Lissa Kasey - Dominion 3 - Conviction Read Free Page A

not!” Sei cried. “I play with them but never eat them.”
Sei’s new moon counterpart was something of a legend. I’d heard he could do it, even seen some of the aftereffects, but had never experienced his change. Mostly because mine came at the same time as his, and we were very different animals. He could also change on non-new moon nights. I’d never tried, since most said it couldn’t be done. But he could. The last time he’d changed I’d found him cowering in a closet of a farmhouse, human in form but cat in thought. Sometimes, it felt like he hadn’t come back all the way. “We can rent snowshoes. There might have even been some in the cabins. They’d act more like your paws do when you’re a lynx, but they’re harder as a human. You have to lift your feet.”
“What do you turn into?” Jamie inquired, eyes flashing with curiosity. Since the Dominion, the ruling body of magic, didn’t approve of new moon transformations, it wasn’t something we talked about. “A fish?”
I brushed my blond hair out of my eyes, shoving it more firmly under my hat. “Yeah, a dolphin. Once a mammal always a mammal, I guess. My parents have an indoor saltwater pool. But it’s pretty limiting.” Of my whole family, only my mother and I could change. I wondered what it would be like to change in the ocean for once, see millions of fish, swim in the vast wide blue. Earth witches seemed to have more options. “The three of us will probably never spend the new moon together. Must be fun for you and Sei to run. What’s your counterpart?”
“He’s a bear.” Seiran said it like it was a “duh” moment.
I suppose that made sense. Jamie was a big guy, midthirties, over six feet, covered in muscles. Though, other than his long blond hair, he didn’t seem all that hairy. But maybe he was a sculptor. I liked a man with hair and wished he’d give up some of the manscaping. It sort of felt like prying to stare too much since he was my best friend’s brother, no matter how interested I was, so searching for stubble was out of the question.
“Lynx don’t like bears much. Sei kind of goes all the way, and it upsets him when I’m around. Gabe usually follows him.” Jamie sounded a little sad about the topic. “What about you? How many days do you change? What’s it like to be underwater for long periods of time? Do you feel like a real dolphin, or do you retain your humanity?”
Sei slapped Jamie’s shoulder. “Stop. You’re like a cop giving him the third degree. Creepy, Jamie. Jeez.” He hit a minor hill and seemed to be stuck. He reached again for Jamie, who was closer, but I pulled up behind him and nudged his skis enough to help him over the hill. “Just ignore him, Kelly.”
“I don’t mind.” Catching Jamie’s eye, I winked at him. “He can give me the third degree anytime. ’Sides, the Ascendance talks about it all the time.” Sometimes the group was more refreshing than the Dominion since they actually were real about things like new moon transformations. But the Ascendance was made up mostly of untrained men. I wondered just how accurate any of their ideals were. At least the Dominion had rules that tried to keep people from getting hurt.
The haunted look that crossed Sei’s face made me want to smack myself for bringing it up. The Ascendance reminded him of Andrew Roman, who had a never-ending quest to make Gabe’s life miserable. Roman was one of the leaders of the Ascendance, and though he seemed to want equality for male witches, he wanted to kill Seiran just to make Gabe suffer.
“Sorry,” I whispered, feeling like the biggest ass in the world.
“For what?”
“Hey,” Jamie interrupted, probably to change the course of his brother’s thoughts. “Let’s hook up the rope. Me in front, Sei in the middle, and Kelly, will you go last?”
“Sure.” I leaned in and latched a cord to the belt on Seiran’s snowsuit. Jamie could no doubt pull us both with little trouble, but Sei and I liked