wobbles; balance is hard to maintain. Ride it with more speed, and you will steer with ease.”
Toa could learn a thing or two from Dominicous’s stare.
“I see. I am not in the habit of sitting, for an hour, in extremely uncomfortable situations.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
He grunted. Apparently an apology had been his agenda. After the explanation, obviously.
He turned to Stefan. “We’ll need another room. I’d like to wrap this up and make plans for the next steps.”
“There’s more?” I asked in horror.
“Not for you. Please wait in your chambers until you are called. You are excused.”
After glancing toward Stefan and seeing I wasn’t in any danger, I picked apart my protective shield and went on my way. Charles did not follow.
*****
“Toa, results please,” Dominicous asked with a straight back, sitting in a leather chair.
They’d moved to a room in the back of the m ansion and warded the room against eavesdroppers. They each sat in separate chairs, trying to mask the importance of these findings, both for Stefan, and for their overall cause. Finding someone with a black power level could open doors they hadn’t even contemplated.
Stefan had another reason to be nervous, as well. They would need to discuss his mate, and his future. Most importantly, what would happen if those two things couldn’t both be Sasha while in his leadership role.
“Her power is beyond my own,” Toa said easily. “It doesn’t work like mine, either—like ours. She is like a conductor for magic. Like a hub. She doesn’t have to reach for it and pull it into herself, she merely has to identify which elements to let in, and then try to stop the flow once she has begun to draw. Her spells will continue building magic until realized, always trying to return back to her. As you saw, her spells, once laid, take longer to unravel. And like you saw, that is not always a good thing.”
“Then…she is definitely black,” Dominicous clarified.
Stefan held his breath.
“Without a doubt, she is a myth reincarnate. And completely, completely ignorant as to the ways magic works. All the training she’s received thus far is useless. She blows things up because she is the polar opposite to my—our people’s—power. She tries to work a spell inverted, and it combusts.”
Stefan let his breath out in a slow exhale. He couldn’t say he wasn’t relieved. “Odd for a human to wield black, though.”
“Not at all,” Toa waved him away like a pauper at a king’s table. “She is the polar opposite because she is human. You are familiar with the yin-yang sign. That was originally created as a representation of the union of the different sides of magic. White and black magic working together is the strongest cohesive bond in the world. White magic is also a scale. As is black. She is at the higher end of the scale; I am at the middle of white. The black power has always been wielded by a human, the white by us. That is why it is so intensely rare. Not rare to possess—not any more than white—but rare to find. One in a million. Humans have power, but so rarely seen because so few believe. And also because we…have our own prejudices.
“At the top of the scale, and acting as a hub, which is rare in itself—not because she is human, but in general—it is like trying to swim in the ocean in the middle of a hurricane. Magic is wild, and forcing into her like it does, makes the wielder constantly fight for control—even in someone experienced. Mistakes can easily be fatal. Because of this—that is speculation—she has developed some sort of rough control directly tied to survival. Living untrained for so long, she has learned to coexist. Now, however, seeing how she is supposed to work with it, the danger becomes more grave. Her ability to take in magic more extreme.”
“You see, Toa, she was fated to live,” Dominicous said in a smug sort of way.
Stefan barely had time to wonder at that comment
Toa could learn a thing or two from Dominicous’s stare.
“I see. I am not in the habit of sitting, for an hour, in extremely uncomfortable situations.”
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
He grunted. Apparently an apology had been his agenda. After the explanation, obviously.
He turned to Stefan. “We’ll need another room. I’d like to wrap this up and make plans for the next steps.”
“There’s more?” I asked in horror.
“Not for you. Please wait in your chambers until you are called. You are excused.”
After glancing toward Stefan and seeing I wasn’t in any danger, I picked apart my protective shield and went on my way. Charles did not follow.
*****
“Toa, results please,” Dominicous asked with a straight back, sitting in a leather chair.
They’d moved to a room in the back of the m ansion and warded the room against eavesdroppers. They each sat in separate chairs, trying to mask the importance of these findings, both for Stefan, and for their overall cause. Finding someone with a black power level could open doors they hadn’t even contemplated.
Stefan had another reason to be nervous, as well. They would need to discuss his mate, and his future. Most importantly, what would happen if those two things couldn’t both be Sasha while in his leadership role.
“Her power is beyond my own,” Toa said easily. “It doesn’t work like mine, either—like ours. She is like a conductor for magic. Like a hub. She doesn’t have to reach for it and pull it into herself, she merely has to identify which elements to let in, and then try to stop the flow once she has begun to draw. Her spells will continue building magic until realized, always trying to return back to her. As you saw, her spells, once laid, take longer to unravel. And like you saw, that is not always a good thing.”
“Then…she is definitely black,” Dominicous clarified.
Stefan held his breath.
“Without a doubt, she is a myth reincarnate. And completely, completely ignorant as to the ways magic works. All the training she’s received thus far is useless. She blows things up because she is the polar opposite to my—our people’s—power. She tries to work a spell inverted, and it combusts.”
Stefan let his breath out in a slow exhale. He couldn’t say he wasn’t relieved. “Odd for a human to wield black, though.”
“Not at all,” Toa waved him away like a pauper at a king’s table. “She is the polar opposite because she is human. You are familiar with the yin-yang sign. That was originally created as a representation of the union of the different sides of magic. White and black magic working together is the strongest cohesive bond in the world. White magic is also a scale. As is black. She is at the higher end of the scale; I am at the middle of white. The black power has always been wielded by a human, the white by us. That is why it is so intensely rare. Not rare to possess—not any more than white—but rare to find. One in a million. Humans have power, but so rarely seen because so few believe. And also because we…have our own prejudices.
“At the top of the scale, and acting as a hub, which is rare in itself—not because she is human, but in general—it is like trying to swim in the ocean in the middle of a hurricane. Magic is wild, and forcing into her like it does, makes the wielder constantly fight for control—even in someone experienced. Mistakes can easily be fatal. Because of this—that is speculation—she has developed some sort of rough control directly tied to survival. Living untrained for so long, she has learned to coexist. Now, however, seeing how she is supposed to work with it, the danger becomes more grave. Her ability to take in magic more extreme.”
“You see, Toa, she was fated to live,” Dominicous said in a smug sort of way.
Stefan barely had time to wonder at that comment
Similar Books
