Eye of the Beholder

Logan snorted. “Not quite, Pita. And, seriously, now you’re more god than mage anyway.”

Jamie choked on spit. “G-God?”

Logan was grinning. “There are five types of magic in the world, and several of them are intertwined.

The ones you need to be worried about now are elemental, divine and runic.”

“What are the other two?”

“Decisive and petition.”

“Um. Okay.” She hoped she didn’t look as lost as she felt.

Logan reached up and tapped her nose. “You were a decisive mage. Now you’re a divine mage.”

Jordan was practically bouncing. “Like me?”

Logan shook his head. “Remember how I said that magic was intertwined?”

“Yes?”

“Your magic is much more elemental than Jamie’s.”

“Oh.” Jordan looked disappointed for some bizarre reason. Jamie didn’t understand why.

Wait a minute. Jamie bit her lip. “So Jordan’s eyes really did have flames in them at the hospital?”

Logan glared at Jordan. “You have got to learn to control that.”

“Bite me, Logan.”

He smirked. “Later, dear.”

Jamie was beginning to see why Jeff was fed up with Casa de Luuuv. “So what am I again? Exactly?”

“You were decisive.” He stared at her for a moment as if he were sizing her up. “Okay. The two magics that are most alike are divine and decisive. A decisive mage works his magic by forcing his will on the world around him, but he’s limited by his humanity. Whereas a god…” Logan shrugged.

“A god is limited only by their own innate goodness. So how come none of you have, I dunno, flooded the world or something?”

Logan stared at her in exaggerated horror. “Are you kidding? This is where I keep all my stuff.”

Kir smacked Logan on the knee. “There are limits to what even we can do. You’ve heard of the great flood, right? Every religion has an account of the world being covered in water.”

“I may have heard a story or two, yes.” Was he about to tell her that really happened?

“The god who actually started that flood?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, wondering where he was going with this.

“Gone. He lost his temper, let loose the waves and…poof. Disappeared. He poured too much of himself into it. We still don’t know if what he did was deliberate or if it simply got away from him and sucked him in after.”

Jamie shuddered. “So if Logan were to attempt to cover the world in fire…”

Kir nodded. “He could do it, but he’d become the fire. When it finally died out…” Kir shuddered, his hand burrowing into Logan’s hair.

She winced. “Ouch.”

Logan leaned back into his lover’s touch, but his expression was stern. “Quicky class: don’t try to cover the world in whatever your divine power turns out to be, do try and figure out what you can and can’t do, and do it behind wards.”

“Why, and what, are wards?” Her head was beginning to spin.

From the sympathetic look on Jordan’s face she figured her sister had already gotten a lecture similar to this. She proved it by answering Jamie’s question. “Runic magic that can be used to hide our signature, dampen our signal if you will. We sound like normal mages when we use our abilities behind wards.”

Jordan frowned down at Logan. “Wait a moment. When you did the thing with Dick Head and changed my paperwork to Saeter, you weren’t behind wards.”

“Wasn’t I?” He grinned.

“Logan. ”

Kir laughed at Jordan’s scowl. “He wears a specially made piece of jewelry that acts as a portable ward. It’s good for short bursts of magic, but anything prolonged would fry it so he doesn’t use it very often.”

“Oh.” Jordan stared at Logan intently. A small smile formed. “Clever.”

Now that Jamie looked, she thought she could detect it too. There was a faint red haze around…

“Your nose ring.”

He grinned and clapped his hands. “And thus ends today’s lesson.” He stood. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have some things to take care of.” He tugged Kir to his feet. “C’mon, blondie, you can give me a hand.” He leaned down and kissed Jordan. “Keep an eye on Jamie while she practices, okay?”

“Got it.”

“Don’t step in the way of anything that flies out of her hands.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Oh, and if beams shoot out of her eyes—”

“Duck behind the couch. Got it already.”

Jamie put her hands on her hips and glared at the two men walking toward the den. “Is she here to watch or be target practice?”

Her only answer was Logan’s amused snort.

Chapter Eight

Travis stared at the devastation of his house. He shook his head as he squished over soaked carpet.

The window panes had cracked, letting him know how Grimm had burst the pipes. He’d thrown so much frost into the room that the glass had broken under the pressure.

Fucking Rina. All of Travis’s wards were down, unable to hold up to the combined magical might of the Jotun and the Aesir. He’d learned from Val that Grimm had shared blood with the frost giant female and gained her abilities over ice magic. Seeing the proof of it in his home was devastating. He’d loved this house, dreamed of some day bringing Jamie here to live in peace.

It was just one more thing the Old Man would pay for.

Morgan, wearing rain boots, followed behind him, his disgust plain to see. “Told you it was bad.” Jeff and Magnus could be heard sliding on the once pristine tile floor of his kitchen. The natural slate had cost him a bundle too.

Travis nodded, wondering if there was anything left in the house worth salvaging.

“Knock knock.”

Travis turned to find a woman standing in the doorway. She had long dark hair pulled back in a ponytail. Bright hazel eyes watched them with thinly veiled suspicion.

Travis held up his hand. “It’s my house.”

She smiled, an expression full of cynical amusement. “Travis Yardley-Rudiger?”

“Yes?”

She held up a badge. “Detective Antonia Mancinelli, Homicide. I have a warrant to search these premises.”

He frowned. “A warrant?”

“Yes, sir.” She stepped gingerly into the house, making a face as her sensible shoes squished on the soaking carpet. “Yeah. You need to step outside, both of you, and let my people do their job.” She shook her head as the techs pushed their way into the house. “What the hell happened in here?”

“Burst pipe.” He ignored her dubious look and focused on why she was there. “Can I ask what this is in relation to?” Although he had a pretty good idea.

“The murder of Oliver Grimm.”

Travis almost growled, but the detective was watching him closely. “Murder? I thought he simply left.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Magnus and Jeff walk cautiously into the room, their eyes glued to the detective in the doorway.