Laura Jo Phillips Read Free

“She’s never even met you.  Or Saige for that matter.”
    “Because we are Arimas,” Lariah replied.  “Mara has been the highest ranking female of Clan Katre for five hundred years, and the most powerful female of Jasan since your parents retired a couple of hundred years ago.”
    “How so?” Trey asked.  “Her rank was no higher than the wives of any of the other Clan Consuls.”
    “True, but from what I’ve learned since her attack on Rayne, she bullied the other women so much that they let her have her way in everything.  She had the most power because she took it, and they allowed it.  Until I came along.  Then Saige.  Then we both had daughters and were invited into the Hidden City.”  Lariah shook her head. 
    “Oh yes, she hates us.  Thoroughly.  And everything we represent.  That will never change.  Nor do I care to try to change it.  But I do want to know her story.  I feel that it’s important to us all.”
    “You think that the three of you, by your presence, can induce Mara to speak?” Trey asked doubtfully.
    “Yes, I do.”
    “I don’t understand the connection among the three of you,” Garen said.  “Between you and Saige, yes, you have known each other and been close friends for years.  But neither of you ever knew Summer before.”
    “I know, but I feel as though I have known Summer as long as I’ve known Saige,” Lariah said.  “It’s because of the magic.  It connects us.”
    “Do you mean like linking?  The way we are connected to one another?” Garen asked with a frown.
    “No, nothing like that,” Lariah assured him.  “I’m not sure how to explain it.”  She fell silent for a long moment and Garen, Trey and Val waited patiently.  They hoped she would find a way to tell them as they were all very curious about this.
    “Do you remember when I asked you why it was that women did not wield magic?” Lariah asked.  “Long ago, after we first met.”
    “Yes, of course,” Garen replied.  “But as I told you then, we have only theories.  No one really knows the answer to that.”
    “Well, I know the answer to that,” Lariah said, surprising them greatly. 
    “You do?” Trey asked.  “How do you know?”  
    “Well, let me tell you the answer first, then I can explain it.  I think.”  Lariah bit her lip as she tried to think of the best way to word this.  Garen reached down and rescued her lip from her teeth with a gentle finger.
    Lariah leaned forward and kissed his finger, then let her head fall back onto the pillow.  “Okay, the best way I can think of to say this is that you guys wield the magic, but I am the conduit for the magic.”
    “I don’t understand,” Garen said.  “Isn’t the magic itself everywhere, all the time?”
    “In a sense, and to a certain degree, yes.  The world around us is filled with magic.  The majority of it is within the Earth, Air, Fire and Water itself, but some of it sort of seeps out on its own.  Think of it as extra magic that just floats around waiting to be used.  That’s the magic that you, and other male-sets, use when you do not have an Arima. 
    “When you become Soul-Linked, you are able to tap into the magic directly through your Arima because an Arima is a conduit for the true magic directly from its sources.  It flows through me all of the time.  Because we are all linked, you guys are able to access it whenever you want it.”
    “So that is what the Nine meant when they said that, through the three of you, we are now truly joined with the Earth, Air, Fire and Water of this new world,” Trey said.
    “Yes,” Lariah replied.  “As conduits, our magic flowed through each other when we were connected to the Nine.”
    “Are you saying that connecting with these other women in this way means you know what they know?” Val asked.
    “No,” Lariah replied.  “It’s more like we are more aware of each other, and we seem to understand each other on a really basic level.