Magic at the Gate by Devon Monk Page A

how to break a chain. I was good at destroying things. And if Zayvion and I were really Soul Complements, then I was the perfect person to bring his soul home.
    I reached for the katana over my shoulder.
    “Do not draw the sword,” Old Dad and New Dad said.
    “If you won’t break him free, I’ll do it.” Only problem? I couldn’t pull the sword. I was still under their Influence.
    “Without a vessel, you will kill him.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “You might free his soul here in death.” Old Dad’s voice rose. “But it will not survive returning to life. How many times must I say the same thing before you listen to me?”
    Stone growled. And I knew why.
    A man, easily eight feet tall, strode through the doorway and into the room with us. He carried himself with an air of command, and though he wore slacks and a button-down shirt rolled up at the sleeves, he really looked like the type who would be comfortable wearing a military uniform. His hair was short and black, his eyes iceberg blue in a face that might have been handsome if he hadn’t looked so worn and sad.
    The sadness surprised me. I had seen him only once before, when I was being tested as Zayvion’s Soul Complement. He had been furious then. It was Mikhail. The man who used to be the head of the Authority before he tampered too much with dark magic and broke the rules. Before he had been killed and Sedra had taken his place as the head of the Authority.
    Mikhail was the man who opened a gate in the middle of Zay’s and my test and tried to kill all the magic users gathered, Sedra included. If Cody Miller, the broken-minded savant who pulled magic through me and gave me the marks on my body, hadn’t jumped into the gate between life and death and sealed it, Mikhail and the Hungers at his command would have succeeded in killing us all.
    He was not a man to fuck around with.
    I pulled on the sword, but my muscles refused to respond. The dads had told me I couldn’t use it. Well, that wasn’t the only weapon I carried. I let go of the katana and drew the blood blade on my belt instead.
    Problem One: I could wield it only at close range.
    Problem Two: I could not let go of Stone’s head and breathe at the same time.
    Problem Three: I was in a very bad mood and felt the need to be killing something real quick if someone didn’t get the hell out of my way and kick open a gate to life that I could drag Zayvion through.
    “The blood blade will do you no good here,” Mikhail said. His voice vibrated like a low bell through the walls and floor.
    “Let’s try it and find out,” I said.
    Mikhail looked at my dad—Old Dad. “Is this your daughter, Daniel?”
    “Yes.”
    “Ah. As you said, she is rare. She carries magic in her body, and such magic in her soul. You have done well to bring her to me.”
    What? No. Hell, no.
    “Then our agreement stands?” Old Dad asked.
    “If she relinquishes her power to me.”
    They were in cahoots. All this time, my dad was on the bad guy’s side. It shouldn’t surprise me, but damn it, I thought there was a sliver of decency somewhere in his dark, calculating soul. I thought there was some good in him that made my newest stepmom, Violet, love him, grieve for him, have a baby for him.
    But Violet was wrong and I was right. My dad was a lying rat bastard.
    Old Dad walked forward and grasped Mikhail’s hand in his own. It wasn’t quite a handshake. It was more of a passing of something between them. Mikhail nodded. Old Dad stepped back.
    Even though I was in a room full of things that could eat me, kill me, betray me, Stone, who usually had his hackles up in every dangerous situation, had been silent. Maybe I wasn’t in as much danger as I thought I was.
    Or maybe I shouldn’t rely on a rock for my warning system.
    “What power?” I finally asked. Just holding the blade was making me tired.
    “Magic always demands a price.” Mikhail’s words thrummed through the room again. “This you know.”
    I raised an