Cast A Spell (Mages and Mates #4)

30. Thal

Thal

S ounds of the celebration rose from the garden below. I watched from the balcony at the family and friends who’d gathered for the event. Elana’s castle hadn’t seen such a party since Father moved the herd to Wyoming.

The most interesting aspect was how Elana interacted with Percy and Gio. They’d raised her from a tiny unicorn, and she clearly deferred to them like we treated her. I’d never seen her or the guardians this happy. Their joy spread to the others.

Mom and Dad had brought the entire family to celebrate the mate bonds between Lysandor and Owen, and me and Otto. There had been no party before we left because no one knew what to expect. Now the Eisenwald family welcomed two mages into the herd.

Not to be outdone, Chancellor Hollen and his wife, Miriam, had also come to celebrate their sons. They didn’t bring their entire herd, just their son Bart and his elven mate Cael. Bart was close with Owen, but he also wanted to debrief his brothers. I laughed when Cael pulled him away before he could interrogate them as the party started.

Miriam Hollen had sent word I didn’t have to call her mom if I didn’t mind sleeping in the shed when we visited Hollen Hall. From the stories Otto had told me, I expected to like her. Getting her message confirmed we’d get on well.

“I thought I saw you standing up here,” Lysandor said, as he joined me on the balcony. He had two glasses of champagne and handed me one with a smile. “Escaping the party held in your honor?”

Tapping my glass to his, I chuckled. “Don’t you mean in our honor?”

Lysandor leaned against the balustrade, his gaze sweeping over the festivities below. “Owen says I’m wrong, but I don’t feel like I did all that much. I just stood there while he did all the work.”

I’d struggled with this briefly, but after Otto and I had nearly become one being to destroy the Demon Sword, I truly understood how wrong I’d been. “The top of a tower is the most eye-catching, but it relies on the stones unseen to keep it aloft. He couldn’t have done what he did without you.”

“What? Why can’t he be a source of power? Anyone can do that. It didn’t need to be me.”

“If it was just energy, anyone could take your place.” I paused to find the right words. “You’re his mate, not a battery. Right before we forced the souls out of the sword, Otto and I finally understood what it meant to be one. In that moment, I was as much a part of the spell as Otto. He wouldn’t have succeeded without me, just as Owen can’t succeed without you. If you believe nothing else, accept that if anyone else had been with Owen in that cave, he would’ve died.”

We stood in companionable silence for a moment, watching the celebration unfold. I let Lysandor digest my words. Down in the garden, Owen stood with our father and Wilhelm Hollen. He looked so much more confident than he had when we'd first set out on this journey.

Lysandor raised his glass and tapped mine again. “Thank you, big bro. I knew you’d understand.”

My brother and I had bonded over the mission and a shared life-changing event. He'd grown so much in such a short time. Right now, he came to me for advice. In time, I expected we’d go to each other. “Any time, little bro.”

“Doofus,” he said with a laugh. Turning, he stopped and looked back. “Oh yeah. Elana said get your moody ass downstairs or she’ll come up here and drag you down by your mane.”

I wondered if Elana had really said that or had she suggested she’d do worse. The safest course was not to find out.

Following Lysandor, I stepped into the formal garden. This was Elana’s quiet place, but it had turned lively with all the friends and family.

Otto appeared out of a side nook and slid up beside me. His presence calmed the slight anxiety I'd been feeling.

“Sorry. I’d have come sooner, but I got hijacked.” He grabbed my hand and brought it to his lips. “What has you so unsettled?”

I leaned into him, savoring the contact. “The future. Your family and mine didn’t come here just to celebrate. Bart and Cael are the next Western Guardians. They came for a reason.”

“I wish I could say you’re wrong.” Otto squeezed my hand. “It was Gio who stopped me. He and Percy have called a meeting. We’re supposed to head to the castle’s war room.”

What could be so important they couldn’t wait a day or two? “Do we have time to get some food first?”

“Yes, but we’ll need to bring it with us,” Otto said.

The banquet tables were set up in the formal dining room. We had to navigate the throngs of well-wishers and revelers to get our food. Otto jokingly offered to make us invisible, but I pointed out floating plates would give us away.

We filled our plates with pasta, cheese, fruit, and slices of crusty bread. Otto eyed the stew but decided it would be too distracting to eat at the meeting. With food in hand, we made our way down to the lowest level of the castle.

The large table had more empty chairs than people sitting. Otto’s parents and mine sat at the far end of the room. Closest to the door, Percy and Gio sat with Elana. The two chairs to the right of Gio were empty and we set our plates there.

“No way!” We turned, and Owen was walking in with Bart. “That’s crazy.”

Owen looked like a slightly younger version of his older brother. Owen’s hair was more untamed, and he didn’t have the nerdy professor vibe Bart did, but they were clearly related.

“No, it’s magic,” Bart said. “I worked the spells into the crystal.”

“Amazing.” Owen was clearly enthralled with his brother. “How did you come up with this?”

“The better question is, what is it?” Lysandor asked, looking at Cael who was walking beside him.

“It’s a communications array on steroids,” Owen said.

“Not quite,” Bart said. “It will allow multiple people to join our conversation.”

“Yeah, but we’ll be able to see each other,” Owen said.

“Assuming it works like it’s supposed to,” Bart said.

The way Owen and Otto had spoken about Bart’s talent, I had no doubt the array would work. “How does it work?” I asked.

“Mages can communicate through their mage stones,” Bart said, walking around to the far side of the table. “But non-mages can’t be brought into the conversation. This will allow everyone in this room to hear the conversation.”

“Bart, you suck at this.” Owen sat opposite his brother. “The crystal will project the image of everyone else on the link into this room. They’ll be seated in the empty chairs.”

Owen sounded awestruck so I assumed it was an impressive bit of magic. I turned to Otto. “I take it, that’s hard to do?”

“Incredibly difficult,” Otto said. “I didn’t know it could be done.”

“It might not happen if my assistant doesn’t focus more on the spell and less on talking it up.” Bart stared at Owen, a half scowl on his face.

“Whatever.” Owen put his mage stone into a groove. “You know it works.”

The room watched as Bart put his tourmaline into the white gem. Purple light spread into the crystal from both sides. When all the white had changed color, it deepened and grew brighter.

I nearly jumped when the hazy image of two beings appeared in the seats to the left of Owen. The smaller one was clearly a brother to Owen, Bart, and Otto. The larger being was a dragon shifter.

“Leo!” Owen said. “It worked!”

“You had doubts?” Leo looked around like he was there with us. “Hey Mom, Dad. Good trip?”

Miriam gave the group the smile of a long suffering mother. “It was good, dear, but this isn’t the time to catch up. Nice to see you too, Gundhram. Is my son behaving?”

Chancellor Hollen couldn’t hold in a chuckle. The son couldn’t ask questions, but the mother had free rein.

“Mom, Wilhelm.” Gund nodded. “Of course he isn’t. Last week, he and Rhydder were playing mages and dragons and nearly set a forest fire.”

Leo stared a hole in Gund’s face, but before we could get more details, other seats filled. The newcomers came in rapid succession and Bart greeted them all.

The gryphon alpha Conall Arwan and his mate, Jannick Pederson, sat next to Anso Hollen and Leifr Cormac, the Eastern Guardians. On Bart’s right, the Western Guardians, Darius Hollen and Ignatius Eadweard seemed more interested in how well they could be seen and heard than introductions. Eldwin Hollen and Hro Brys, the current Northern Guardians, appeared next to Leo and Gund.

I thought that was everyone but four more beings appeared one after the other. The two older mages next to Chancellor Hollen were his parents. A petite woman with a stern expression sat next to Grandma Hollen. Given our intel, this could only be the Deputy Inquisitor General Avelina Hollen.

“You’ve outdone yourself, Bartholomew,” she said, drawing snickers from Bart’s siblings.

The last being to arrive was the ard ri of the elven people.

“Good. We're all here," Percy said. His mage stone pulsed and magic splashed over and around us. “The room is sealed.”

“What about the communications array?” Otto asked.

Percy looked to Bart who nodded. “As long as Owen and I have our stones affixed to the crystal, the conversation is protected from scrying and no one can intercept the signal without our knowing it.”

His answer satisfied everyone, and Percy smiled. “The reason for this unusual convocation is because the Southern Guardian pair has been chosen. We fear the attempt to destroy the Great Ward may happen sooner than we expected.”

The words hung in the air, heavy and ominous. I blinked, trying to process what I'd just heard. “But how? We destroyed the Demon Sword. Wasn’t that the last threat?”

“The Demon Sword was just one part of a larger threat," Gio explained, his violet eyes scanning our faces. “Someone orchestrated these attacks as part of a complex plan to destroy the Ward.”

“Is that really so surprising that these attempts are related?” Jannick asked.

I had the same question but didn’t want to insult my uncle.

“No and yes,” Bart said. “After the battle of Presque Isle, I met with Darius to discuss a suspicion. With the help of Anso and the ard ri, we discovered a disturbing connection,”

Over the next thirty minutes Bart, Darius, and the others laid out a chillingly devious plan centuries in the making. Each trial the new guardian pairs faced would’ve brought down the Great Ward by itself. Despite the odds one of them would succeed, whoever was behinds these attacks had a backup plan.

Every threat we defeated had released a massive amount of black magic into the world. Our enemy could use that energy as a power source for a new attack.

“Twelve centuries is a very long time for any spell to survive,” Darius said. “Katarina knew this, which is why she included the guardians to prolong its life. Even with our attention, the Great Ward has deteriorated over time. In its weakened state, a concentrated, focused attack could bring it down.”

“Wonderful,” Leo said, throwing his hands up. “Even though we won, we might lose anyway.”

“Don’t give up so quickly, young one,” Hro said. “While we have life, we will fight on.”

Hro’s response didn’t improve my mood. Otto and I nearly died destroying the Demon Sword only to learn we helped power our enemy’s true plans.

“Hro’s right,” Bart said. “Just because they have the power, doesn’t mean they’ll win. Remember, the reason we’ve all been chosen is to help replace the Great Ward with a new, stronger version. If we complete that task first, the new ward won’t fall to this spell.”

“How do you know the new ward will survive?” the ard ri asked.

“Because if their spell would’ve worked before today, they wouldn’t have waited this long,” Avelina said. “This only works because the Great Ward is nearing the end of its lifespan.”

The room was silent as we all considered what we’d heard. Otto’s emotions hadn’t changed much during the discussion. His inner calm made me question my concerns.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“Many things, dragi,” he said. “The specifics are interesting, but the attempt to bring down the Great Ward isn’t news. The world will always need protecting. We need to work with the others to make sure we get the new ward in place before the old one fails.”

I was struck once more by his strength and wisdom. If you didn’t know him well, you’d think Otto’s calm attitude was just a facade. It wasn’t. He didn’t blindly trust they’d find a solution, but he’d trained his mind not to panic in the face of adversity.

“I’m glad I was never opposite you at a negotiating table.”

“Me too.” He put his hand over mine. “I’d have lost every time because I could deny you nothing.”

I nearly pointed out that before we were mates that wouldn’t be true, but even then we’d have realized we were important to each other. “Then it would’ve ended up a draw, because everything I had would be yours.”

The meeting slowly ended with discussions of meeting again to consider what to do next. I found it curious no one mentioned the fifth guardian pair. According to what Otto had told me, they were essential to creating a new ward.

Otto made no effort to get up right away, which meant he waited for the others to leave. Lysandor gave me a look as he and Owen passed, but I just shrugged. I had no idea why we were staying.

When everyone except our parents had left, Otto rose and we made our way to their end of the table. Everyone was standing when we arrived.

“Mother. Father.” Otto nodded to his parents. Then he turned to mine. “Mother. Father.”

My mother was pleasantly surprised, but my father beamed with pride.

“Sons,” he said.

“I’ve been thinking,” Otto said, continuing. “We need to be proactive and not react to threats as they arise. To do that, we need to gather as much information as possible and share that intelligence quickly.”

“You have a suggestion?” Wilhelm asked.

Otto had said his father was a supportive and loving parent. He’d also described him as intelligent, shrewd, analytical, and an excellent diplomat. If Wilhelm didn’t know the details of what his son was about to propose, he knew there had been considerable thought given before Otto had approached him.

“I propose Thalion be made ambassador to the Dragon Kingdom.”

Judging from everyone’s expression, I was the only one surprised by the suggestion. That or everyone had a better poker face than me. It also felt odd he hadn’t discussed this with me first. “I’m not a diplomat.”

“Sorry, dragi,” Otto said without looking at me. “I should have told you first, but it came to me during the meeting. With our parents here, I wanted to discuss it before they leave.”

“I know you’re not, but it makes sense strategically,” Otto said out loud. “Apart from Leo and Gund living there, the ard ri has sent a permanent mission for the first time in five hundred years, and I’m the mage chancellor’s envoy. It would be natural for the unicorns to want to send someone to the dragon court if the mages and elves have a presence there now. If Conall sends a gryphon ambassador, all the major races will be in one place. The addition of new ambassadors could easily be explained as no one wants to miss out.

“And . . .” He hesitated for a moment. “It would mean we’d live together.”

I hadn’t really thought about where we’d live, but Otto obviously had. Living together was always going to happen, but the idea of being a diplomat was terrifying. I knew nothing about being an ambassador. Beings spent years, decades even, training before they achieved the rank of ambassador.

“It seems our son is going to make life interesting,” my dad said to the others. “For all of us.”

“I did warn you,” Wilhelm said, his smile as big as I’d ever seen.

Jokes aside, Otto had put my father on the spot. “Father and I can discuss this later.”

“There’s no need,” Father said. “I think it’s an excellent idea. Otto will be an excellent teacher, and I know he wouldn’t do anything detrimental to the herd.”

I looked between my parents and Otto. It was all very sudden. “I don't know what to say.”

“Take your time,” Father said. “Also, I’m not assigning you this task. Don’t agree if you don’t want the position”

They left, leaving the room to Otto and me. “Did you mention any part of this before the meeting?”

“No.” Otto shook his head. “But you know I didn’t.”

He gently poked me through our bond. I still had a lot to learn on how our connection worked. “You think I should accept?”

It was a stupid question. Otto wouldn’t have suggested it if he thought it was a bad fit for me.

“Thal, I believe the races have drifted too far apart over the centuries.” He led us out the doors and we closed them as we left. “We need to come together if we want to survive.”

I reached for his hand and laced our fingers together. He was right, but that wasn’t the only reason it made sense. Otto would give up his position to live with me on the ranch, but that would be a waste. He was a talented diplomat who would be invaluable smoothing over any situation. “Yes. I’ll do it,” I said, my voice full of conviction. “You’re my home now. We need to go where we can make the biggest difference.”

The smile that broke across Otto's face was like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. He pulled me into a tight embrace, and I could feel his joy and excitement through our bond.

“I love you so much, dragi.”

One benefit of a mate bond is I didn’t need to say, “Me too.” Otto already knew how I felt. We inched apart and I smirked. “So, Presque Isle?”

Otto laughed. “It's not exactly the open range you're used to, but I think you'll like it. The dragons are . . . an interesting bunch.”

I raised my eyebrow. Overbearing, self-important, and condescending were the words most beings used to describe the dragons. Not interesting. “If you say so.”

“Come on,” Otto said. “Let's join the others and enjoy this relative calm while we can."

“Or let’s go mingle for a polite amount of time and then go enjoy our room for the rest of the night.”

Otto didn’t need words to let me know how he felt about my suggestions. I led us back to the party, wondering how long “polite” was in minutes.