Page 68 of A Touch of Shadows

‘Probably. Maybe it used him to draw you there. Maybe he was just unlucky. Maybe you both were. It’s old magic, magic bounded by the stones, sunken deep into the ground, reaching for the stars. Most of them have been destroyed, or co-opted. The chamber of the Aurum itself was built around one such circle. But it was one dedicated to the great light already. Others… others bend in a different way.’

Which was an understatement, but she didn’t want to terrify Wren. She needed what little cooperation she could still get from her.

‘But if there are answers there, about me, about us and what we have to do…’

Elodie shook her head firmly. ‘It’s too dangerous, love. Even if it wasn’t a vortex of magic, it’s wide out in the open. The knights will no doubt look for us there. As will the Ilanthians if they’re still circling.’ And they were. She knew they were. Leander would not give up that easily. Not if he suspected the truth about Wren. Or even a fraction of the truth. ‘And I believe… I believe that book wishes no good for you.’

It felt strange to talk about the thing like it was sentient. But that was how it felt, she realised. She wished she knew what it was, and now she saw it back in Wren’s hands she wished she hadn’t let it go. It felt wrong, and if it was somehow communicating with Wren that was wrong too. Dangerous.

The problem was she was also relieved to let it go, not to have it anywhere near her anymore. The strange sensation of slowly being drained of energy had started the moment she’d taken it from Wren. And now it had stopped. That couldn’t be good. She needed every scrap of power she had to protect them, and to get them away from this place.

But Wren didn’t seem impacted at all. The thing was trying to communicate with her. Clearly. Elodie shivered, her nerves on edge. She had to believe in Wren, that she had raised her right. ‘You’re my little bird, remember? I’m just trying to look after you.’

To her dismay, Wren dropped her gaze to the pages again and she frowned. For a moment she didn’t say anything, but the words found their way out all the same. Wren had never been able to keep anything from Elodie, and that, Elodie thought, might be their one saving grace.

‘It says… it says you’re lying.’

Elodie laughed. She had told so many lies over her life that sometimes she wasn’t sure what was the truth anymore.

‘I’m sure it does. But you know me, Wren. I will do anything and everything to protect you, no matter what the cost. Even if you hate me for it. Now, time to move on. Put that thing away and don’t pay it any mind. We’ll find a way to deal with it later.’

They would have to. Some kind of spell to unravel the enchantment on it. Elodie didn’t want it getting its nasty claws any further into her little girl.

But Wren wasn’t a little girl anymore. She was a woman. With a woman’s body and a woman’s heart, and a mind of her own. The spell of binding might hold her now, but in the end… in the end Elodie would have to release her, and pray Wren would forgive her.

Elodie had to admit, she was no longer sure that was a given and, somewhere deep inside, her heart was breaking at the thought.

But right now, there was no choice. No choice for either of them.

CHAPTER 39

WREN

The little threads of magic chafed against her body, not quite painful, because Elodie would never intentionally cause her pain. She knew that. But Elodie always believed she knew what was for the best and was determined to get Wren to safety. So that was that.

The fact that she gave Wren no say in the matter didn’t seem to occur to her. Nor did the utter hypocrisy of her accusing Wren of using magic to take away Finn’s free will – which she definitely had not done – while doing the very same thing herself.

Her thoughts rumbled beneath the surface. She couldn’t do anything to stop herself obeying. Had Elodie done this to her before? When she was younger maybe? She couldn’t recall and that itself was a worry. The outrage of it all made her want to scream but she couldn’t. All she could do was walk when Elodie wanted her to walk, and sit still when Elodie wanted her to sit still.

How dare Elodie do this to her? How dare she abduct her and drag her off against her will and tell her it was all for her own good?

She had always been like this. Always.

But, Wren was no longer a child.

So she answered Elodie’s questions and tried to work out how to get herself out of this.

When Elodie quizzed her on the book and handed it back to her, an idea spiralled up from inside her. Like a spark of rebellion from the bonfire raging at the pit of her stomach.

Maybe Elodie was not as smart as she thought she was. Or maybe she was just too trusting.

The first of the lines of Elodie’s magic that held Wren broke, and a shadow wound its way out of the pages of the book, up through the other lines, moving them aside.

Music whispered to her, words that weren’t quite real, weren’t quite understandable. She strained to listen as she walked, to understand. The song was there, but muffled by Elodie’s enchantment. But the more she concentrated, the clearer it became.

It was only a matter of time until Elodie felt strong enough to cast her spell of transportation again, and then she’d drag Wren off to the other end of the kingdom to start over. If Wren didn’t get out of this soon, she was going to be so far away from this place that she’d never make it back. She knew Elodie. She did not do things by half.

The book seemed to be the answer. It was magical, and it was trying to help her. She lingered behind Elodie and took it out, trying to read it as she walked. Again, the swirl of words and letters seemed to make no sense at first, until, at last, they resolved into something legible again.