Sorceress, Interrupted - By A. J. Menden Page 0,49
was casting the confusion spell was doing a damn good job. The attacks were virtually untraceable; it was also impossible to find out where all of the power and the will were going. It had to go somewhere, but I’d be damned if I could figure out where. Seemingly nothing was being done with that power, so they were doing it for no apparent reason. All I was coming up with was these few facts: Someone was casting the magic of the attacks. Someone else—definitely a separate entity—was covering it up. I could only hope that Cyrus was further along. Of course, I wouldn’t know because he hadn’t come to see me and I was too stubborn to go to him. Especially not at EHJ headquarters.
Nope, I wasn’t going to the EHJ. Not now. I couldn’t bear to hear another stammered apology from the Reincarnist about how he’s forced to live multiple lives with multiple families. I know he feels guilty, but it seems more guilt at not caring as much as he should, like he knows he should regret hurting me more than he does. Not just me either, but all of my other half siblings. My father gets a fresh start every time. The rest of us don’t.
Intellectually I understand where he’s coming from. Hell, truth be told, maybe I’m a bit jealous that he gets an easy way out. He gets to age and die and start over again without any links to his past except his intellectual expertise. I don’t get that luxury. I have to remember everything that’s happened over my long life, and that includes Andrew, the guy I loved and couldn’t save, and Victor, the guy I loved that couldn’t handle my never growing old—those and every single other person I let into my heart only for them to inevitably leave.
My father, too. It’s a simple fact that with each passing life I become less and less of a family member and more and more just someone my father met a long time ago. Over the years, as his appearance and personality change, he becomes less and less my father and more of a guy I kind of knew way back when. If only that stopped those times where the little girl in me rises to the surface and, seeing that Daddy has moved on with his new family, just wants him to notice her again. He’s all I’ve got. I’ve lived so long there’s no one else left. The Reincarnist, no matter how forgetful or removed, is at least some link to the past. He sort of cared once.
God must have a strange sense of humor.
I sipped my drink and kept a wary eye on all my bar’s patrons. They were doing the same thing. The mood was definitely tense. I watched the familiar faces at the card game in the corner, each player giving the others worried glances over the tops of their cards. There were no more easy card games or conversations, just strained, going-through-the-motions awkwardness.
“Excuse me, madam,” one of my djinn servants said, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Yes?”
“Someone is here to see you.”
“Cyrus?” I looked around but didn’t see him. I tried not to acknowledge either my excitement at the thought of him or my deflation when it wasn’t.
“No, ma’am. Adam Grayson.”
It took me a moment to recognize the name. Howard’s grandson. Howard, my friend, one of the people who was playing cards the night Joseph first mentioned the magic-draining spells. Howard, who was also very powerful but who’d asked for my protection if it came down to it. “What does he want?”
“He didn’t say, ma’am, only that he wants to meet you in private.”
I nodded. “Give me a moment and then send him back.”
Moving to my VIP suite, I nodded to the djinn sentry. Taking a moment, I let myself fall back into character, into the person Adam expected to meet. I hadn’t been the same since hanging around Cyrus, especially after that kiss. Damn him.
“Adam, darling!” I purred as one of the djinn ushered him in. I opened my arms to receive him. He came forward hesitantly but let me embrace him. “Good to see you again.”
The tension was radiating off him, but I couldn’t tell if it was because of me or something else. He looked exactly as Howard had back in the day: tall, over six foot, with broad shoulders, wavy auburn hair, a sleek mustache and a distinct presence that made people sit up