Knights of Light (The Conjurors Series Book 2) (24 page)

Kanti had agreed to dinner with her family
on the condition that they didn’t bring Ani, so thankfully, Valerie was able to
relax a little and enjoy the food at the hotel restaurant.

When they walked in, she
saw that it must be a popular gathering place for the Grand Masters in Arden,
because she saw Chern and Kellen in a booth in the corner, as well as Skye and
a few other faces she recognized from her trips to the Capitol.

“Everything’s free here?”
Amaryllis asked Kanti, her eyes huge.

“We don’t have money in
Arden,” Kanti explained to her sister. “Everyone contributes what they’re good
at.”

“But then how do you
know who’s the most important?” Amaryllis asked, her large eyes clouded with
confusion.

Henry tried to suppress
his laughter and it came out as a snort.

“It’s different here.
Position doesn’t matter as much. People share,” Kanti explained.

It was her father’s turn
to snort. “Sounds great until all the freeloaders out there take advantage of
the system and it crumbles.”

“It hasn’t so far!”
Kanti said indignantly. Valerie and Henry stared hard at their plates, hoping
the conversation would turn to something more pleasant.

“Arden only abolished
currency a few decades ago. Give it another hundred years and we’ll talk,”
George insisted.

Valerie saw Henry
squeeze Kanti’s hand under the table, and Kanti took a deep breath, like she
was counting to ten.

“Tell me about your
lives,” Valerie interjected, turning to Kanti’s sisters. “Here we spend our
time working in our Guilds. What do you do in Elsinore?”

“Oh, party, flirt with
boys, shop,” Amaryllis said carelessly.

“That’s not all,”
Pauline said primly. “My daughters are all magically gifted in the arts—Peach
sings, Isabelle paints, and Amaryllis is an exquisite dancer.”

“The boys love it,”
Amaryllis said with a smile. “Speaking of which, where are you hiding all the
cute boys?”

“You have a one-track
mind,” Kanti said, but she tugged one of her sister’s curls affectionately. It
was clear that Amaryllis, for all of her shallowness, was her favorite sister.

Pauline slumped in her
chair, and George leaned close to his wife and held her hand. “What is it,
darling?” She looked very pale.

“Mom?” Kanti asked, her
mask of sarcasm wiped away by worry.

“So much power in one
room. It’s more than I’ve ever…” she trailed off and fainted into her husband’s
arms.

“Help her!” Kanti said,
jumping up and knocking over her glass of water.

Valerie was ready to
jump into action, but George waved at her to sit down. He cradled his wife’s
head in his arms and began to sing quietly. The gentle hum of George’s magic gradually
returned the color to Pauline’s face.

“He heals through his
music,” Henry whispered to her as Valerie watched the scene, transfixed.
Kanti’s parents weren’t perfect, but there was so much love between them. They
couldn’t be all bad.

Pauline’s eyes fluttered
open and she sat up. “I’ve made a scene. My apologies.”

George squeezed her
hand. “No one noticed. Shall we leave?”

“Soon. I’ve blocked it
out now.”

“We have to get her to a
healer,” Kanti said urgently.

“It happens to her all
the time, and she’s fine. You’d know that if you were ever around,” Isabelle
said resentfully.

“Are you really okay?”
Kanti asked her mother, and her voice sounded young and a little scared.

“Darling, don’t worry
your head about me. It’s embarrassing, but nothing to trouble yourself about.
This kind of magic always has this effect on me, but it’s nothing your father
can’t cure.”

“What do you mean, this
kind of magic?” Valerie asked curiously.

“Well you and your
brother are quite powerful, as well as my own dear family, of course. But this
is a different sort of magic.”

“Different how?” Henry
asked, interested.

Pauline’s forehead
crinkled as she tried to put it into words. “There’s something—wrong—about it.
The magic is powerful but twisted. And I must say, this is by far the greatest
amount of it that I’ve ever sensed.”

“Who could it be?” Valerie
asked, and she had the unaccountable feeling that Reaper was near.

“I’d love to know,”
Pauline said, a sparkle in her eye. “Such power—imagine what a powerful
connection that would be.”

“But you said that it’s
magic gone wrong!” Kanti said.

“Power is power, dear,”
George said patiently, as though he was explaining a simple concept to a small
child.

Kanti was ready to
explode, so Henry quickly jumped in. “Thanks for such a great meal. Kanti
really should get back to her dorm before Dulcea starts to worry.”

“Who is Dulcea?” Pauline
asked.

“She’s been a mother to
me when you couldn’t be,” Kanti shot at her. Pauline and George wore identical
masks of shock at their daughter’s words. Kanti shook her head and left,
pulling Henry with her.

“Nice to see you again,”
Valerie said, and followed Kanti and Henry out.

Outside the restaurant,
Kanti was shaking. Henry held her in his arms, and Valerie gave her friend a
quick squeeze before leaving them alone.

She’d only be a third
wheel now, and this was her chance to see if she could discover who Reaper was.
Her gut told her that the spy and Reaper were one and the same person, and
Gideon had encouraged her to trust her instincts. All that power that had
overwhelmed Pauline had come from someone who was living in their midst,
deceiving them.

She mentally ran through
her suspects. What was striking was who hadn’t been there—Sanguina, Oberon, Rastelli—and
it was good to be able to eliminate a few Conjurors from the growing list. She
saw that there was a back entrance to the restaurant, probably where the
members of the Cooking Guild entered to create the fabulous meals at the
restaurant.

She slipped into the
back, expecting to find a bustling kitchen like she would on Earth. Instead everything
was calm and orderly, and two Conjurors were working with strange foods so
quickly, getting plate after plate ready, that it was impossible to see how
they were cooking the food. Once each dish was ready, apprentices whisked it
away to be served.

Valerie couldn’t help
but be fascinated by it all, but she turned her mind to the task at hand. That
was when she noticed that she wasn’t the only uninvited guest in the kitchen.
Ani was hovering by the doorway that led out to the main restaurant, scanning
the patrons.

Valerie quickly ducked
behind a tall cabinet before she was spotted. Cautiously she peeked out, ready
to tackle Ani if she made a wrong move. She noticed that there was a satchel
the size of a soccer ball clutched in her left hand. The bag seemed to wriggle
and squirm, and she knew what it was—pure magic, the currency of Elsinore.

The magic was special,
because it could be manipulated for any purpose. What was Ani doing with so
much of it? Somehow Valerie doubted it was for anything good.

She hesitated, trying to
decide her next move. Ani drew out a long, pointy knife made of crystal—or ice,
she thought, remembering Kanti’s castle, which was entirely made of ice but
charmed so that it never melted.

She dipped the knife
into the bag and muttered something under her breath. Then she brought the tip
of the knife to her mouth and blew gently. A black fog began to pour into the
room.

Valerie cursed herself
for not acting sooner. Her rage at Ani for all she had done to Kanti and Henry
made it easy for her to seize her magic. She catapulted over a countertop,
startling one of the Cooks, who let out a high-pitched yell that alerted Ani to
her presence.

Ani turned and her eyes
narrowed. She dipped her knife into the bag again, but before she could do
anything with it, Valerie executed a quick spin kick that knocked it out of her
hands and sent it skittering across the floor.

Ani’s face seemed to
turn to marble. A hum filled the room, more power than Valerie would have guessed
that Ani possessed. Valerie drew Pathos and braced herself for some kind of
physical attack, but instead, Ani opened her mouth and the most beautiful sound
Valerie had ever heard in her life poured out of it. The sweetness was almost
unbearable, filling her soul with a longing that made her fall to her knees.
Pathos clattered to the ground next to her.

She was dimly aware that
the Cooks in the kitchen were mesmerized as well. Ani slowly walked closer to
her. There was a tiny part of Valerie’s mind that knew this was all wrong. That
part of her struggled through the fog, demanding that she pick up Pathos and stop
her. Ani’s song reached its crescendo, taking her breath away with its beauty.

“What the hell is going
on here?” Kanti’s voice cut through the song like a razor. Valerie struggled to
her feet and lifted her sword shakily. Ani’s song continued, but it seemed
muted. Next to her, Henry held Kanti’s hand, and the hum of their combined
power was formidable. Henry slammed Ani into the wall with the power of his
mind, and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

“What was going on? Why
weren’t you fighting her?” Henry said, turning to Valerie.

“I don’t know. It was
like I was paralyzed by her voice.”

“You were,” Kanti said
grimly. “She’s a siren, like Peach. Well, Peach would never hurt anyone.
Manipulate them, maybe, but not kill them. I hope.”

“I wouldn’t,” Peach said
softly, walking through the doorway from the restaurant with her parents and
sisters behind her. She tucked a strand of her long, shiny blonde hair behind
one ear. “I heard the call of a siren sister and came right away with Mother and
Father. So it’s true—Aunt Ani really did try to kill you.”

Kanti nodded. “It’s not
the first time she’s betrayed me.”

“Oh my,” Peach said,
noticing the writhing bag of magic that Ani had dropped on the ground. “I’ve
never seen half this much magic in my entire life. What could she be doing with
it all?”

“There was this black fog
that she made,” Valerie said. She peered into the restaurant, but it seemed to
have dissipated. “I’m not sure what it was for. Poison?”

“The lights dimmed,”
Peach said. “It was probably a simple darkness spell—that usually starts with
fog.”

Pauline and George drew
back, shocked.

“Oh, Kanti, I’ve been so
blind. I’m sorry,” Pauline said, her hand fluttering to her heart.

“I am as well,” George
said stiffly. He walked to his daughter and grasped her hand.

“Thanks.” Kanti’s voice
wobbled a little, and she cleared her throat.

“This family has made
quite enough of a display of itself for one day,” Isabelle said.

“That’s enough,
Isabelle,” Pauline said, but without force.

“We should get Ani to
the carriage before she awakes,” George said. “She’ll need to be tried and held
in Elsinore.”

Kanti started to
protest. “No way am I letting her out of my sight!”

“I must insist,” George
said. “I won’t give her the chance to hurt you again. Even Valerie was no match
for her, and I understand that her fighting prowess is considerable.”

Valerie flushed. It
wasn’t the first time that she had been mentally overpowered by an opponent.
Sanguina had seized control of her mind in the past as well. Her physical
strength seemed untouchable, but what good was it if she crumbled against
enemies with psychic powers?

“Promise you won’t let Ani
out of your sight,” Kanti said.

“I promise,” Pauline
said, her voice shaky. “Your father and I will never let that woman near you
again. I only hope you can forgive us for doubting you.”

George walked over to
Ani and hefted her over his shoulder with ease. Outside, a beautiful, sparkling
carriage made of ice and drawn by pure white horses stood waiting.

“Figures,” Kanti said
under her breath. “They couldn’t resist showing off.”

Henry shushed her. “It
was nice to meet all of you,” he said to Kanti’s family.

“I do hope we’ll be
seeing more of you,” George said a little stiffly. “Kanti, your home will
always be waiting for you, if you ever decide to return.”

“And we love you,
darling,” Pauline added, tears filling her beautiful eyes as she squeezed her
daughter’s hand.

A smile escaped at the
corner of Kanti’s mouth. Amaryllis threw her arms around her sister, and then
Peach gave her a timid hug. Isabelle only huffed a little and went into the
carriage.

Kanti, Henry, and
Valerie watched them drive off until the carriage was a glittering speck in the
distance.

“I hope you don’t blast
me with rainbow powers or something, but I actually kinda liked them,” Henry
said cautiously.

“Me, too,” Valerie
added. “Except Ani, of course.”

“Even Isabelle? Bleh,”
Kanti said dismissively.