were positives to not wearing fancy dresses all the time! “Nope. If it could, Evariste could do something.”
“Ahhh, yes.” Evariste let go of Angelique’s hair—she hadn’t even noticed he’d been holding it back for her. “If I could spare Angel, I would; except I’m afraid in this case, I am doubly unable to help. My magic is sealed.”
All of the happy thoughts that had been cluttering up the back of Angelique’s mind were silenced at this very, very bad revelation. “What?”
For the first time since dragging him out, Angelique could see the shadows in Evariste’s smile. “I served as a power source for the mirror, but to keep me from escaping, I was sealed before I was placed inside it,” he said.
Angelique choked on air. “But it will be easy to break off, right?” she wheezed. “We’ll just take you to the Conclave, and someone there will remove whatever it is that is keeping you sealed.”
“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” Evariste said.
Angelique’s nausea rapidly fled under the all-encompassing dread this realization—which not even her price could hold a candle to—brought.
Evariste can’t use his magic. That means he can’t build gates. Or help Emerys with the elves. Or…anything magical at all.
She hadn’t saved Evariste for his magic, but the idealist part of herself she usually tried to strangle into submission had built up the impression that everything would be solved if Evariste was freed.
But the Chosen are still running their network they’ve had centuries to put into place; Evariste can’t use magic, and now that Evariste is back, the Council is probably going to try and charge me with all the accusations they couldn’t while he was gone.
It was always going to be like that, though. Evariste is impossibly talented, but just as it would be unfair for the alliance to expect me to fix everything, I can’t expect Evariste to solve all our problems. And what I really wanted was to get him back.
Still, realizing Evariste was blocked from his magic was strangely difficult for Angelique to process as he’d always been in the role of her teacher—her superior. What did that make him now?
Here. He’s here. That’s all that matters. Even if he can’t use his magic, he’ll stand with me, and I don’t care what the Council or Conclave says.
Snow White fidgeted and looked like she wanted to press the topic, but somewhere behind her, the Seven Warriors stirred.
Marzell pointed to one of the broken windows. “Guards up!”
Four gray-clothed figures scrambled in through the window.
Chapter 30
Angelique immediately reached for her magic.
Those aren’t Mullberg soldiers. They’re not wearing uniforms, and they sparkle with magic!
The tallest black mage—they had to be from one of the two nearby Chosen hideouts—hurled a glob of bubbling fire magic at Snow White, Angelique, and Evariste.
Angelique beckoned, and chunks of the obsidian armor from the destroyed constructs zoomed across the room, forming a wall and blocking the fire.
“Snow White!” Fritz shouted.
Angelique scowled as the molten fire spattered against the armor—the sick feeling in her gut twisting.
I haven’t had enough time to recover, which means if I’m not careful, I could get sick in the middle of the fight, and then they’ll take Evariste again!
Using as little of her magic as possible—she’d have to write a long thank you letter to Puss for all his training—Angelique lifted the onyx swords back into the air. “How did they get here so quickly? I just freed you!”
Evariste swiped a sword that had been tossed aside in the chaos of the fight. “I don’t think they’re here for me.”
What? Why else could they—wait.
Angelique felt the blood drain from her face as she lowered the armor-wall just enough to look over it.
The four mages were gathered around the mirror. Two of them were struggling to peel it off the ground until an older man who resembled a toothpick snatched it up with ease—though he held it as far away from himself as possible.
Angelique rattled off ever curse word she’d learned. “They’re taking the mirror!”
Evariste’s concern seemed to manifest in an overly calm façade. “Has Stil been hanging around you during my absence? He’s the only one I can think of who would know such creative language.” His expression and tone were mild as he adjusted his hold on the sword.
Angelique spun her magic into the most basic warding spell she had—which turned brutal with the unnecessary amount of power she poured into it.
She slapped her hand on the ground so the spell covered both Evariste and Snow White. “Stay down—both of