I turned with a snarl on my lips to ask Hamid what the hell he was doing. But he was exactly where I’d left him, his brows drawn down in confusion as he stared at me.
I took another step toward the door – or I tried to. It felt like something was holding me back, but when I looked over my shoulder, I saw nothing but the group of people looking at me like I’d lost my mind.
“What the hell is this?” If they thought they could force me to stay here for more tests after what had just happened, they were the ones out of their minds.
“What’s wrong?” Orias asked, walking toward me.
I shot him a dark look. “I can’t leave. That’s what’s wrong. This better not be another one of your goddamn tests, or so help me…”
Orias shot me a droll smile. Holding out a hand, he muttered a few words, and I gaped at the silvery thread forming in the air before me. One end of it was attached to me, and the other was attached to Hamid, who seemed to have been struck mute.
“What is that?” I demanded, hating the shrillness in my voice.
“That,” Orias said slowly as he studied the thread, “is the map created by Bastien’s spell. It appears to have tried to replicate my spell.”
Ciro came over for a closer look at the thread. “Fascinating. Look at the composition of the bond. You can see how it has filaments of the original spell woven into it.”
Orias nodded. “Yes, but the magic is incomplete in places. See there?” he pointed at a section of the thread. “That is where he stopped the spell.”
I crossed my arms, mostly to keep from punching someone else. “If you two don’t mind, I’d like to leave. Will one of you please get rid of that thing?”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Ciro said, still staring at the thread.
“What do you mean it’s not possible?” My heart sped up as fury and fear crowded my chest until I was on the verge of hyperventilating. This cannot be happening.
Chapter 9
Hamid came to stand beside me. A large hand engulfed one of mine, and for once, I didn’t try to pull away. I was ashamed to admit it, but his nearness soothed the storm of emotions inside me.
“Explain,” he ordered harshly.
“What he means is that we can’t destroy the new connection without risking my spell,” Orias said calmly. “But Bastien’s spell is incomplete, so it will dissolve on its own in a few days without harming the original spell.”
I found my voice again. “You mean we are stuck in this building until that thing dissolves?”
“No, you may leave,” Orias replied. “You just won’t be able to go far from each other. Based on what I’ve seen, I’d say no more than a few feet.”
“Are you serious?” My voice grew louder. “You expect us to be stuck together like this for days?”
“As the spell weakens, you should be able to move farther apart,” Ciro said as if that would make things better. “And this might be a good thing for us to study. If we could just –”
I turned away from them, pulling Hamid with me by the hand. Not that I could have forced him to leave against his will but I think he knew how badly I needed to get out of there.
As soon as we left the arena, I dropped his hand, and neither of us spoke for a minute. The full extent of my dilemma didn’t hit me until we neared the main building and I realized I couldn’t go off to be by myself once we got inside. Neither was I going to have my night alone at the lake. I was literally stuck with Hamid until we were free of this thing.
“God, this just keeps getting worse,” I muttered more to myself than to him.
“I’m flattered to hear you think this is worse than our bonding.”
“I’m glad at least one of us can joke about it.” I stopped walking to scowl at him.
Hamid gave me one of his almost smiles. “Getting angry about it will not change our situation, and it will be an uncomfortable few days if we dwell on our misfortune.”
I rolled my eyes. “If this investigative thing doesn’t work out for you, you really should think about a career in the greeting card business.”
“I will take that into consideration,” he said with a straight face.
I let out a heavy sigh, and we resumed walking.
“Are you feeling better?” he asked.
“Not as good as I’d feel if you had let me punch Bastien again.”
His deep chuckle did funny things to my stomach. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s not wise to pick a fight with a warlock?”
I huffed. He was right, but I’d never admit it. “I’ll try to remember that the next time one of them makes me feel crippling pain.”
I said it in a joking tone, but there was nothing humorous in Hamid’s reply. “None of them will hurt you again, you have my word on that.”
We entered the main hall, and I hesitated, unsure of what to do now. Hamid took the decision from me when he steered us toward the dining hall.
“I’m not that hungry,” I lied.
“You didn’t eat lunch. You can’t miss dinner as well.”
“How do you know I missed lunch?” I asked as we walked into the noisy dining hall. Had he been following me again?
“I saw you return from your run, and something told me you’d needed to work off your frustration from the morning’s tests.”
He went to the steaming buffet, and I had no choice but to follow him. I was already starting to feel like one of those children’s pull toys.
I filled a plate with baked salmon, rice, and vegetables and looked around for a free table while I waited for Hamid. When he’d finished piling his plate with enough steak to feed a human family of four, we sat at the end of one of the longer tables.
“You need to eat more,” he chided as he cut into his steak.
“That’s why they invented seconds,” I retorted. This was just the first course. I already had my eye on the baby back ribs. I’d probably follow that with the six-layer chocolate cake for dessert.
Neither of us said much for the first half of our meal, and surprisingly, it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. I did see curious looks sent our way, but I figured if he could ignore them, I could, too. They were probably staring at him anyway; he didn’t exactly go unnoticed in a crowd.
“How did you end up working for the Council?” I asked as I dug into my dessert. It was something I’d wondered about when he first showed up in Los Angeles. When I’d seen him three years ago, he and his brother were working together as partners, and from what I’d heard, they were very close.
Hamid looked surprised by the question, and for a moment, I thought he wasn’t going to answer.
“The Council tried to recruit me many times, but I was content to work with my brother, Ammon. Two years ago, we were on a job in South Africa and Ammon found his mate. She is English, and they are living at Hadan Castle now. When the Council approached me again, I decided to work for them for a few years.”
I licked chocolate icing from my fork. “You must miss working with your brother.”
“I do,” he admitted. “But he and Alice are very happy, and that is all that matters to me.”
“Do you get to see them often?” I asked, curious about his family life. I told myself I was just making conversation since we were stuck together, but who was I kidding? Hamid had always been a mystery to me, and I couldn’t resist this opportunity to learn more about him.
He wiped his mouth with his napkin. “My work with the Council has kept me busy the last two years. Once our…investigation is over, I plan to visit them.”
I heard his brief pause and wondered if he’d started to say “Once our bond is broken.” The thought of never seeing him again filled me with a fleeting sense of wrongness. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. It’s just the bond.
“And you?” he asked.
“What about me?”
“Do you see your family often?”
“I don’t have a family,” I said. At his questioning look, I added, “I was an orphan.”
He leaned back in his chair, wearing a frown. “They didn’t do the DNA test to find your sire?”
“They did, but I didn’t want to meet him.”
We had a central DNA database that held records for every Mohiri alive at the time testing started about thirty years ago. Since then, the DNA of all newborns were added to the database, along with the DNA of orphans when they were found. The database was more for identification should a warrior be killed in a way that made it necessary, but it was also used to match orphans with their Mohiri family.
I’d been tested a week after I was found, but I’d chosen not to meet my father. I knew his name, that he was Austrian, and that he’d been visiting the US when he met my human mother. I also knew he’d never checked up on her to see if their brief union had resulted in a child. If he had, I wouldn’t have spent the first ten years of my life scared and alone.
Hamid eyed me thoughtfully. “What of the people who raised you when you were brought in?”
I shrugged. “I never really got close to them.”
His eyes darkened. “Did they neglect you?”
“Of course not.” I was shocked he would even ask. Mohiri children were sheltered and cosseted, and orphans were treated with the same care. “They’re good people, and it wasn’t for lack of trying on their part. But after ten years of being abandoned and mistreated by adults, I wasn’t exactly the trusting type when I was brought in.”
I wasn’t sure why I was telling him all of this, because I rarely talked to anyone about that time in my life. It was something I didn’t like to think about.
He blinked in surprise. “You lived among humans until you were ten?”
His reaction was one I was used to. A child’s Mori started asserting itself at a young age, usually around three or four. Without a parent or guardian to teach the child how to control their Mori, the demon grew stronger and more dominant until the child eventually became mentally unstable. It was rare to find an orphan older than six who wasn’t suffering from some psychological issues. At ten, I’d been the oldest orphan ever brought in, until Sara. But she was in a category all her own.
I grinned. “I’m your classic overachiever.”
“One of my finest trainees,” said Tristan, whom I hadn’t heard approach. He smiled at me then looked at Hamid. “I just stopped by to tell you we had to move tonight’s conference call from nine o’clock to eight.”
Hamid’s gaze flicked to me and back to Tristan. “About that. Jordan will be joining us for the call.”
“Jordan wants to speak to the Council?” Tristan gave me an incredulous look.
I made a face. “Um, no, she doesn’t.”
“What I mean is that she will have to accompany me.” Hamid filled Tristan in on the spell that had backfired.