But obviously, all hadn’t gone as planned.
“Where is she?” Reykon asked, propping himself up on his elbows. His throat was scratchy and dry, and he sounded like he’d had a big bowl of sandpaper cereal for breakfast.
Willow walked gracefully over to him and handed him a cup of tea. “She and Dag are getting lunch.”
“They’re looking for-”
“Dag is concealing her. Don’t worry.” Willow sipped at her tea, and Reykon was reminded of the naturalist aura that puts people at ease, giving naturalist casters a very maternal, caregiving persona.
Doctors, healers, therapists. The shoulders to cry on of the supernatural world.
Reykon sat all the way up and sipped his tea, raising the cup slightly in a gesture of thanks.
“You’re feeling better?” she asked him.
He nodded. “You’re a miracle worker.”
Willow smiled.
“What happened?” Reykon asked, rubbing his neck. “The last thing I remember is the fight, and then… well, blood loss.”
“Robin drove you all the way here. She’s a very strong young woman.”
“Yes,” he said, nodding. Just talking about her was making the hole, that longing in his chest, ache even more for her return.
“Reykon,” Willow said, her green eyes blazing. “There is something about the girl.”
His brow crunched together. “Yes.”
“No – you misunderstand me. There is something magical about the girl.”
“She’s Kenzo Draxos’s daughter. Weakblood though, but Lucidia’s blood runs through her veins.”
“She’s not a weakblood.”
“What do you mean?” Reykon asked.
“Weakbloods don’t have any trace of magic. The elemental spell work doesn’t have a strong enough matter to bond to. Robin is not a weakblood. There are footprints of elemental binding all over her; Dag and I both can feel it rolling off of her in waves.”
“So, what is she, then?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a gentle shrug. “I’ve never encountered anything like it before.”
“You know where I’m taking her?” he asked.
“Yes.” Her eyes flared again.
“I don’t know why Magnus wants her so badly, but he does. And I’ve noticed something strange.”
“What?”
“All the creatures that interact with her…” Reykon faltered. “They become attached.”
“How so?”
“Enamored. Well, I don’t know if that’s the right word. But Kenzo ran from Darian to conceal Robin, and Lucidia broke the law to protect her. Then, Magnus learned of her existence, and-”
“How?”
“What?” Reykon asked, downing the rest of his tea in one swig.
“How did Magnus find out about her, if Lucidia hid her?”
Reykon shrugged. “I don’t know. He never told me.”
“Curious.”
“Yes.”
“You said every creature?” Willow clarified after a moment’s thought.
Reykon nodded. “Cain, from the New Mexico house, he nearly drained her in front of me. He seemed to be possessed.”
“And what about you?”
He looked into her piercing eyes and knew that he couldn’t conceal the truth. “Yes, me too.”
“She feels the same about you, you know.”
He scowled and shook his head.
Willow gave him a gentle smile. “Yes.”
A burst of anger welled up inside of him. “No. I have to take her to Magnus,” he said firmly. “I was sent to betray her.”
“But you don’t have to.”
“Yes, I do,” Reykon said, pushing a hand through his hair.
“Lucidia didn’t.”
“Yeah, and look what’s happening to her,” he snapped. “It’s the world we live in!”
“Then why did you free Dag and I from that world?” she said softly. “If it’s just the way things are, why bother hiding us?”
“You’re different. You were innocents.”
She put a hand on his cheek, and it was soft, comforting. “You were an innocent at one point, too.”
“Yeah, when I was three. But being a child soldier really takes that out of you, you know?” he quipped.
She glanced at her hands. “We offered Robin a chance to escape, to run away.”
He stiffened.
Willow held a hand up. “Relax. Do you want to know what she said?”
He gave her a questioning look.
“She refused. Because of what Magnus would do to you for your failure.”
Reykon’s eyebrows crunched together. “She should have taken it,” he muttered.
“She loves you.”
“She shouldn’t!” he growled.
Willow’s voice was quiet. “Why not?”
“I don’t get to love,” he hissed. “I’m a strongblood. We do not have that privilege.”
“What if you could?”
“I can’t.”
“But what if you could?” she pressed.
Reykon let out a long breath. “How?”
“Let us hide you. Both you and Robin, we will conceal you. A favor, repaid.” She let her eyes rest on his, holding him there by just her gaze.
After a few moments, Reykon was the first to break away. “I cannot.”
Willow sighed and stood abruptly, her chair scraping slightly against the tile. “If you’re certain, then we will help you deliver her safely. This is your choice?”
His eyes widened in gratitude. “Willow... I don’t know what to say.”
“Thank you, maybe?”
He nodded deeply. “Thank you.”
She busied herself in the kitchen, refilling their mugs. She brought it back over, and spoke to him in a strong, firm voice. “But don’t give her hope where hope isn’t due.”
“What?” he asked with a puzzled look.
“She cares for you deeply, and you intend to deliver her to her slaver.”
“It’s a little more complicated than that. She won’t be safe anywhere else, with Darian’s-”
“She’ll be even less safe with Magnus. If you need to follow your orders, then do, but don’t let her become attached unless you intend on staying with her.”
Reykon let his eyes fall to the ground in front of them. “I can’t.”
“You don’t want to?”
“I do. But…” he trailed off and wrapped his hands around the warm drink.
Willow glanced to the door, quirking her head to the side, listening to someone. Her words were a low murmur. “Then you, Reykon Thraxos, are the only true slave here.”
A moment later, the lock clicked open, and Robin and Dag walked in, holding Subway bags and drinks.
He caught a glimpse of her, the brilliant sun creating a halo of light behind her, the blond hair turning into a haze of fire, and her bright, piercing blue eyes, clear even in the shadowed apartment. When she saw that he was awake, her gaze widened, and a smile broke out across her face.
Reykon felt a strong wrench inside of his chest.
Lucidia
The
