Chapter 636: Dark Maji
The moment we reached the bottom, I propelled Ameline ahead of me. She stumbled, spun to snarl, only to find Charlotte in her face, her wolf emerging just enough her snout pressed a wet mark into Ameline's cheek.
I grinned, all anger, no humor. "Try it," I said. "I'd love to see what a mess Charlotte's teeth will make of your throat."
Ameline shoved my bodywere aside. "You need me." She pointed one long, slender finger at me. "Don't forget it." Spun and marched off, the queen of absolutely nothing.
I squeezed Charlotte's shoulder as we went after her. "Nice," I said. "But I really do, I guess."
Charlotte bared her teeth at me, her wolf in her eyes. "I can hurt her so much she'll never recover and still leave her breathing."
Good to know.
Ameline entered the second chamber, going right to the staircase. I'd never figured out how to close it and so it remained, waiting for us. Rough stone carved with names and history passed under my fingertips as we descended, the past meeting the present as we finally reached the bottom and passed over the threshold into the main chamber.
Ameline went immediately to the stone platform in the center of the room and hopped up on it, crossing her legs and her arms over her chest, looking down on me from her self-made throne. She really was full of herself.
This had to be over, now. I slapped one hand down on the stone and reached for Iepa.
Felt her answer immediately.
Knew just as quickly she wasn't alone.
I hated how I gaped for a second as Iepa appeared, a handsome man standing next to her. Where my maji guide was dressed in a white robe, golden hair worn over her shoulders like a cloak, his skin was dark, the color of burned toast, eyes a pale amber two shades lighter than my demon's. He smiled at me before turning to Ameline, deep crimson robe almost black as it swung with his movement.
"At last," he said.
Ameline stayed where she was, meeting his eyes like an equal.
"Your information was most helpful," she said in her clear, emotionless voice.
The source of her intel.
Her own maji guide.
Iepa met my gaze, shook her head a little, her power touching mine as my temper rose and crested, at the breaking point. Would have been nice to know we both had guides.
Sydlynn, my vampire sent. You honestly didn't think of it?
Grumble, mumble.
"The time is nigh." The dark maji turned to Iepa.
"We have fulfilled the conditions of the prophecy." She held out her hand to him and he took it, magic passing between them. I expected his to be black or blood red, but it was the same shining iridescence I'd come to expect from Iepa. No fair the bad guys got to have our sparkly power.
No fair.
"How nice," I said, words edged and furious. "So happy to be of service. But the Sidhe are in a bit of trouble, in case you two weren't aware, and we are almost out of time."
"Agreed." The dark maji bowed his head to me. "I am Trinol, Sydlynn."
Whatever.
"Good for you," I said. Focused on Iepa who sighed at me. "Well? I broke her ass out of prison because everyone's been telling me we need balance or some other such magic mumbo jumbo. I've put my whole family in danger and my own neck on the chopping block. Can we please actually do some freaking good already?"
"How delightful." Trinol's lips twitched before he bowed his head to me again. "Perhaps I've been assigned to the wrong maji."
Ameline's eyes tightened as she tapped one foot on the floor, bare toes pattering against the stone. "How do we save the Sidhe?"
"You must work in tandem," Iepa said. "Go to the Sidhe realm and use your bonded magic to sever the control the Brotherhood has over their kingdoms, releasing the combined Fey magic from its prison."
She said what?
Even Ameline looked a little ill. "Bonded?"
"That is why it was necessary to bring you here." Iepa crossed to one of the sections on the wall. There I saw names I knew, from my ancestor Auburdeen, through her children, grandchildren and finally to Gram, Mom, Uncle Frank, Meira and me. Iepa pointed to us before Trinol turned and crossed to the other side of the room. Both Ameline and I spun together to watch him, me with a terrible knot of worry in my chest, Ameline with pursed lips.
When he pointed out her name, a list of others behind her, Ameline hissed before spinning on me.
"Well now, cousin dear," she said. "It would appear Grandfather Ivan gave you more than Dumont good looks."
My cousin?
If I could have bathed my brain in acid to erase what I'd just learned, I would have happily done so. Couldn't. Was forced to stand there and absorb the truth.
We were related.
"Far more closely related than even Ameline knew," Iepa whispered in my ear. I shivered, hadn't noticed she crossed to my side as Trinol watched me with his pale yellow eyes. "Your grandfather and Odette Dumont had a child. One Ivan forced her to give up for fear Ethpeal would discover his betrayal. And because such a child would be forbidden."
Gram. What would knowing Ivan betrayed her do to Gram?
"My mother." Ameline's shoulders twitched. "Heir to the Dumont family by blood, not just by training."
The satisfaction in her voice made me want to slap her. But so many things slid into place at that point. How Odette nurtured and protected Ameline, grooming her to take over the family coven despite the fact she wasn't a Dumont. Because she knew all along she'd be handing over power to her own granddaughter.
"How screwed up is that?" I turned to Ameline, smiled sweetly even as my heart crumbled for Gram who had already lost so much. "Your dear, darling grandmother tossed you over for your weak cousin Mia so she wouldn't have to give up the secret of your birth."
There had been a handful of times Ameline really showed emotion. But this was the first instance I saw her stripped to her core, pure hate and rage burning deep inside her, devouring her soul even as she slammed up her defenses again and spun away from me.
Oh snap.
My vampire stirred, perking up. Darkness comes, she sent.
"We're out of time." I shuddered as I turned to Iepa. "What do we have to do?"
It was Trinol who came to me, to Ameline, and took our hands in his. Forced us to touch. "The Dark and the Light must come together as one," he said, voice droning as though repeating something he'd memorized. "One spirit, one power, two minds, two bodies. And when the empty ones rise, only the bonded will have the unity to create what is being destroyed."
Yada yada, dude. "Just hurry up," I snarled. "The sun's coming up."
Anger glinted in his gaze, dark face tightening. "The task is yours," he said. "We have only brought you together."
That was so freaking not helpful I wanted to scream.
I turned to Ameline, felt her resisting even as I did. My free hand slid into my pocket, brushing over the tainted gem before locking around my crystal, the touch of it waking the dark flower beneath me. My maji energy came forward easily, the power of the cavern making it simple to call. But even it rejected her, a thin, angry line of sizzling sparks forming between our palms, cascading to the floor and making me hiss from the heat.
"Together," Iepa said, leaning over my shoulder. "As one."
"Unless you're going to actually show me what that looks like," I said between clenched teeth as blisters burst open on my palm, still pressed firmly to Ameline's, "shut up."
I could hear Charlotte chuffing, turned to snarling, then a deep, warning growl, but didn't have the focus to pay attention to her. Not while Ameline's pale blue eyes burned through me, her own magic fighting as much as mine did.
Sydlynn, my vampire sent, they know we're here.
Out of time.
Teeth gritted, soul begging me to stop, I did the right thing, acted when she would not and opened my power to Ameline.
Let her in.
***
