Brightly Woven(65)

I felt like throwing up more than anything. Leaning forward, I braced myself against one of the pillars.

“How did I do it?” I demanded. “What did I do to cause all those horrible things to happen?”

“It’s…complicated,” he said. “You have a kind of web of magic around you. You let off magic, rather than channel it for use. Before I was able to find a way to restrain it, your presence disrupted the natural balance of magic in the world, and when you were angry or upset, you let off more magic than usual, and it would set off a storm or a quake.”

I shook my head. “Is that the real reason why all of the jinxes have been killed in the past? Tell me, if it hadn’t been for your curse, if you hadn’t needed a cure, would you have killed me when you realized what I was?”

“Syd, no!” he said, taking my arm again. “How could you think that?”

“I don’t know what to think!” I said. “I trusted you! If you had told me this before, I would have known to control my emotions, but instead you kept it secret, so you could do your little tests with my blood—”

I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye, a flash of dark purple in the pillars behind us. North must have seen it, too, because it broke his concentration long enough for me to pull away.

“Is someone there?” North called angrily. His only reply was his own voice, echoing back to him. For a moment we stood there staring at each other, breathing heavily.

“And this bracelet?” I asked, feeling stronger now that I was away from him. “What does it really do?”

North took a deep breath. “It suppresses your magic so that other wizards aren’t able to detect it.”

“What else?” I demanded. His eyes fell to the ground, as if he couldn’t bear to look at me.

“I put a spell on the bracelet to tie you to me. You won’t be able to go more than a certain distance away from me.”

“So I’m your slave after all, then? Only now you’ve added the chain.”

“That’s not true!” he said sharply. “I put it on you so you couldn’t be carried away or hurt by another wizard!”

“Which makes me nothing more than your property,” I said. “Property you don’t want anyone else to use before you can.”

“Is that really your opinion of me? Do you think I’m some kind of monster, that that’s the only way I think about you?”

“No, but you think I’m a monster,” I said. “To be toyed with and manipulated. How dare you treat me this way? You’re no better than Dorwan!”

Even as the words left my mouth, I regretted them. North took a step back, his face hardening into fury.

“You’re cruel, Sydelle,” he said, his voice a whisper.

“I’m right,” I said. I held out my arm, the bracelet a symbol of his betrayal. “Take it off.”

“No,” he said. “Never.”

There was a part of me that realized he was right, that by taking it off I would be opening myself up to the possibility of hurting someone else when my magic got out of control, especially as upset as I was. Still, I felt as if the bracelet was on fire, and I couldn’t get it off my arm fast enough. That was all I wanted, to be rid of any signs that he had been in my life.

I pulled my hand back to slap him, but he caught my wrist and pushed me back against the closest pillar.

“Let me go!” I cried, landing a hard blow to his gut.

“Not until you’ve calmed down!” he said desperately. “Sydelle, please listen!”

A third voice joined ours.

“Let that girl go immediately!” Pompey stepped out from the shadows. His lush purple robe billowed out behind him as he strode toward us. “I said, release her!”

“This is none of your business, Pompey,” North snarled. “I didn’t realize you made rounds down in the undercroft.”

“And I didn’t realize you were both a vagrant and a brute,” Pompey said. “Release her now, North, or I’ll have the queen throw you in the dungeons for all eternity. Do you think you’ll ever see her then?”

North’s grip faltered, and I wrenched myself free.

“Come with me,” Pompey said softly. I walked stiffly over to him, taking his offered arm with an overwhelming sense of relief.

“Syd!” North choked out. “Don’t!” I felt his fingertips brush my back as Pompey and I turned to go.

“Stay where you are!” Pompey barked. “I’ll be back to deal with you later, but in the meantime you will not speak to or touch this girl again!” His narrow face looked down on me with concern.

“The queen sent me to find you,” he said by way of explanation. “You don’t have to worry—you’re safe now.”

I nodded, and Pompey led me out of the undercroft, ignoring North’s furious yells.

“Sydelle! SYDELLE!”

Pompey brought me not to my own room, but to the queen’s wing of the castle.

“Where are we going?” I asked. “Why—?”

“The queen has requested your presence this evening.”

“The queen?” I echoed. “Please, not now—”

“She wishes to converse with you. She’s expressed interest in hearing your story.”