The three of us took our seats and settled in to wait for the mages to arrive.
So far, the only one I’d met was the dreadlocked chick who’d greeted us, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then left to come and set up all these chairs. If I was being totally honest, I was actually really nervous to meet more mages.
For so long, I hadn’t even known magic existed, let alone that there were entire communities and species hiding right under the humans’ noses. Not that I was one to talk, being not human myself. But other than the guys—whom I’d turned—I hadn’t really had very much interaction with other magical beings. The wolves in Harrow were definitely not a good example either, given they’d tried to have me killed.
Soon, the first few mages in forest-green robes began arriving. Some eyed us warily; some came up and greeted the twins politely, shaking their hands and giving me a cautious nod. None spoke to me, though, which was my first tip-off that we were breaking some major mage etiquette by having me on stage.
Sitting in my hard-as-hell folding chair between the twins, I grew increasingly uncomfortable as the room filled with more and more mages and ever more people to eye me like I was a dangerous animal or a pile of moldy food.
“Guys,” I muttered under my breath after I caught one older woman curling her lip at me in disgust. “I get the feeling I shouldn’t be here.”
“You shouldn’t,” Austin replied just as quietly, and I gave him a sharp look. “According to Mage law, you shouldn’t.”
“So then why am I here?” I hissed back at him, feeling my face flaming with embarrassment.
“Because you insisted,” he countered, raising one eyebrow at me teasingly. Bastard.
“What he means,” Caleb interjected quietly, pulling my attention from his dickhead twin, “is that we are Mage law now. If we want to change shit, then that’s our prerogative. Besides, I think it’s maybe important that you’re involved in meetings like this since this will be our job for the next five hundred years.”
“Five hundred years.” I sucked in a breath as I processed this information again. Fucking hell, that was a long time; I could scarcely comprehend being alive that long.
Further whispering between us was cut off as the room quieted down and the dreadlocked girl strolled out onto the dais beside us. It seemed the meeting was beginning.
“Friends,” she greeted the crowd, her voice carrying through the chamber as easily as any microphone could have projected it. “We are gathered tonight at the bequest of our new leaders. Ink Mage Austin and Blood Mage Caleb have come into their fated powers and relieved our former leaders of their stations, but we thank Mage Yoshi and Mage Jackson for their continued service, long past their intended tenure was up.” She dipped her head gracefully then, as if in a moment of respect.
The room clapped politely, but it was clear from some of the murmurings that they hadn’t thought very highly of Jackson, at least. Personally, if I ever got my hands on Yoshi, I intended to choke the fucking life out of him for what he’d done to Austin. But that was my own issue.
“About damn time!” someone yelled from within the sea of forest-green robes, and the room fell deathly silent.
Both twins stilled, and I just knew this meeting wasn’t going to be as simple as, “Oh, hi. Yeah, we’re your new leaders. Can you all stop assisting the bad guys in trying to kidnap Kit? Great, thanks. See ya!”
“Who said that?” Austin demanded in a voice that brokered no arguments. He rose from his seat, and the power seemed to roll off him in waves. These mages were fucking morons if they couldn’t sense how dangerous he could be.
The green-robes mages shuffled and whispered, but no one stuck their hand up to claim responsibility for heckling their new leaders so soon. Typical. Everyone was a goddamn hero when they didn’t have to own up to their actions.
Caleb smoothly rose to his feet as well and laid a hand on Austin’s shoulder. They were obscuring my view of the crowd now, and I fought the urge to push them out of my way so I could see.
“Perhaps we misheard a sneeze,” he suggested sarcastically, and the room tittered with laughter. “Welcome, friends. It’s our honor to meet you all officially. I am your Blood Mage, Caleb, and this is my twin brother and your Ink Mage, Austin.”
A rush of murmuring swept through the room, but this time I understood the sentiment. The twins had previously told me that it was rare for the Blood and Ink Mages to even get along with one another, so for them to be twins was probably something to talk about. I didn’t know; I was just making assumptions.
“As you all know,” Caleb continued in a smooth voice, friendly and hypnotizing. Dare I say he was lulling the crowd like a snake charmer? “You are all required to swear fealty to us as your new ruling Mages. In addition to this ritual tonight, we have a concern to raise.” He paused, seemingly for dramatic effect, and it worked. Even I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation, and I already knew what the concern was.
Necromancers. Or more specifically, necromancers working with whoever just tried to kidnap me. Again.
This ritual had me curious, though. The boys had mentioned it briefly but more in a casual kind of “Oh, yeah, all the mages in attendance need to acknowledge us as their leaders,” way, whereas now it was sounding somewhat more ominous and permanent.
“Let’s begin with the ritual,” Austin commanded, and sure enough the dreadlocked girl popped back out of nowhere carrying an intricately designed silver bowl and a... paintbrush? Whatever, I would find out soon enough.
My boys took the bowl from their helper, who scurried back into the shadows once more, and then they stepped down from the dais and into the open space before the chairs began. It was badly lit in the chamber, and I wasn’t sure if that was because we were underground or because it added to the magical atmosphere. Either way, I hadn’t noticed the mosaic design in the floor tiles when we had entered the room.
Squinting at them now, I could make out the rough outline of a pentagram hidden within all sorts of other runes and symbols that made up the full design. Some of them I recognised from my lessons with Austin, but some were totally foreign to me.
Gripping tight to my seat, I watched with nervousness as first Austin, then Caleb sliced their palms and bled into the silver bowl. Gasps rose from the gathered mages, and I guessed that Caleb’s fangs were showing. Understandable, though. He’d said that the more powerful the blood, the harder it was to control. Next to mine, I could imagine Austin’s packed a heavy punch.
“A lot of these mages have never seen a Blood Mage in the flesh before,” the dreadlocked girl whispered in my ear, making my jump slightly. I hadn’t even seen her approach, but of all the mages in attendance, she seemed like the only one willing to even speak to me. So I kind of liked her.
“How come?” I whispered back, but my gaze stayed locked on the guys as Austin mixed a bottle of black ink into their blood and then used the little paint brush to highlight certain runes on the mosaic.
“Because Jackson abandoned his duties hundreds of years ago. A lot of these mages hadn’t even been born then, so they had only ever met Yoshi. Even then, it would have been once only for their fealty oath and after that, only if they had a specific reason to meet with him. This is a really big deal.” Her words were thick with undisguised awe as she watched whatever the twins were doing in preparation for their ritual.
“And you?” I asked, turning slightly to look at her with curiosity. She was young, or at least seemed young. But so had Yoshi.
She smiled mischievously at me. “You don’t become Keeper of the Inner Sanctum overnight, hon. I’m older than you think.”