Cast A Spell (Mages and Mates #4)

Epilogue Otto

F ollowing the path of lights the palace provided reminded me of the mad dash Leo and I had made a year earlier to save Princess Leita. It still amazed me the palace was sentient enough to do something so specific.

I ran my hand along the rough-hewn walls as Thal and I descended the winding stone staircase. I’d never been to the bowels of the castle and wondered how far down the dragons had built their home. Earth magic thrummed through the rocks and the passage glowed with a soft inner light.

Thal had been silent since we received the summons. He was curious yet anxious, a mirror of my own emotions. “Sorry, dragi. I shared with you the entirety of Leo’s message. He told me Bart’s communication had been cryptic and that we’d all find out together.”

“If this had come from Leo or Jan, I’d say we were being played,” Thal said. “Bart, however, is as serious a being as I’ve met. He wouldn’t prank us.”

Thal had seen my brothers many times in the few months we’d lived in the dragon palace. He got a good idea of the personalities of Leo and Jan, but his opinion of Bart was skewed. “You’ve only seen Bart during a crisis. In better times, he has an unpredictable romantic side. He loves to bake and entertain and plays bass fiddle in a folk band. Ask Cael if you don’t believe me.”

“I hope I get to see that side of him once this is over.”

We all wanted to get back to better times. Even Leo and Jan had curbed their more playful tendencies. “Just be prepared to run an extra ten miles when we visit. His baking skills are legendary.”

“Really?” Thal raised an eyebrow. “Gund hired some very talented bakers to accommodate Leo’s sweet tooth.”

I still smiled at how tightly Leo had Gund wrapped around his finger. “Bart’s better.”

We reached the bottom of the stairs, and we followed the blinking lights down a long corridor. Our journey ended in front of a massive oak door with intricately carved symbols of the four guardian pairs. I placed my hand on the image of a fiery mage stone carved in the center of the door. This represented Katarina and her phoenix mate. The fifth guardian’s token glowed faintly and was warm to my touch.

The door swung open silently and closed once we’d entered. Powerful magic protected the room. No one who wasn’t welcome would get inside easily.

Four others were in the room. Leo looked unusually serious sitting next to Gund. My brother joked about nearly everything, but there was obviously no humor in what we had to discuss.

Eldwin and Hro, the current Northern Guardians, stood off to the side in the large circular room. They were talking quietly, but nodded to us as we entered.

My brother and Gund stood and came to greet us. “Glad you could make it to the party,” Leo said, a hint of his normal personality peeking through. “I assume Bart didn’t tell you anything, either.”

Thal and I followed them around the enormous round stone table. I half expected to see the names of Arthur’s knights and a sign welcoming us to Camelot.

I shook my head as we sat down. “He hasn’t contacted me. All I know is what you told us.”

“Which is next to nothing,” Gund said. “Whatever it is, it must be serious. Uncle Hro is grumpier than usual.”

“I am never grumpy.” Hro huffed from across the room. “And if that nephew of Eldwin’s wants to call a meeting, he should give more notice and details.”

“He’s always grumpy and he’s worse than usual today,” Thal said.

Thankfully I had turned to face him when he started to speak or else the smile I couldn’t control would have given us away. After a moment to compose myself, I responded. “I agree, your highness.”

Over the next half hour, the others arrived. Bart and Cael entered, deep in conversation. They stopped talking to greet us, but Bart looked tired.

“How was your trip?” I asked.

“Very smooth,” Cael answered. “Rhydder was a most considerate host.”

I was only mildly surprised Gund sent his onetime lover to fetch Bart and Cael. Leo and Rhydder were good friends now, and they’d been to Bart’s place a few times in the last year.

Jan’s cheeks were red with wind burn when he and Conall arrived. The teasing began before the greetings, but Jan refused Bart’s help perfecting the protection spell.

When Anso and Leifr entered, they both shook their heads when they greeted Jan.

“Still being stubborn?” Anso asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That will never change,” Conall said good naturedly. “He’s almost got it perfected.”

“He said that the last six times,” Leifr said, as he and Anso found seats.

More than my eyebrows rose when Roderick arrived with Darius and Ignatius. I assumed the guardians had picked him up on the way, but Rod’s presence reinforced the importance of this meeting.

The last group to appear was another odd combination. Avie, Percy, and Gio each carried books into the meeting. I hadn’t heard from my sister in a few weeks, and it seemed she’d been in Transylvania with uncles Percy and Gio.

The door to the chamber closed and Bart’s stone emitted a soft light. A ripple of power washed over us and a new set of spells supplemented the room’s formidable defenses. My brother had always distrusted other people’s security.

Bart’s stone still glowed when he stood. Leo joined him and they activated the communications crystal in the center of the table. Seconds later, Dad and Grandpa Hollen’s shimmery forms took seats next to Avie and Rod.

“Now that we're all here, I’ll get right to it,” Bart said, his voice carrying easily in the hushed room. He took a deep breath and swept his gaze around the room. “We found the mage behind all the attacks on the Great Ward.”

A collective intake of breath filled the room. Some like Avie, Gio, and Percy must’ve known because they didn’t react.

“Who is it?” Leo asked. Granted, the mage tried to kill all the dragons, but everyone in the room had their reasons to be angry. “You should’ve told me before you called the meeting.”

“I told him not to tell anyone,” Wilhelm said. “For reasons that will soon be explained, we kept the information to a small group while we confirmed our suspicions.”

“Dean James Blackstone,” Bart said. His expression was unreadable.

The name hit me like a physical blow. Blackstone had been a respected figure at Utrecht for two-hundred-and-fifty years. He’d been a brilliant magical theorist and innovative spell crafter. Sure, we all knew he didn’t like Bart, but we thought it was jealousy.

“Are you certain?" I asked.

“Yes,” Avie said. “Bart came to me with his suspicions after the demon prince nearly killed him. I thought it was Anton Brador because the university grounds had been sealed. As head of security, he had the ability to lock us out, but Bart convinced me to look elsewhere.”

“I’ve had several instances to work closely with Anton and I trust him with my life,” Bart said. “That and the glyph on campus was too old for Anton to have created it.”

“He could be working for the person pulling the strings,” Jan said. “Just like someone else convinced Conall’s brother to kidnap the kids to allow them to create a glyph.”

“Or have Agatha try to start a war between mages and dragons,” Leo said.

“It wasn’t Brador,” Avie said. “We found nothing to connect him to any of the attacks.”

“Aeldrin, the elven smith, told me the mage in the Demon Sword was from the Negru family,” Bart said. “That’s Romanian for black.”

“Blackstone was the only other person who had the authority to lock down the campus when the Demon Prince was summoned,” Avie said. “He wasn’t on campus, however, so while I had suspicions, there wasn’t enough to even list him as a suspect.”

“After we destroyed the Demon Sword, Bart contacted Gio and me to ask if we could investigate the origin of the mage in the blade,” Percy said. “As many of you know, our library is extensive.”

“We discovered that the mage in the sword was Radu Negru,” Gio said. He opened one of the books he’d brought with him. “His family had raised demons for centuries and had been forced into hiding for their crimes. We thought we’d killed all members of that family, but we missed one. There was no recorded death for Ioan, who was about two years old when the war ended. It was presumed he’d died during a fight and was either burned, consumed by a demon, or buried without a grave.”

“The Blackstone family extends back to well before the Demon War,” Grandpa said. “They were a prominent family that fought on the front lines of numerous battles. Unfortunately, they lost many of their best mages in the war and were not considered a major family after the Great Ward was created.”

“After the war, the name John Blackstone, son of Henry Blackstone, appeared in the list of mages,” Wilhelm said. “The census was taken every ten years and John was six years old when his name first appeared. No birth was recorded in any ledger at the time. Given how chaotic those years were, no one would question why the birth hadn’t been listed anywhere else.”

“We managed to get a DNA sample from James Blackstone and created a DNA profile for him,” Avie said. “We compared it to a sample extracted from Henry Blackstone’s remains and one taken from Negru family members who’d been killed during the war. James Blackstone has almost no DNA in common with Henry Blackstone and more than enough to be a descendant of the Negru family.”

Everyone listened as the pieces of evidence were set out. The information was interesting, but none of it proved Blackstone was behind the attacks on the Great Ward. “Assume all of that is true,” I said. “It doesn’t prove anything other than he’s a descendant of the Negru family, raised by a respectable mage family.”

“I examined the glyphs used to summon the Demon Prince and the ones found in Braylon’s barns,” Percy said. “They both had similar elements to glyphs the Negru family used to summon demons before the Great Ward.”

Damning, but still not conclusive. “Has anyone spoken to Dean Blackstone about this?” I asked.

“We tried,” Avie said. “He cleaned out his office, wiped his electronics clean, and his house is completely empty, not even any trash in the bins outside. No one in his extended family knows where he is, and we’ve been unable to locate him using every magical means at our disposal.”

“He must’ve gotten wind we were closing in when we did the DNA testing,” Dad said. “Which is why we’re having this meeting here. Blackstone must have people on the inside of the Inquisitor General’s Office who are important enough to have access to those reports.”

The implications of this news settled over the room like a heavy blanket. How long had Blackstone been planning this? How many innocent lives had been lost in his quest for power?

“Do we have any idea how he plans to destroy the Great Ward?” Conall asked.

Darius leaned forward. “We believe Blackstone plans to use the black magic he's gathered to slay a phoenix. The death of such a powerful magical creature would release a cataclysmic amount of energy. He could then direct that power into a spell to destroy the Ward.”

“I assume you’ve shared this threat with the phoenix king and his family,” I said.

“Of course,” Dad answered. “Unfortunately, with the security breach in the Inquisitor General’s Office, we are limited in how much assistance we can send. The king is sending truth seers to test our agents who volunteer to help protect the phoenix clan.”

Percy closed the book in front of him and stood up. “The easiest way to thwart Blackstone’s plans is to create a new ward as quickly as possible. Even the death of a phoenix won’t be enough to breach a fully powered Great Ward.”

“We can't create a new ward without the fifth guardian pairing,” Jan said. “We need all five to cast the spell.”

The room went silent after Jan stated the obvious. Judging from how everyone avoided looking at Roderick, I wasn’t the only one who’d figured out he was the missing mage. Finally, my gaze met Rod’s and he gave me a small smile.

“Worst kept secret in the family,” Rod said with a laugh. “Unfortunately, there’s a problem with the other half of the pairing. I’ve been denied all contact with my mate.”

With those words, he sat and avoided all eye contact. It had been plain Rod carried a burden for as long as I’d known him. He tried to hide the sadness, but it refused to be shut away. Now I understood.

Denying my mate for a few days had nearly destroyed Thal and me. I couldn’t imagine how Rod survived with that pain for decades. “Why?”

“King Ailpein won’t let any phoenix date, marry, or most of all, mate with a mage. Adelais FionnLach was King Ailpein’s cousin and closest friend,” Dad said. “He’s long been bitter that of all the beings who mated with a mage, only a phoenix died. He forbade his flock from being intimate with mages. The king’s grandson, Cinaed Fionnlaoch, and Roderick discovered they were mates, but mindful of Ailpein’s edict, they kept it silent and never completed their mate bond. When Ailpein learned Bart and Cael mated, he cast a spell preventing any phoenix from mating with a mage.”

“That explains why Cinead apologized when he arrived,” Leo said. “Clearly Ailpen wasn’t eager to send his favorite grandson anywhere he’d come in contact with mages.”

“How can he do that?” Jan asked. “I understand how he could threaten dire repercussions if anyone defied his ban but how could he use magic to keep them apart?”

“Few things are impossible given enough time,” Percy said. “Ailpen has spent the centuries devising this spell against the day one of his flock would be called upon to power the new ward.”

“Unfortunately, Roderick didn’t tell me or anyone about his status with Cinead until recently,” Dad said. “Ailpen’s timing was intentional. He waited as long as possible to release the spell so we’d have little time to devise a counterspell.”

“Ailpein believes he can force the earth to find another way if he refuses to let a phoenix bond with a mage,” Dad said. “I think he’s wrong, but I can’t convince him otherwise.”

“He is wrong,” Darius said. “And he’s a fool. The earth will drain all his magic to ensure no one interferes with its plans. If that happens, he will die.”

“We need to speak to him,” Bart said. “The part that killed Katarina and Adelais was forcing all the demons back to their realm. If we can recreate the new ward while the current one’s still active, the fifth guardians won't need to sacrifice themselves.”

“You’re sure of that?” Roderick asked. His eye shone with a hope I’d never seen.

“Positive,” Bart said. “Get me an audience with the king and I’ll prove it to him.”

I watched my brothers and finally realized why Thal and I had been selected over Owen and Lysandor. Anyone could anchor the ward, but only a diplomat could convince a king grieving for twelve hundred years to change his mind for the good of the world.

“I might know a good diplomat who can help you win him over,” I said. “When do you want to leave?”