A Dangerous Legacy Pt. 20

And then they stared at one another like, well, in the movies. I knew the real history of gunfights was a short one. Wild Bill Hickock got drunk, invented the sport, and not long after he was shot in the back for cheating at poker. The death of the gunfight came soon after. But it was still cool.

Then their hands flung out, it looked like it was the same time, and the magic flowed. There were no bright lights, no rotoscope effects, just the heavy press of invisible mass. It exploded, knocking me down, but my own magic held the wards at bay. When I climbed back to my feet Malachai stood over Gan's prone body, hands out.

I sensed he was drawing Gan's magic in, and I knew my part. Not only did I break the ward I'd been holding off, I used the magic from that to create another, covering our tracks. It was so shockingly simple, murder by numbers.

I came to stand beside Malachai. "He went so easily."

"His king ordered him to."

I knew enough about history to know it meant Gan loved his leader. A subject who feared his king would kill for him, but only love would make him die for him. I caught Malachai's face and knew. It wasn't easy for him. He just had more practice covering his nerves than I did.

I slipped my hand into his and felt his newly enforced power shimmer. "Shall we?"

And off we went to kill the queen.

***

Anivall was beautiful. If I was right, the time of her reign was about the fifth century. The desire to study the ancient Celts was strong, but we had work to do. In the end I could not command a woman of the same rank to die, nor could I arrange a surprise attack.

We simply came upon her as she met Lukash in passionate embrace. I had asked for privacy and spoke to her alone. We had two hours to enjoy one another's company. Anivall was a bright woman, intelligent, fierce, and quite in love with her wolves. She knew there was no coming back from this but she assured me there was a better place awaiting queens after death. She extracted no promises from me except a request to die in Lukash's arms.

That made me nervous. He was a court seducer, the embodiment of lust. Love didn't seem to hold providence in his heart, but apparently kindness held sway. As Malachai held the ward, made it his own, Lukash pulled Anivall into his arms and began to kiss her.

I wanted to scream, to cry, to run away. This was not me! my brain seemed to shout over and over again. I was not a killer, an assassin, a murderer. But some more ancient part of my mind shored up. I was a queen. I had no asked for the duty and the world did not require I even enjoy it. But I had to do it. Without this path magic would die, the wolves, the dragons, all of gone.

So I raised my hands and just as Valerius had taught me and Malachai had shown me, I peeled her magic from her, her essence, her life force. She withered before my eyes, and still Lukash kissed her. His own magic was too dark, mine did not want it, but it wanted her, all of her, so greedy.

I pulled and pulled and pulled.

"Anna!" Malachai stepped to me and flung his hand out. Lukash disappeared, even Anivall's corpse left the small fairy circle we'd occupied. Still I tried to pull magic from the very air.

"Anna, no. It's all right, it's all right."

I could only stop once he had me in a bear hug. I had done it. I had killed in cold blood. The victim's blessing, the calm acceptance of my social circle, none of it made up for the fact I had just taken a life.

Malachai turned me in his arms and we sank to our knees. One large hand pressed me to him, and as the dress of the current time period was sparse, my tears began to stream down his bare, scarred skin. All the tears I had held in over the past few weeks, the walls I had built over the years of my life, all of it fell.

I didn't know why. Maybe it was because Malachai was the only other person on earth who could understand. Maybe it was because with the ability to travel time we literally had all the time in the world. Or maybe it was because, at long last, I finally understood I was the villain of this story.

I wasn't certain how many hours passed. Hell, magic kept me hydrated and kept drying his plaid. Dawn came and the sun rose higher and higher, burning down on us. I simply ran out of it, and when I pulled back I used magic to clean myself, get rid of the redness, but I ducked my head, embarrassed.

Malachai said nothing, lifting my chin with his fingertips. I saw no condemnation, no expectations, nothing but his steady gaze. And then he was kissing me. It was nothing like before, there was no calculated temptation, no seduction.

I didn't know what it was but it swept away the last of the wreckage of my fallen dams. I didn't love Malachai and I never would, not in the way I love my wolves. But there would always be this bond between us, the shared act of murder, and I knew I would never speak of it to anyone else.

So I kissed him back, knowing we were merely sealing a pact. And that was what it meant to rule, protecting everyone else from the bad things. But Malachai and I had nowhere to hide, just one another to stand beside.

So I pulled back and stood, heart heavy and soul freed. "Shall we onto the next?"

"I am sorry Anna. It can never be like it was before for you now."

"We began this not to change the past but to write a better future. If the price of that is losing the person I was..."

He rose too. "Anna, it is not so. The power of light magic is love. We will go and do what we must, but those men you love, they will bring you back from the brink."

Ah, he understood. There was lust between us, friendship, and that bond, but he understood there could be no more. If my magic was about love then I swore to myself when this was all over I would help him find it.

And I could only hope that the love I had left with Andre, Pierre, and Julian was waiting for me.

"Then by all means, let us go."