You could have told Mom." Weak, Hayle. Way to show your soft underbelly.
Ameline didn't respond.
"They wouldn't let me come." Way worse. Way. I caught the flicker of amusement in her icy eyes, amusement burning a hole through my pride.
"You're here now," she said.
Splutter, grumble, snarl.
"I'm done with games." Gram was pretty specific about me not using magic. So I couldn't do anything against Ameline that required power.
Honestly? I wasn't beneath smacking her.
Ameline shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest, looking up at me as I approached. Attempted to loom over her. Yeah, looming takes considerable stature and I couldn't carry it off.
Didn't stop me from trying.
"I'm happy to answer all of your questions," Ameline said. "I have more information that could help in our fight against the Brotherhood."
Her little "our" and "we" stuff really started to rankle. Who did she think she was? Still, if she was willing to give up the info, I'd let her arrogance ride.
Still wanted a front seat when they burned her, though.
Oh, Syd.
"Spill it." I gave up on intimidation and copied her action, arms crossed, the heavy fabric of my stolen robe dragging on me. "I'm here, like you wanted. So tell me what you know."
Ameline's smile widened as she swept to her feet with grace I envied. "Excellent," she said. "Then let's go."
Go? "Excuse me?"
She gestured at the door. "I assume you have accomplices who can help me escape?"
She was off her freaking rocker. Being in prison must have blown a gasket or something else equally necessary to her thought process if she convinced herself, even for one bloody second, I would willingly-
"I'm not breaking you out of jail." Holy. What was she thinking?
Ameline twirled the ends of her hair in her fingertips, lashes hooding over her eyes. "If you want to know what I know," she said, "you will."
Cracked. She was totally cracked.
"I'm sorry it's been so hard on you in here," I said without a trace of honesty. "I had no idea the Enforcers shattered your damned mind so badly you think I would ever help you."
Ever.
Ameline tossed her hair over her shoulder, the plain cream robe she wore falling to her bare feet, covering all but the tips of her fingers and toes. She looked like some demented angel who'd lost her halo and wings and expected me to find them for her.
She could go to hell. Where she belonged.
"You have no idea what's coming." Ameline drew closer to me, voice low, deep. Her blue eyes held me still, not to mention the fact I refused to back down as she came right into my personal space, the scent of mint and faint flowers rising from her. "It's obvious your maji has been lax in her duties if you're still insisting on this foolishness." Ameline's hands gestured, taking in her prison. "I'm not the one to fill you in. But you will need my help, Sydlynn Hayle, before this is over."
I wanted to lean away, to step back, but I refused to show her further weakness. Instead, I tilted forward, my nose practically touching hers, nostrils flaring as I fought to contain my temper.
And my fear she really did know something I didn't.
"You'll rot in here," I said. "You and your seeds of magic." I let myself smile as her face went flat. "And when they strip you, I'll be there to do it, Ameline. I'll be there when they tie you to that big wooden stake, when they pile the kindling under you and I'll make sure they let me light the fire that burns you up."
If I hadn't been so close to her, if I hadn't been practically inside her skin, I would have missed it. But, as it was, despite how good she was at hiding how she felt, her cold veneer only ran so deep.
I saw her flinch. And it made my demon roar in triumph.
"When this all goes to hell," Ameline whispered, her breath in my mouth, "you will wish you had me with you." A tremor ran through her, anger surging, frustration. "Why do you think I've worked so hard to become maji? I could have run off and lived my life elsewhere, gathered power. The European Council would have welcomed me. I could have had my own coven by now." Fire flashed in her eyes, a hint of petulance in her voice cutting through my couldn't-care-less. She seemed momentarily confused, as if she didn't know herself why she was here, in this place, with me. But her face froze again and her resolve returned, coated liberally with ice. "Naive and pathetic." Two points of moisture hit my cheeks from Ameline's lips as she spit out those words. "There is more than one side to this story, unfolding without your knowledge. And more than one faction to deal with." That sounded so much like what Gram said about the sorcerer sects I actually started to pay attention. "You think you're the only one who has a stake in this? The only one fighting the Brotherhood?" Contempt washed over me and for the second time I had to fight to keep my position, to not retreat from her. Ameline turned her head, gaze still locked on mine, chin down as she glared from the corner of her eyes. "You'll see," she hissed. "You know nothing. But you'll need me. When you finally accept this is only the first phase of the Brotherhood's plan to control all magic on all planes, when you finally understand balance comes with light and shadow," a tingle of panic raced through me when she spoke those words, "and that only balance can win the coming war."
Light. Shadow. Trill and her brother, Owen. The young maji and her sorcerer brother were part of a prophecy, a prophecy that called them by those same names.
Ameline finally turned away, arms wrapped around herself, accentuating how slim she was as she tucked the thin fabric of her robe to her. "Ask your darling mother," she said. "Ask her if any small covens have gone missing in the last few months."
A knot, fierce and bubbling, clenched inside my stomach. "What are you talking about?"
"Tests," Ameline said, tone as light as air as she spun back, smirking again. "You idiot, they had to test their technique, didn't they?" Amusement fled, anger racing over her flawless features before she stilled again, a statue of white marble with only her flowing hair and icy eyes living things. "They've figured out a way to strip families of their magic. But they aren't stupid, Syd. Not like you. Or the High Council."
Bile burned the back of my throat, nausea churning around the lump of oh crap building inside me.
"Magical races will fall," Ameline said, old arrogance surfacing. "All of them. Without us." Her blue eyes flashed with a rainbow of power and I felt my own maji magic answer her, magic I barely kept contained under Gram's touch. "We can save them, don't you understand?" She shook her head, eyes narrowed, black lashes veils over her gaze. "But unless you free me, unless you allow me to develop as I need to develop, you will lose. And all the planes will fall to the Brotherhood."
I backed away from her, trembling suddenly, the hem of my robe vibrating as I stood there a moment and shook. She was wrong, totally wrong. Mom would never cover up something like this. And I didn't need Ameline. I was becoming maji. I could handle it.
Keep saying it, Syd. Maybe you'll even come to believe it.
I turned without speaking another word to her, knowing, unless Mom allowed me to use power against her, I wouldn't get anything useful.
Unless I broke Ameline out of prison, that was.
Her false cheer chased me out as I slid through her cell door and slammed it behind me.
"See you soon," she said.
***
