Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
This wasn’t how it ended. This couldn’t possibly be right.
“So, that’s it. You did it to get followers. You couldn’t earn anyone’s respect, so you stole our memories and made us your little devotees.”
“Not everyone,” he said with a one-shoulder shrug. “Just those with magic.”
“But you have magic. You’re a Druid. You have Sansara!”
“Power begets power,” he said. “The more power I had, the more likely I was going to be able to replant Sansara’s power, making my own power infinite.”
“But why would hiding our magic, taking our memories, give you anything?”
“It gave me everything,” he said with the calm assurance of someone who had been doing this so long that he was fully convinced of his righteousness. “Just like draining Sansara did.”
She stilled at the smug look on his face. The spell. The block. The reason she couldn’t see into that room.
A horrible thought hit her. She had been weaker with the spell over her, but she could still access her powers. As if the spell had only been a dampener. But with Jason standing before her in all his pomp and egoism, she had another thought.
He’d siphoned away the magic of Sansara, letting the tree crumble to ash, and then retained those powers for years, making him one of the most powerful people in the city. Then he’d rounded up a ton of children and made them his thieving guild. He could have had anyone at his side, but he’d chosen the most vulnerable.
A power source.
The spell hadn’t hid her magic at all. It was…a siphon.
“The spell wasn’t what you told my parents at all, was it?” she asked in horror. “The room in Tribeca…”
Shock flashed across Jason’s face for the span of a second. “You shouldn’t be able to remember Tribeca.”
“You took the memories, because you didn’t want anyone to be able to piece together what you’d actually done.” She looked up into his eyes. “You were siphoning my magic.”
He leaned against the cane and clapped twice, sardonically. “Took you long enough to figure out.”
“My magic flowed into you, continually replenishing you. When the spell broke, you knew, because you felt the loss.”
It was only after the spell was lifted that she’d had the full force of her magic. She’d thought that was because the spell was hiding her. But it was just that she was no longer continuously giving most of it away.
“I was powerful enough by then with Sansara regrown that it was but a blip,” he told her.
“And I wasn’t the only one.” She glanced at the two guards at his side. Likely other magic wielders who he was stealing from. “Just the strongest. Especially considering my absorption was a standby effect and could draw in powers for you at any time.”
“That was rather useful,” he agreed. “Though you were hardly the strongest.”
She didn’t believe him. She could read him too well.
She didn’t believe in good guys. People like Jason, they always won. That was how her world worked. But for once, just once, she wanted it to be the case that what was dead stayed dead. She came out ahead. This bastard didn’t win.
“All of this, just for your own power?” she asked him. “That can’t be your end game. You’ve built too much to keep it hidden and unappreciated. Do you want to take on the Druids?”
He scoffed. “As if I care about them. They lost long ago with their ‘goodness above all’ attitude.”
“That’s not exactly how they’ve appeared to me.”
“You’ve had interactions with Druids, have you?” he asked, leaning toward her with a smirk on his lips.
“Unfortunately.”
“That’s my girl,” he said with a laugh. “Always did have a problem with authority.”
She didn’t know how she had gotten to this point. Jason’s head games always gave her a headache. One moment degrading her, the next praising her. She was done playing with him.
She rattled against her chains, trying to use her magic.
Jason laughed. “Oh, I have missed you, Kierse. You always were entertaining. And I’ll let you in on a little secret.” She bared her teeth at him. “You owe me.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why?”
“Because I saved your life. The Fae Killer destroyed your kind, and if it wasn’t for me, you’d have died alongside them.”
“You didn’t save me. You destroyed my life,” she accused. “You’re spinning more bullshit tales to make yourself feel better about stealing the powers of children. You’re pathetic.”
Jason stalked toward her like a predator, but she saw him for what he really was. “You’re the one currently tied to a chair.”
“You’re just a man desperate for attention and caught up in your own grandiose fantasy. A narcissist who preyed on children,” she snarled at him. “You think this means you win? Because people worship you?”
“Better to be worshipped like a king than be another sheep in the herd,” he told her, leaning down until they were at eye level. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you? Who would follow you?”