“It’s possible,” Sienna agreed. “And yet, Sarnia would have sensed it. It would have left traces.”
“And it wouldn’t have killed a man,” Emily added. Nightmare Hexes weren’t dangerous, in and of themselves. She knew that for a fact. It was what someone did, under the influence, that was truly dangerous. A magician who lost control of his powers and lashed out in fear could easily get himself killed. “What can do that?”
“I wish I knew.” Sienna turned the corner, walking down a narrow alleyway. “It just doesn’t add up. Alba was drained of power, yet she didn’t cast a single spell; Antony was killed, yet…whatever turned him into stone left no traces.”
“Unless you have something that vacuumed up all traces of magic,” Emily pointed out. “A magic-absorbing ward would do that, wouldn’t it?”
“Only active magic,” Sienna said. “I’ve never heard of anything that drained a person’s reserves…”
She stopped, dead. Emily sensed it too, a moment later. An…absence…an absence of…something. She looked around, noting that they were standing in a place where four alleys met. And yet, something was missing. The background mana was almost completely gone.
“It happened here,” Sienna said. “And the magic field has been disrupted.”
She walked from side to side, casting a handful of spells. Emily closed her eyes, trying to sense the ebb and flow of magic. It felt as though something had drained the mana, leaving a region that was completely devoid of magic. The remainder of the field was slowly filling the hole, she noted, but it was moving so slowly she couldn’t help thinking it would be years before the region returned to normal. Her reserves didn’t seem affected, but runes and anything else that depended on the background magic field would fail as long as the area remained dead. She wondered, grimly, just what would happen if she tried to cast a spell within the dead zone.
The spells would have to be modified, she thought. And I would have to put out more power.
“Something was definitely here,” Sienna said. “But what?”
Emily shook her head. A necromancer could drain power, true, but Alba wouldn’t have survived the experience. And every sorcerer within the city would have sensed the power surge. Unless someone had invented something new…it was possible. Dua Kepala had been revoltingly ingenious, and the Allied Lands had paid the price.
“It seems impossible to believe it was a god,” Sienna added. “The killings do follow a pattern. People linked to Vesperian, directly or indirectly…”
“And now Vesperian himself,” Emily agreed. Sienna was right. If Justice was real, why wasn’t he going after the real monsters? Why target Antony when it was his father who was working with Vesperian? “Did you know Antony?”
“Vaguely,” Sienna said. “A young man, one of many. Nothing too remarkable…no magic, as far as I know; the promise of inherited wealth, yet no wealth of his own. I believe his parents were looking for a match for him, but they never expressed interest in my daughters.”
Emily glanced at her. “Would you push Karan or Marian into marriage?”
“They’re powerful magicians,” Sienna said. There was a hint of pride in her voice. “It would be unwise.”
“Fulvia tried to push Melissa into a marriage,” Emily pointed out.
“And look how well that worked out,” Sienna countered. “I would prefer that my daughters choose their own partners.”
Emily nodded, slowly. She wasn’t sure she wanted to ask the next question, but it had been nagging at her mind. “Do you…do you put protective spells on your daughters?”
“There are some on Marian,” Sienna said. “Karan is too advanced a magician to allow me to give her protections.”
She gave Emily a searching glance. “Does that bother you?”
Emily hesitated. Part of her – the part that had grown up feeling vulnerable – would have welcomed such protections, if they kept her safe. She might even have asked for such protections. But she also felt as though it would be unwarranted interference in her life, carried out by a parent who didn’t understand her. She had a right to make her own mistakes, didn’t she?
“I don’t know,” she admitted, finally.
Sienna looked amused. “My mother was a strict disciplinarian. She ruled the household with a rod of iron. I chafed under her rules and promised myself that, when I had children, I would treat them differently. And then I had children, and discovered my mother had actually had good reason for her actions. You’ll feel differently too, when you have children. It isn’t a safe world.”
Her smile widened. “There aren’t any spells on Caleb, if that’s what you’re asking. Or didn’t you notice that you didn’t get struck blind when you kissed him?”
Emily stared at her in shock. “Is that…is that what Sarnia’s spell did?”
“It might have,” Sienna said. “There was a minor scandal involving Alba’s elder sister and her boyfriend.”
“I don’t think I want to know,” Emily said. “Does she…does she have the right to put spells on her children?”
Sienna shrugged. “When you have children, you’ll feel differently,” she commented. “Trust me on that, Emily.”
“Alba had a wand,” Emily said. “Was she…was she a strong magician?”
“She didn’t have enough talent to justify sending her to school,” Sienna said. “Her mother made the decision to teach her at home. She had promise, but…not enough.”
Emily swallowed. “Was it the right choice?”
“Good question,” Sienna said. “Sarnia is a good teacher, but no one can cover all the basics.”