"I'm not committing to anything until I know exactly what we're talking about."
"Of course."
He said it soothingly, like a parent talking to a spooked child. Irritation swirled, but I forced myself to ignore it and kept my gaze on Lauren.
"It is not a spell, so you have nothing to fear along those lines," she said easily. A little too easily for my liking. It sounded like a well-rehearsed line more than anything approaching sincerity.
I took a sip of Coke, but it failed to help the sudden dryness in my throat. Despite what I'd said to Azriel earlier, I really didn't want to be here discussing magic with a dark practitioner. And yet, it was an avenue that had to be explored. We do what we have to do, Azriel had once told me. It was that statement that had driven me to enlist Jak's help, and if it also meant enlisting the help of a sorceress, then so be it.
"Then what is it if not a spell?"
She glanced at Lucian. And that had all sorts of alarm bells ringing, if only because it suggested they'd discussed just what she should and shouldn't say before I'd gotten here.
Had that been another part of what they'd been arguing about? I knew Lucian was desperate to gain revenge on the Raziq, who'd stolen not only his wings but also his ability to shift into Aedh form, but was he so desperate that he would advise a dark sorceress what to say—and not say—to convince me to use her magic?
I briefly studied his angelic face and saw a determination that bordered on ruthlessness. Yes, I thought, he was.
Lauren took a sip of her wine, then casually said, "It's a ward."
I waved the statement away. "You and I both know there's a million different kinds of wards."
She smiled. It didn't do a whole lot to ease the tension. Quite the opposite, in fact. "This one is designed to prevent magic escaping its boundaries once it has been activated."
So, similar to the wards Ilianna had used when we'd attempted to read the clues in the book my father had sent me—a book that had been subsequently destroyed when the elementals had attacked. "How is it powered?"
"Not by blood magic, if that is what you fear."
"Then how does it get its power? You felt the energy of the thing in my heart. You know it's not a creation of this world."