Mine to Spell (Mine #2) (40 page)

“
I’ll do my best.”

“
Even if it means not staying safe.”

He doesn’t deny it. “Tell everyone I said hello.”

“I will.” She pivots toward the carriage.

“
And Waverly?”

“
Yes,” she calls over her shoulder.

“
I’ll be thinking of you.”

Her back stiffens a moment before she turns and says, “I’ll think of our friendship, too. Good-bye, everyone. I’ll miss you.”

“We’ll miss you, too,” I say.

With that, she’s in the carriage, door closed, and it’s pulling away. Most likely with the way things are here, it’s uncertain if I’ll ever see her again. We all watch it until it’s out of sight, a few tears escaping. Chadwick is the first to leave, skirting around out back around the house. Serena tells Zade, “I know you want us safe, and I love you for it.”

“Just not enough to leave.”

“
You came here to help. Let me stay here to do the same.”

He closes his eyes and pulls her tight against him. “I know. I know. I just don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t.”

Zade gives me and Lukas a quick glance, his gaze taking in Lukas’s arm around me before turning back to Serena. “You’re right. I don’t have to. I’ve been looking at everything all wrong. Relationships as weights instead of anchors, but Cynthia and Lukas have shown me so much more.” Suddenly he gets down on one knee, clutching both of her hands in his. “I need you by my side. You are my anchor, my strength. I want to always keep it that way. Serena, will you marry me?”

My breath catches, and Lukas pulls me closer.

Serena says, through her tears, “I will. Oh, yes, I will!”

He stands, pulling her all the way up to him in a fierce kiss. I blush and, though I’m brimming with happiness, turn away from them toward Lukas. He nods at me, and together we stroll around the house.

“
Do you think that will be enough to keep Serena safe from your father if he ends up carrying out his threat?”

This isn’t something I even need to think about. “If the Grand Chancellor is helping father, he’ll make it so father can get whatever he wants. No, if we want things to really change, the Grand Chancellor will need to be knocked from his position.”

“Zade said he’s been hinting at political change, something to do with not needing Chryos’s coal anymore.”

“
I thought the Grand Chancellor was in love with his electricity,” I say.

“
He is.” Lukas’s mouth pulls into a grim line.

“
That means I’ll have to keep working at undermining him however we can. I wouldn’t want to lose relations with your country.”

He lightens a moment, enough to wink at me, sending a thrill through my magic. “I’ll do whatever I can to help defeat him, not just for our countries, but to stay with you.”

“You know how powerful the Grand Chancellor is. He’s taken more tarnished blood than any other. Is anyone strong enough to knock him out of power? Even if we combine strength, it seems doubtful.”

A shudder runs through me. Lukas stops walking and wraps his arms around me.

“This isn’t what I meant to cause when I left home.”

“
I know.”

His chocolate eyes keep steady on mine as I say, “As much as I’m scared for what the future brings, I’m glad I did.”

“I couldn’t agree more.”

It feels good and right, being here with him.

An aqua-colored light crashes to the ground right next to me, bringing a wave of cold. Lukas pulls me back for I’ve frozen, not from the spell but from the sight behind it. Father stands almost within touching distance, Edward next to him.

My breath catches in my throat, still frozen, hands propped up in the air from the defensive spell I was readying before spotting them, which is now useless. And father knows it. His grin brightens the anger in his eyes.

“I told you freedom is temporary. And look what I found. Seems your last owner didn’t give up your ownership by his own free will. Seems he was threatened. The Grand Chancellor didn’t like that news one bit.”

Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. Why is this coming up now? Why is it coming up when things are going so well? It can’t be like this. It can’t.

Lukas isn’t frozen like me. He grabs hold of my arm, his hand clenched tight around me.

Edward doesn’t look like he wants to be here either. In fact, he keeps looking at the ground, father, the grass, anywhere but me. Father must have scared him into coming. That must be why he didn’t come forward sooner. Why I was able to compete and win the tournament without being punished in a way worse than anything I’ve been through before? In a way that’s going to happen now. Unless I can do something to stop it.

“It appears you’ve been busy since you got out of jail.”

“
And it seems you were busy while I was in jail, thanks to your wenchit sister. But I’ve got you. It won’t be long before I find a way to get her and the rest of my property. Especially my pregnant wife,” he growls. “You’re all in need of some drastic changes.”

“
We are. But not the type of changes you want.”

Frozen no longer, I shove a barrage of fire at them and zip a volley of air at the ground beneath Lukas and me. He clings to me, swearing as we soar into the sky from the blast.

Hexes dart after us. Mostly reds, but some gray ones as well. One nears Lukas. I push the air to the side, dodging them. I shove all my magic into the air, propelling us higher. Father and Edward grow too small to see. The attacking spells don’t stop, but they grow wider,

“
Afraid of heights?” I ask Lukas as he continues clinging to me, and I cling to my magic.

“
Afraid of your magic running out.”

Right. The strain is already wearing on my newly built-up state, but we can’t go back down. I push the air at us, move us toward the side as far as I can before letting it ease. The strain pulses through me as we float toward the ground. We’ve covered a lot of ground, enough that they’re no longer in sight, but I can hear the faint sound of father screaming.

“Can you take over if I set us down?” My body is exhausted, the sky growing spotted with black. My magic never fully recovered from the tournament and now this. It’s too much.

“
You’ve saved us. Now it’s my job to keep us safe.” The way he clings to me, the way he’s supported me, I know it’s true.

We’re almost to the ground. It’s coming. Coming closer. Fast. Much too fast. But tired. Too tir…

***

My eyelids ache. They want to stay closed forever. But they can’t. Something happened that—I jolt up, my head pounding with the action.

“Ow.”

“
Take it slowly,” Lukas says. “Don’t worry. We’re safe.”

“
Where are we?”

“
A safe house for now. We’ll move to a more secure one in a few hours when you’re feeling well. Just rest.”

“
My sisters?”

His frown deepens, making my heart twist. “They are all safe, but everyone is back under your father’s control except Serena.”

This is it then. Serena and I prepared the way for change, or at least have got people thinking. Our choices brought us here. Hers proving that women can have freedom. Mine to spell as well as any warlock. Now everyone in the country knows what women are capable of. What we can be.

And because of it, father’s struck back, using my own actions against me. Despite him, and how he always treated me, I found my own way, showed others what they can do. As I enjoy the feel of Lukas’s arm around me, my sisters are even worse off. I can’t help but think of father’s attack. Of the Grand Chancellor and what else he has planned. They’ve taken what’s mine.

And I want it back.

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See where the story all started with Serena in
YOU ARE MINE

or with Katherine in the prequel novella,
MINE TO TARNISH

Acknowledgments

When I first published YOU ARE MINE, I was expecting very few sales but I was happy that it was finally out in the world. Then it became a bestseller and reached many more people than I ever thought possible. To each and every one of you who has bought and read my books, THANK YOU! Every single time a book sells, a review is left, a comment is made, or an email sent, I'm in awe of you.

This whole journey wouldn't be possible without a phenomenal group of book bloggers. Each and every one of you that accepted my review request, took the time to read, and then share your feelings with your blog readers and friends helped make my dreams a reality. My gratitude for all of your hard work and enthusiasm is boundless. Thank you so much for your continued work and support.

A big thanks to Karen C. Eddington for always pushing me forward, making my day, having such good insights. I would have given up on writing long ago if it wasn't for her. Not only the best sister ever, but a comedian that can keep me laughing for hours.

RaeChell Garrett not only helped me fix big problems but chatted with me about things that needed to be worked on with insight on how to fix them. It was such a joy to finally talk to you! Plus, you really do rock at seeing things I can't, like people having more than two ears. My thanks to Loralie Hall, for reading a very messy draft and giving me the confidence to keep working on it. You are so The Awesome. Your emails always make my day. The best two critique partners and friends an author could ask for!

The super sweet and phenomenal Michelle Paskett has a way of catching things no one else can see and making my words so much prettier than I could do on my own. Such amazing talent I'm blessed to work with. And thanks to Kenneth Paskett for always being our courier and never giving into the temptation to use my manuscripts as kindling.

My editor, Kathy Middlemiss at Kat's Eye Editing. She not only helps to polish my words and teach me things but gave an amazing one sentence suggestion that made the ending pop. And my proofreader Yesenia Vargas for being so wonderful at not only helping clean up my grammar mess, but going above and beyond. My book is so much better for having passed through your hands and as a writer, I'm beyond fortune to have found you.

The wonderful Jennifer Graves won the Woman's Canon contest with the rule: A woman must tend to the needs of a son before that of a daughter. Part of her prize was naming a character for this book: Saban (Say-ben)Wright whose character may be my creation, but the name is all hers. Thanks Jennifer!

My beta readers are seriously fantastic. Naomi Bawden for being willing and enthused. I'm so grateful you offered and were willing to put up with my crazied author ways. C.M for many wonderful insights, including keeping Cynthia from eating an entire cake. Sarah Canning for her helpful comments, and, what's more, ones that made me smile, laugh, and fist pump because of the parts I'd finally got right.

Writing is fun. I wouldn't feel complete without it, but it does take a lot of time away from family *cough*and cleaning*cough.* Even so, my family supports me. My kids are always so patient when mommy's working and even make up fun jokes like, “What did the U say to the R? You are mine.” Yeah, my eight-year-old is cool. I could not ask for better, more incredible kids. Big hugs, kisses, and thank yous from mommy!

And Erik, what words are there left to say that you haven't heard me ramble on about a thousand times before? You're the best, most amazing, wonderfully fantastic, superbly awesome, unbelievably patient, insanely good-looking, incredibly supportive husband a girl could have. Which you have heard before, but with the eighteen months it took to get this book from first draft to published (and all the crazy life stuff we had to deal with during that time), it's all the more true. Thank you for everything. I love you.

About the Author

Amazon best selling author Janeal Falor lives in Utah with her husband and three children. In her non-writing time she teaches her kids to make silly faces, cooks whatever strikes her fancy, and attempts to cultivate a garden even when half the things she plants die. When it's time for a break she can be found taking a scenic drive with her family, fencing, or drinking hot chocolate.