Page 45 of Serpent and Shadow

The Green Flame

“Relax,” the deep voice commanded. “Stop looking for him, Shadow.”

I couldn’t relax.

Anyway, I wasn’t sure how to tell him that if I “relaxed,” my magic would only instinctively do exactly what he’d just demanded I stop doing.

I took a deep breath, and exhaled it out slowly, trying despite what I knew. I kept my eyes closed where I sat in his office’s high-backed chair, mostly so I wouldn’t have to see those eerie, ghost-like irises staring back at me.

My magic did what it always did, whenever I relaxed my control.

“Stop looking for him,” the voice growled.

The older mage’s magic cut through my concentration, forcing me to pay attention to it, even though I didn’t want to.

I heard annoyance mixed with derision in his deep voice.

“…I’ve told you not to seek him out when we are doing this,” the older sorcerer bit out. “You are only warning him of our presence here, which will definitely taint whatever results we get from the attempt. If he knows I am using you to discern information about his whereabouts or his father’s plans, the heir will have only a few options. He can shut his mind down altogether, denying us access… or, he can let us in, only to feed us misinformation… or he can let us in, and allow us access to the truth.”

He paused deliberately.

“Which of these scenarios do you suppose is most likely?” he asked sourly. “Which, do you suppose, would be the most healthy for him? And how would you expect us to know the difference, witch, if he hides his presence and intentions from us both?”

His voice grew even more scathing.

“And what do you suppose his father will do, in any one of those scenarios? Or were you under the impression Malefic wouldn’t check his son’s mind rigorously, knowing of the connection between the two of you? Have you actually deluded yourself to the extent that you believe Malefic would somehow be unaware of that connection by now? Or is that your goal, Mrs. Bones?” he asked scathingly. “Perhaps you are feeling resentful of this marriage thrust upon you so young, and without your conscious consent? Perhaps you blame him for leaving you with the repercussions of it? I can think of less sadistic ways to become a widow…”

He paused, likely so I could read the implications of his words.

I stared at him in disbelief.

As much as he talked down to me, I understood him perfectly.

I certainly didn’t need him to draw me a map.

“Are you asking if my goal is to get Bones tortured?” I spat. “Really? That’s your theory?” At his stone-faced silence, I glared up at him. “Unlike you, the King, the Ethnarch, and whoever else, I don’t actually believe he’s working for his father.”

Blackstone ignored most of what I asked.

He honed instead on the question everyone seemed to be asking.

“I think it’s a very strong possibility he is working for his father, yes.” Contempt dripped from Blackstone’s words. His pale fingers pulled his long hair back into a half-ponytail, and attached a silver clip to keep it back. He folded his arms. “But then, I only have twenty-five years of watching the dynamics between the two of them, and his father’s methods of motivating Caelum to do his bidding. What would I know?”

I bit my tongue harder, fighting not to snap at him for real.

I honestly couldn’t tell if he was going out of his way to annoy me so it was easier to get past my mental shields, or if he really thought I was as shit at blocking as he pretended.

“Both,” the mage rumbled in annoyance. “Focus on your breath. Not on me. Not on your dark magician husband. If we’re lucky, he hasn’t discerned what we’re doing already.” His words inched colder. “Which means the results we get might even be instructive, and not merely provide his father with yet another excuse for ‘disciplining’ him.”

I felt my shoulders tense, rising higher towards my ears.

I exhaled my annoyance a beat later, but wasn’t able to get that sicker feeling out of my mouth. Even apart from what was likely to happen to Bones if we did this, did I really want Blackstone, of all people, poking around in my mind?

Maybe Luc was right.

Maybe I was trying to hard to have it both ways.

It didn’t help that Blackstone had never hid his dislike of me. Something about Bones and I being married seemed to have ratcheted that dislike up a noticeable extent.