Taken by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #8)(36)



The air crackled and Ta’sradala reappeared in our midst. My food nearly went down the wrong pipe, and from the sudden silence, I knew everyone else was equally uneasy.

“Who says you are leaving at all?” she demanded. Ennartha paled, Deryna put a hand over her eyes, and Drawe cowered back in his chair. “Your bride has not passed my test. She has cheated at all of the challenges.”

“You keep saying that, and Magorah help me, I’ll figure out a way to rip that icy black heart out of your chest,” I growled. “As I’ve said before, you never laid down any ground rules, so there’s no way that I was cheating. You’re just making shit up as you go along.”

“Is that true?” Iannis asked pointedly. “You told Sunaya she had to pass some test and did not tell her the rules?”

“I assumed she knew them,” Ta’sradala said haughtily. “Clearly I gave her too much credit.”

“Mother,” Ennartha said, her tone cajoling. “It is unlikely an ignorant mortal would automatically know your rules. Nobody here can support your claim that Sunaya cheated.”

“I agree,” Iannis said. “How many challenges has she completed?”

“Three,” Deryna said before Ta’sradala could answer. “And they were all dangerous enough.”

“Surely Sunaya and Iannis have proven their tenacity if nothing else,” Ennartha said. “Perhaps we should let them return home and marry. Foolish or not, it is obvious that they are not going to be dissuaded from their course no matter what you say or do, Mother.”

“I agree,” Deryna said. “Let them be happy.”

Ta’sradala looked like she wanted to object, but before she could, a male Tua appeared by her shoulder in a flash of light. Drawe screamed and hid under the table, which I couldn’t blame him for—the Tua was huge, twelve feet of pure, masculine power. His silvery-blond head scraped the top of the ceiling, and that was with him shrinking down his form. He narrowed golden eyes on Ta’sradala, who stood up so quickly I barely registered the motion.

“Brother,” she said in a deeply respectful voice, bowing. I stared—I couldn’t believe that Ta’sradala would be subservient to anyone, but here she was, bowing before someone else! Ennartha was on her feet and bowing as well, and if not for the fact that Iannis and Deryna remained rooted in their chairs, I might have done the same.

“That is my Great Uncle R’gaolar,” Iannis said in a shocked voice. “The head of my grandmother’s clan in the Tua realm.”

“Really?” I craned my neck, looking up at him with interest. “You’ve met him when you visited the Tua realm, I’m guessing?”

“No, he came to Recca once before, when I was very small. But that was an age ago.”

“Sister,” R’gaolar said, his voice cold. “I come seeking my youngest.”

“Broghan?” Ta’sradala answered, sounding confused. “I have not seen him.”

Cold horror spilled through me as I stared at the irate-looking Tua. Broghan was his son? By Magorah, I was in so much trouble. Anxiously, I called for the shape-shifter in mindspeak again, but he didn’t answer. What the hell had happened to him? Was I going to be held accountable for his disappearance?

“He was visiting with two of his cousins when he vanished,” R’gaolar said. “Right around the same time that this frail mortal of yours”—he flicked a hand at me—“came to visit. Perhaps you know where he is?” he asked, looking pointedly at me.

“I am sorry that he is missing,” Ta’sradala said, and I could have sworn I heard a hint of fear in her voice. “But I truly have nothing to do with this.”

“Forgive me if I find that hard to believe,” R’gaolar said. “It is too much of a coincidence that you sent a mortal into our realm, unsanctioned, and then my son vanishes right after. I have spoken with Nalan and Alara, and they confirmed that she visited them. The Creator only knows how this outsider may have corrupted their young minds with her strange notions and vices.”

I wanted to protest that insult but decided to keep my mouth shut—the last thing I needed was to get myself into more trouble. I hoped that Nalan and Alara weren’t getting any flak for helping me out—did R’gaolar even know how much knowledge they’d given me? I assumed neither he nor Ta’sradala would be happy if they knew I now had the power to travel between the two realms. Not that I would risk it again without Broghan to help out.

“Is this how you repay our hospitality,” R’gaolar hissed, turning the might of his piercing regard fully toward me now. “By stealing my son?”

My stomach clenched with fear, and I forced myself to relax. “I didn’t steal him,” I said, as calmly as I could. “It’s not like I could control a Tua. He hitched a ride with me when I came back to Recca, and I didn’t realize it until after we arrived. He said he wanted to see our world for himself, and he was with me on my last…adventure,” I said, infusing that last word with sarcasm. “But he didn’t come back with me when Ta’sradala yanked me back here, so I don’t know where he went.”

“I see,” R’gaolar said softly. The look in his eyes told me that there would be hell to pay if Broghan was harmed in any way, and I started to sweat a little. The Tua made a complicated gesture and spoke what I recognized to be some kind of searching spell, thanks to my recent mastery of the Tua language. There was a loud POP, and Broghan came tumbling out of my sleeve in baby dragon form, landing in a heap on my half-eaten plate of food. The little scamp had been here all along? Hiding from Ta’sradala, I presumed, who had to be his aunt.

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