“Your mother—”
“I’m sure she isn’t being very patient.”
He tried to keep his expression neutral. “I have to update her on your progress hourly. And she isn’t…happy with me at the moment.”
“Why?”
“Actually, she’s annoyed at Mara and Leif, too. All because we let you run off to Fulgor.”
At that time, no one would have stopped me. “But you didn’t—”
“Oh, and by the way,” Kade added as if just remembering, “we have to spend half of my next off-season with your parents and half with mine.”
I gave him a pained look.
“Not my fault. I had to promise my mother I’d be back when I left to join you in Fulgor. Imagine my surprise when you weren’t there.”
“Sorry. You should have sent me a message.”
“And be told to stay away?”
A valid point. And I didn’t have to be told why my mother wished me home.
A touch on my forehead revived me. Zitora cupped my face in her hands and warmth invaded my body.
“You look much better,” she said. “You should be out of here and causing trouble in no time.” A tired amusement lit her eyes.
“Not anymore. No magic left, so no more trouble.”
She sobered. “True. You can’t access the power source. Your glass magic is gone.” She covered my hand with hers. “Does that upset you?”
“No. I’m relieved. Now I’m just a regular nobody. No longer a problem. No longer a danger. No longer useful to Sitia.”
Zitora squeezed. “I won’t agree to any of those statements. You will never be a ‘regular nobody.’ Your deeds for Sitia have extended beyond the regular and into the extraordinary.”
I opened my mouth, but she shushed me.
“You may speak when I’m done,” she said in a stern voice.
“Yes, sir.” I pressed my lips together.
“Even when the entire Council, all your peers and I didn’t believe you about Devlen, you persisted—an admirable quality. And you will always have people concerned about you. You haven’t seen everyone who has gathered in this small town, waiting for good news.”
“Of course, my family—”
“Hush! I’m not done. Although I didn’t know you were related to two soldiers from Fulgor. They risked a court-martial to be here. Are Nic and Eve distant cousins?” She paused to drive the point home. “I’ll address the ‘no longer a danger’ and ‘not useful’ at the same time. Because you could be both.” Zitora held my gaze, making sure I paid attention. “You could be a danger to all magicians in Sitia and you could be very useful. The question is, will you?”
“Will I what?”
“When you siphoned the magic in the room, you grabbed it all. Yelena hasn’t been healing you.”
I sat up horrified. “I stole your magic too!” Kill me now!
“No. Not at all. You didn’t touch me,” she hurried to assure me.
I collapsed on my pillows with relief.
“Sorry. I’m trying to tell you gently and not doing a good job of it.”
I gasped dramatically. “You mean you aren’t perfect!”
“Far from it.” She sat on the chair by my bed and stared at her hands. “You’re not the only one who makes mistakes.” She rubbed her stomach.
We were quiet for a moment.
“Why hasn’t Yelena been healing me?” I asked.
“She can’t. Leif earns the credit with keeping you alive. All those tonics he forced down your throat sustained you.”
“But Kade said—”
“Kade doesn’t know. No one except Leif and Yelena knows. We didn’t want to tell Leif, but he is way too smart for his own good and he guessed.”
At this point I wanted to shake her. “Know what!”
“You’re now immune to magic.”
I blinked. My mouth opened. Questions lodged in my throat. “How…” The word squeaked out. No others followed as I recalled a distant memory and answered my own question.
The last bit of magic I had channeled had been the null shield surrounding Zitora. It had come to me, but I must have collapsed before sending it through the orb.
“But I can’t access magic. I don’t know how to maintain it,” I said.
“According to Yelena, you don’t need to worry about maintaining your immunity. She wouldn’t explain why, but she said it’s a part of you like your soul. No effort required. However…”
I braced myself for horrible news.
“…you need to decide if you’re going to tell the Council. They will be upset and wary over the news, but your recent good deeds should go in your favor. As long as you don’t go rogue and turn into an assassin like Valek, the Council will have need of your immunity. Eventually, Kade and your magician friends will figure it out. Magic will no longer harm you, but it will no longer heal you, either.”
“What should I do?” I asked.
She looked up in surprise. “You want my advice?”
“Of course.”
“Don’t listen to me, Opal. I’ve messed up and ruined your life. I couldn’t even rescue you. You saved yourself.” She retuned her gaze to her lap. “Some Master Magician, I fell for Tama’s…Akako’s lies.”
“You weren’t the only one.”
She played with the fabric of her sleeve, bunching it and smoothing it over and over. Finally she looked at me. “I resigned my position.”
I sat up. “Why? Everyone was fooled—even Yelena.”
“You weren’t.”
I waved it off. “I had the unfortunate benefit of knowing Devlen before. If he hadn’t used those pressure points when disguised as Ulrick, I would have agreed.”
“Doesn’t matter. You were my student. I let my anger overrule logic by not talking to you.”
“I knew you were angry!”
A wry smile touched her lips. “You were right. Learning about your siphoning powers through Tama…Akako Moon upset me. Plus, your accusations against Ulrick sounded crazy. The Council turned to me to sort it out. So when Akako informed me of a secret mission, I knew I had lost control of the situation. To cover, I supported her claims. Her explanation made perfect sense.” She slumped in the chair.
“I was more than relieved when Yelena confirmed the impossibility of switching souls by blood magic. Then you visited…” She threw her hands up as if surrendering. “Look what happened to you.” Her arms dropped into her lap. “Everything I did was wrong. If I had listened to my heart, you would still have your glass magic. My actions harmed Sitia, not helped.”
“No. You can’t take all the blame.”
“Too late. I assumed the responsibility and resigned.” She pushed her chin out in stubborn determination.
“You’re taking the easy way out by running away.”
“I am not.”
“Lying to yourself is easy, too. I know. It’s much harder to stay and deal with consequences. The Council and other Masters will make it difficult to regain their trust.”
“The hardest part was confessing my lack of judgment. And admitting I have a blind spot. I can’t sense a null shield. I tried to hide it, but I started second-guessing myself, making matters worse.”
Did she know I had also kept information hidden?
“If you still want my advice on what you should do about your immunity, my suggestion would be to tell the Council. Thank fate, I won’t have to deal with the debate your news will trigger!” She smiled.
“What are you going to do then?” I asked.
“Oh.” She blinked as if I threw her off. She probably expected another round of arguments. “I’m going to search for my sister. Spending time with your family has made me determined to find her. Without any obligations, I can put forth my full effort.”
Zitora’s sister had taken her to the Keep over eleven years ago and then disappeared.
“Good luck,” I said.
As Kade nursed me back to health, I requested more visitors. My family filled the room with happy noises, stern lectures, embarrassing stories and lots of laughs. Mara glowed next to Leif and they announced their intentions to wed. I mouthed a silent thank-you to Mara as my mother’s intense focus turned to her.
Yelena stopped in before she left on another mission. “So nice to see color in your face again,” she said, grinning.