The Wizard's Daughters: Twin Magic: Book 1 (18 page)

“Remember there is no guarantee he is compatible. There may be no one here who is.”

Ariel sighed. “All right. If Astrid is ready.” Astrid nodded.

“Come, then.”

Erich was unsure if his presence was necessary or appropriate, at least until Astrid briefly took his hand and pulled him along.

When they approached Johannes and Franz, Johannes immediately looked at Erich as if he wanted to say something, but seeing that the others did not appear to object to his involvement, was silent.

He and Walther led Franz and the girls, with Erich following, to a side room off the hall.

“This won’t take long,” Johannes said. “I just need you to focus inward.”

He had Ariel stand on one side of Franz and Astrid on the other. Erich watched as Johannes closed his eyes, though he seemed to be reaching out mentally. Oddly, Erich could feel something going on. With a sudden shock, he realized he could feel Johannes probing at
him
, somehow. Which made no sense.

“Something is wrong,” Johannes said. “I can sense compatibility here, and yet there is something blocking it.”

“Have you cast the spell?” Walther asked.

“No. I am simply trying to get a feel for the three of them first.”

“And?”

“There is a strange texture here.” He took a breath and exhaled slowly. “But let us begin.”

He muttered a few words under his breath and extended his hands.

A strange blue luminescence grew around them. Then there was a sudden flash of light—a flash that was identical to the one Erich had seen in his head when the girls had cast the strength spell on him.

Johannes staggered backwards.

“What the devil was that?” Walther asked. Franz, Ariel, and Astrid looked equally surprised.

Johannes looked around in a daze. “This . . . what on earth?” He seemed to focus himself again. “There is already a match here. Your daughters. They have matched with someone already.”

“How?” Walther asked. “That’s impossible. They have had no chance to.”

“But who?” Ariel asked, eyes the size of dinner plates. “Who are we matched to?”

Johannes’ gaze swung slowly around to Erich.

“Him.”

26.

For a few moments, no one could speak. It was Erich who found his voice first.

“I am not a mage,” he said blankly.

“You are not,” Johannes said. “Yet the match is there.”

Walther, thunderstruck, looked back and forth between Erich and his daughters.

“Is there something the three of you should tell me? Something I should have been aware of?”

“Father, no,” Astrid gasped. “We have done nothing.” Ariel simply stared at Erich, jaw agape.

Johannes stepped closer to Erich and extended a hand, palm forward.

“I have seen nothing like this. It is like a familiar bond . . . yet it is not.”

“A what?” Erich asked.

“You saw my weasel? Like that. Mages can bond to animals. But it is not the same as a marriage bond.”

He looked at the girls, revolted. “I am bonded to them like your
weasel
?”

“It can happen with non-mages, in very rare circumstances. But this is more than that.”

Johannes looked back at the girls. “Have you ever cast a spell on him, or through him?”

Astrid gulped. “Yes. On the trip here. We cast
Cryfder Arth
on him, to help him move a stone.”

“And what happened?”

“It was much stronger than it should have been. It gave him the strength of a giant, not a bear.”

“There was a blue flash in my head,” Erich said. “Like the one just now.”

Johannes’ face paled. “This should be impossible. And yet, I think I see what happened here.” He looked at Ariel and Astrid. “This
deuolhud
, this twin-magic you told me about. That may have supplied the two magely flows that are necessary for a match. All it was waiting for was a compatible flow, of any sort, to match with.”

“That makes little sense,” Walther said. “Their flows are conjoined. They would still need a mage to match with, would they not?”

“Two into one, but still two,” Johannes said. “I wonder now if they could even have matched with another mage. It might have been one magely flow too many. So when they cast that spell through him, the three of them were conjoined. That would explain the surge of energy that made the spell so much stronger. Of course, it could not have happened had the three of them not been perfectly compatible, but clearly that is the case.”

Ariel finally found her voice.

“Erich is our match?” she said softly.

Erich held up his hands. “Wait. I do not understand any of this, but I understand one thing. I will not be anyone’s pet, not even theirs.”

Walther turned to him.

“You misunderstand, indeed. You are not matched as their pet. You are matched as their husband. They can marry you, or no one at all.”

Finally it dawned on him. But all he could do was return their shocked gazes.

Johannes put his hand on Franz’s shoulder. “Well, it seems this entire undertaking tonight was a waste of time. But this is at least of some scholarly interest. I hope, when the dust has settled here, that you will allow me to conduct an examination. Perhaps tomorrow or the next day?”

Walther nodded, then turned to Erich and his daughters.

“I am sure the three of you have much to discuss. I will be in the hall.”

He followed Johannes and Franz out of the room.

♦ ♦

Erich sat on a bench, Ariel on one side, Astrid on the other. Both had taken one of his hands.

None of them said anything for a few minutes.

“I wished for this so desperately,” Ariel finally said. “Yet now I am not sure of what has happened.”

He swallowed roughly. “Well.”

“Does this seem so terrible?” Astrid asked.

That made him start. “It is not terrible, not at all.”

“Do you not wish to marry us?”

“Is what your father said true? It is me, or no one?”

“Yes. But please do not let that make your decision. You did not ask for this.”

“I will not deny part of me wanted it.”

Ariel kissed his hand. “Then what is it? Do you not think we would be happy together?”

He took his hand and brushed back her hair. “I think we could be happy. But the life I live, it is not all parties and dresses and gaiety.”

“And what made you think that is what we want?” Astrid said. “Have we given you that impression? At all?”

“We want what you want,” Ariel said. “We want to go places, and see things. Have adventures.”

“Be that as it may, these ‘adventures’ are dangerous.”

“We can take care of ourselves,” Astrid said. “Did you not see that on the journey here? Did you not see what we did to hold the ogre off?”

“I did. That was brave. Many a girl your age would have gone into fits of terror.”

“Because you were there,” Ariel said. “You made us brave.”

“That is good to hear.” He sighed.

Ariel kissed his hand again. “We will try our best to make you happy. And—and—we know what appetites a man such as you must possess,” she said in rush. “We are quite prepared to satisfy them.”

Hearing this put so boldly made Erich laugh, despite his continuing shock.

“Are you, now?”

“Do you remember the book Father asked Ariel about, of Mothers’, before we left?” Astrid asked. “When you were working with Fortitude?”

He thought for a moment, remembering. “Yes.”

“It is a book about such things.”

“We know what to do,” Ariel said. “We have studied it. There are spells.
Caruhud
, it is called. Love-magic. It is a small discipline of naturalism, related to healing.”

“Children result from that, I assume you know.”

Astrid shook her head. “No. There is a spell for that. We will not bear children until we wish to.”

He laughed again, though weakly. He took their hands and kissed them together.

“All right. I am not saying no. I am just asking for a little time to think all this through.”

“Of course,” Ariel said.

“That is fair,” Astrid added.

“Should we go back to the apartments?” Ariel asked.

“Yes. I am tired, and I expect you are as well.”

♦ ♦

Erich lay awake. The four of them had returned to their rooms in silence, the girls going to bed without a word. He and Walther mumbled a few things to each other, then retired themselves. Since then, Erich had lain trying to think, but his mind was spinning in circles.

There was a light tap on his door. “Are you awake?” It was Walther.

“Yes.”

He entered and found a chair. “I see this has kept you up the same as me.”

“Indeed.”

“I assume no decisions have been made.”

“No.”

“Good. Because I have one thing I wish to say, and several things I must tell you.”

Erich sat up, leaning against the headboard.

“Go on, then.”

“First, I want you to know I have no objection to your marrying my daughters. You have proven your worth and character these past few weeks, and the girls are clearly very fond of you. So you have my blessing, if you wish it.”

“Thank you.”

“The other matters are more grave.” Walther leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling, pausing a moment. “Do you know what an undine is?”

“A river spirit? The Rhine-maidens?”

“Yes. What do you know of them?”

“Only the legends. I have certainly never seen one. They seek to marry human men, do they not?”

“Correct. They have no souls until they marry a human man and bear him a child.”

Walther was silent a moment.

“I am sure there is a point here, though it is lost on me,” Erich said.

Walther looked back to him. “Did it never occur to you to wonder how a fat, ruddy, dark-haired bastard like myself managed to father two such sylphlike creatures? You never wondered about that silver hair, those blue eyes like a mountain stream? Where those came from?”

Erich gasped softly. “Are you telling me that your wife—”

“No. Her mother. The girls’ grandmother. She was an undine who bore my wife for the man who married her. Normally, the child is another undine, but now and then, they are human enough to be born with their own souls.”

“So Ariel and Astrid . . .”

“Are one-quarter undine, more or less. But the blood runs strong in their veins. It is why they look the way they do, why they have such talent for naturalism. My wife was a master naturalist, and I am sure they will be as well.”

“Amazing. I would never have thought.”

“But you need to understand that there are drawbacks. An undine’s soul is a fragile thing. Should her husband ever betray her, lie with another woman, it will dissipate and she will die.” His eyes bored into Erich. “Do you understand? If you marry Ariel and Astrid,
you must be faithful to them
. It is a matter of life and death.”

“But they are not undine. I mean—not that I plan to betray them—but you really think it will kill them?”

“It will.”

“You are certain of this?”

“Yes. And that is the next matter. If I tell you this, you must never repeat a word of it to anyone. On your honor, if you care about the girls’ happiness, they can never know of this. I am only telling you so you can understand the seriousness of it.”

Erich swallowed hard. “All right. I swear.”

Walther sighed. “We mages make so much of these matches and their bonds, how important it is to respect them. ‘One mage for every mage.’ But we are human. We make mistakes.”

It was a few moments before Erich could say anything.

“And you made such a mistake?” he asked softly.

“Yes. I had come here to see Johannes. Ariane and I had quarreled before I left. I was feeling angry at her. I had too much ale. There was a girl, in a tavern. She made much of my magely talents. I was weak.” He leaned forward onto his hands. “The next morning, of course, I realized what I had done. I raced home. But by the time I returned to Weilburg, Ariane had already taken sick. She died within a day.”

He looked over at Erich.

“You cannot allow such a thing to happen to you.”

“I will not. I swear it.”

“There is more, however. The matter is even graver for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you recall what Johannes said, about the familiar bond? That is what you have with the girls. It is not all of it, but it is the core of it.”

“And that is dangerous?”

“The bond gives a familiar greater intelligence and vitality, and longer life, much as it strengthened that spell they cast on you. But there is a cost. Familiars do not outlive their masters. When a mage with a familiar dies, the familiar will die within a day. That means that should anything ever happen to the girls, should you betray them as I did their mother, you will likely die with them. ”

Erich stared across the room at the wall.

“You mages ask much of the world.”

“I merely want you to know the truth. So you can enter this marriage, should you do so, with full understanding.”

“All right. Thank you.”

“I will leave you to your thoughts. Good night.”

27.

Ariel’s sleep was unsettled, and she woke early. She lay there for a few minutes before nudging her sister awake.

Astrid groaned and stretched beside her. “What?”

“What do you think Erich will do?”

“If I knew that, I would have slept better.” She buried her face in her pillow. “And not be as annoyed that you have woken me.”

“Do you think he loves us?” Ariel asked.

“He seems quite fond of us.”

“Do you love him?”

“I do not know. I think I would, though, if we were married.”

Ariel rolled on her back. “I think I do.”

“Yes. You have made that clear,” Astrid mumbled into her pillow. Then she rolled over and looked at her sister. “Are you truly ready to share a husband? In all things?”

“I could share Erich. There seems enough of him for both of us.”

“That was my concern with Franz. And the other boys.” Astrid said. “He would be a good husband.”

“I think so. I cannot imagine ever becoming bored with him.” She rolled over to face Astrid. “There is only the one thing to resolve.”