Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
“Then why won’t you fight with your people?”
His pulls away. “Because they’re not. I left England and everyone magical at eighteen. All this wand waving and the like, it isn’t normal.”
“Normal? You’ve already transitioned. You can’t change that. What magickind can do is extraordinary…amazing. Humans would kill to have your abilities. A gift like yours can help take down a madman. And you want to walk away from it?”
He crosses his arms over his chest, mouth thin with anger. “Why don’t you want to follow your parents and join the academic crowd?”
I hesitate. “I just didn’t. It didn’t fit me.”
“Precisely!” Caden throws his hands wide.
If anyone tried to force me into that tediously dull, pretentious academic scene, they’d have to drag me kicking and screaming. I don’t fit there. Square peg, round hole. But this isn’t about a career. This is his heritage! Still, I sense Caden’s reticence is deep.
My gut tells me he isn’t being completely honest. Given that, how can he possibly claim I’m important? He feels responsible for me, but his unwillingness to truly share himself screams that he doesn’t love me.
It hurts.
“They need you,” I say quietly.
He shakes his head. “They need someone passionate about their cause. That isn’t me.”
“What’s the real reason?” I should bloody stop trying to make him share himself, but I keep hoping.
Caden recoils. “I don’t want to discuss it.”
He doesn’t trust me, not with his story, not with his secrets. Not with his heart. And he doesn’t care for me enough to try. I have no one to blame but myself. Bloody stupid impulse to write in the book.
“I can’t make you. It’s simply… Bram and the others won’t survive without able wizards on their side.”
Caden closes his eyes, and I almost regret my words. Almost. But I can’t skirt the truth. Even if he doesn’t want to hear it, he belongs here. He’s a wizard. By virtue of his brother’s illness and his sister-in-law’s rape, he has a stake in this fight. Heck, I barely know Anka and I’ve never seen Lucan, but my heart goes out to them. And for the people who have tried to help Aquarius, I resolve to help however I can.
Caden shrugs his shoulders uncomfortably. “More Tynans will appear at Bram’s door as word inevitably spreads.”
“Why doesn’t everyone know about Mathias and the Doomsday Brethren?” I anchor a hand on my hip. “I gather Bram wants to keep the Doomsday Brethren hush-hush from the Council so he can operate without their interference, but Tynan has only heard whispers of Mathias’s return. While people are being attacked. What’s going on?”
Caden pinches the bridge of his nose. “Bram sits on the magical Council that governs magickind. There are seven councilmen in total. Tynan O’Shea’s grandfather is among them, as is my uncle. Bram has pushed them to advise magickind about Mathias’s return, but the others are controlling bastards who prefer to pretend problems don’t exist. Bram wants a transcast. It’s a television-like broadcast using magical mirrors. They were established for just such emergencies.”
“And the Council has refused?” My jaw drops.
“They don’t see this as an emergency. Some have even written off the ‘problem’ as pranksters stirring up trouble for the sport of scaring people.”
“That’s insane! If they only saw Anka’s condition… The poor woman could barely speak coherently when I first met her. And this Auropha; Mathias killed her. That’s hardly a prank!”
“Despite the fact Auropha MacKinnett’s father sat on the Council and the girl was murdered by Mathias, the curmudgeons won’t budge. They’re a traditional lot, according to Bram. I think they’re afraid.”
“Magickind should know. This is censorship! And very dangerous to people caught unaware. I want to talk to Bram.” And the first item on my agenda is the thing I excel at most. “Everyone must know about Mathias so they can protect themselves.”
He frowns. “Why?”
“I’ve never done a… What did you call it? Transcast. But I’m a reporter. In an emergency, I don’t have to be magical or entertaining, just informational.”
He leans in with a scowl. “You want to transcast to magickind?”
“It’s the only way I can help. I’ll never learn to fight or be able to wave a wand. But by God, I can keep people informed.”
Chapter
Forty-Six
Caden
Bloody hell, doesn’t Sydney realize the target she’ll paint on herself if she transcasts? All of magickind—Mathias included—will see her face. His victims never stand a chance, because they’re woefully uninformed and unprepared. But for daring to warn others, he would devise unspeakable tortures for Sydney. I admire her bravery, but…
“No. Absolutely not.”
“It’s not your choice. You’ll be returning to Dallas alone, remember?” She raises that sassy ginger brow, then brushes past me.
She’s headed for the back door, determined to plunge deeper into this magical quagmire. I’ve already failed Lucan and Anka. I won’t fail Sydney by letting her court death. Even if I can’t claim her as my mate, losing her would destroy me.