Page 95 of Seas the Reckoning

He’s grinning, but his eyes flicker dangerously. I don’t think he likes being made a fool of any more than the councilman.

Piers looks a bit green around the gills. I’m not sure if it's the awful weather, fear of us, or regret for the situation he’s landed himself in. He’s still standing here, though, so he’ll reap the consequences just the same.

“No one to perform the ceremony?” Starla asks her father.

“You’re well aware that among witches and warlocks, a councilman has the authority to conduct such things. Human laws mean very little to me.”

“Hypocritical, when you partnered with one,” I snap, hoping to rile him enough to put him off guard, but not enough to strike.

Months ago, I wouldn’t have dared, but that was a different Leena, and Councilman Taylor has been tap-dancing on my last nerve since we went to England.

“You all assimilated to their culture; I instructed and used them to my advantage. Very different, dear.” His tone is that of a parent chiding a petulant child.

“Could we please get on with this! My shoes are getting muddy!” Piers pouts, acting much more like a spoiled brat than myself.

Starla and I step in front of our respective grooms, waiting to see what Councilman Taylor will do next. His eyes follow our every step. I’m itching to throw myself at the water, but as Starla reminded me on the plane, ‘close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades’. My ancestor’s instructions didn’t say we could be near the water. She said in the water.

I can’t afford to mess this up. If I do, I lose my song and my ability to protect my friends forever.

We stand facing the councilman, and Claude is closest to the shoreline as he clamps a hand over my arm, anchoring me in place.

Unfortunately it’s low tide, so there’s no chance of a stray wave washing over our feet.

Councilman Taylor whips out a couple of documents from thin air. Flashy magic.

“We’ll be signing these first. I have no doubt that you’ve got something up your sleeves, and I’d rather not find out what.”

“And if we don’t sign?” I ask.

His fingers blaze to life, licking at the edges of the documents with crackling electricity but not harming them.

“Then I’ll send a bolt sailing into the middle of my daughter’s bar faster than you can blink. I’ll see it burned to ash, along with anything and anyone inside, if that’s what it takes. If I have to grease the palm of every enforcer or Magikai representative that shows up for the aftermath, I will. And I can. I do not lose. It’s time you girls learned that.”

“Are we even going to exchange rings?” Starla asks, changing the topic.

“R-ring?” Councilman Taylor stumbles over the word, looking completely off-guard, although his eyes never leave the two of us.

Claude sighs, twisting one from off his finger. It’s golden with heavy ornamentation and reminds me of the class rings high school graduates from the area might wear. But this one has the Ivyrn Works crest on it. Or rather, the family crest, though it’s hard for me to think of it that way.

“Here, if this is so important. You will be looked after in accordance with my station, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m not going to shame my family name by having a beach bum as a wife. We’ll get you a real ring after the ceremony.”

He tosses it at me with a look bordering on boredom, his arm fully releasing from mine. The councilman’s gaze flicks up, following the arc of the jewelry as it sails through the air.

I take my opportunity, shoving Claude and diving for the water.

The councilman’s attention is fully focused on me now, and Starla stomps on Piers’s foot. He howls in pain, and she ducks under his arms and rolls across the sand. Her shorts and sweater are covered in glistening granules. She’s just close enough for the water to lap against her outstretched hand.

With the other, she flings the necklace toward me, the shell glowing as bright as a star.

My fingers close around it at the same time a shock jolts through me.

Pain rockets through me. Leon’s men tased me, and I thought that had hurt. I was very, very wrong.

Is our back-up coming? They were instructed to wait until we’d broken the curse, worried that an all-out battle would be just as likely to get Starla and I separated from one another or incapacitated as it would be to help us succeed.

Now though, surely Jackal is coming for me.

Councilman Taylor wraps one hand around the necklace, taking it from my grasp, and letting his lightning fall away.