Bloodline Alchemy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 6), Lan Chan [free ebook reader for android TXT] 📗

of course, left the Dominion in a big pile of shit. From what I’d heard, they’d had to pull Professor Mortimer from Bloodline to look after it temporarily. I’d have liked to report back that Basil gave a damn, but I wasn’t particularly fond of lying.

When she saw that I wasn’t going to budge, Agatha’s mouth stretched into a wide smile. “The blade allows you to strike the malachim and hold them in this dimension.” A statement. “Pardon my ignorance but your kitchen magic doesn’t encompass that kind of skill and your alchemy, though strong, shouldn’t be able to do it either. So the question is…what have you been doing to harness that kind of power?”

More than one pair of eyes in the room narrowed. The Blonde Shifter’s blue eyes became flecked with yellow.

“What do you think I’ve been doing?”

Andrei tapped my shoulder lightly. I stepped on his foot for real. If they wanted to believe the worst of me, I wasn’t going to correct them. At this point, it wasn’t even worth it.

“I don’t think you quite grasp the enormity of what you’re doing,” Orin said, his knuckles turning blue as he gripped the edge of the table.

I tapped at the side of my nose. “I think the gist of it is that your community is grappling with an extinction event and you’re terrified and looking for a scapegoat.”

“Our community?” Megan raised a brow. “Last time I checked, you’ve spent your whole life as part of our community.”

I matched her tone. “Yes, your community. I’ve been a prisoner in a shifter compound and then an outcast and now a fugitive. I belong with the humans. Lex saved us, remember? If I wanted to, I could teleport back to the human population and live out my life under the guise of Lucifer’s promise.”

“Then why haven’t you?”

Crossing my arms, I tried to mimic the incredulous looks they gave me. “Maybe I enjoy messing with supernaturals. After all, it only seems fair.”

“So, you admit to following your great-grandfather’s footsteps?” Agatha asked. A shadow crawled over her features like a shroud that sucked in all light. Brimstone and metal hit the back of my throat again. Something ominous dragged a chill finger down my spine. Despair snagged at my gut for a moment before something Professor Suleiman had taught me in Magic Resistance kicked in.

Roses, I thought. Coconut and lime ice cream on a hot day. Marshmallows on top of a steaming mug of hot chocolate. The funny stink from the billabong that we put up with because the bunyip needed it and the yowies were cute. That second before Lex and I burst out laughing when we couldn’t contain our mirth any longer. The crinkling of light grey eyes when they caught me staring and my face burned from a blush.

The pink of my blood alchemy flared, scraping away the traces of black that had tried to infiltrate my thoughts. Bit by bit, the sludge of misery Agatha had tried to instil in my brain dissipated. I took in a shuddering breath and shot her a filthy look. “Stay out of my head!”

There wasn’t even a hint of apology in her contemplative smile. “Very good. There are some high-magic mages who would have found that exhausting.”

“I don’t think we’re here to test dangerous hypotheses on Sophie,” Jacqueline said.

Agatha’s lips pursed. “If you had done your job properly, there wouldn’t have been two low-magic witches with questionable powers at large.”

“Or,” Jacqueline countered, “I’ve done my job perfectly well and that’s why we have two low-magic witches at large and not a population of dead or enslaved supernaturals.”

“Tell that to your grandson.”

Jacqueline didn’t have time to lose her temper because Max’s arm snaked out and cinched around Agatha’s throat.

“What have I said about running your mouth off?” Max said. Were it not for the claustrophobic dominance radiating off him, you wouldn’t be able to tell that he’d just lost his temper. Aside from where the veins popped in his arm as he gripped Agatha’s throat, everything else about him was bland. Like he would think nothing of crushing her skull and then going back to reading boring duty reports in the same breath.

“Maximus...” Griff started to say. A swirl of indigo purple threaded with brown streaks whipped about Agatha’s fingers. It formed a dense cloud that shrouded her in mist. Everyone on the Council table pushed their seats backwards as Max raised himself to his feet, hauling Agatha up with him. She was tall, maybe five-foot-ten, but compared to his six-foot-four, her feet were dangling in no time.

White lines bracketed Agatha’s mouth where she was having trouble sucking in a breath. It didn’t lessen the disdain in her voice a fraction. “My, my,” she hacked. “Did I poke the beast? Well, in for a penny...”

Max’s lips pulled into a vicious grin. “Go ahead. See how far your little spell gets–”

Agatha balled her fist, and a fireball of volatile high magic came hurtling towards me. Max snarled and tossed her sideways. She shot out of eyeline. I heard a bang and thought she had probably hit the wall. He made to pounce over the table when I shouted, “Don’t!” He paused, every muscle in his body straining.

One of my simple protection circles would have been like tissue paper against a fireball. Throwing up my hands, alchemic magic shot from my palms, turning the circle into a red infused barrier that ate up the high-magic as it connected. My stomach lurched as my magic began to transmute the core of Agatha’s intent. It was laced with amusement and experimentation. She’d known that I would counteract her powers with my own. She was testing me. Bit by bit, I dispersed the high magic and turned it into steam. It boiled and bubbled, but in the end, all it did was fog up the windows and make my sleeves damp.

“Well, well,” Agatha said, coming back into view. She straightened the pointed teeth on her necklace. “You’ve learned a