Wedding Hells (Schooled in Magic Book 8) Read Free

touched them with his mind and realized that Alicia, Heir Presumptive to the Barony of Gold, was waiting outside. No doubt she intended to petition him, again, to grant the rights she should have inherited from her father. After all, she was the only surviving member of her family.
    And the aristocrats are pressing me to confirm her , he thought, as he lowered the wards. And that would mean finding her a suitable husband .
    He shook his head at the thought. There were just too many demands on his time...
    ...And the more he concentrated on one problem, the more likely it was that another would explode in his face.

Chapter One
    T HE MAGIC FELT... ODD .
    Emily braced herself; power sparkled around her fingertips and surged out of control. A glowing ball of light, ominously bright and dangerously hot, appeared in front of her, already shimmering into an unpleasant red glow. Emily cursed under her breath and fought hard to regain control, throttling back on the flow of magic until the light globe slowly flickered back to normal. It was a simple spell, one she’d mastered quickly, but now there was too much power at her disposal for it to work properly. She focused her mind, locking the spell in place, and let go. The light globe drifted into the air.
    “Not too bad,” Void said.
    Emily scowled at him. “It’s shabby,” she protested, crossly. Her head throbbed as she canceled the spell, allowing the magic to drain into the ether. “And it could have turned dangerous.”
    “But it didn’t,” Void said. He rose to his feet and held out a hand to Emily, inviting her to stand. The rune she’d carved into her chest heated as it sensed the subtle magic protections surrounding him. “You’re doing better than I expected, under the circumstances.”
    Emily felt her cheeks heat. “Thank you,” she said, as she took his hand and allowed him to help her to her feet. “But it still feels frustrating.”
    “Your magic has expanded,” Void said, “ without giving you the time you needed to learn to handle it. The spells you cast by instinct are now massively overpowered. You just need to learn to control the flow of magic again.”
    He turned and walked through the door into the next room. Emily followed him, shaking her head in private amusement as he motioned her to a chair and picked up a large jug of Kava from the sideboard. She knew he had servants - she’d met them when he’d rescued her, so long ago - but he hadn’t brought any of them into her house. Instead, they’d split the cooking duties between them. And he’d never complained about her food.
    She studied him as he turned to take the seat facing her. His appearance had changed, several times, since they’d first met; this time, he was tall, with long dark hair that flowed down to his shoulders and an angular face that reminded her of the hunting hawks she’d watched in Zangaria. His dark eyes were easily the darkest she’d ever seen, so dark she sometimes fancied she could fall into them and never climb out. And the aura of power, which hung around him like a shroud, warned anyone who met Void that he was a very dangerous man.
    “You have been doing well,” he said, as he passed her a mug of Kava. “How are you feeling?”
    “Tired,” Emily said.
    Void frowned. “No nightmares?”
    “Not really,” Emily said. She had taken potions every night for a week, but even after that she hadn’t had many bad dreams. She’d expected to revisit the duel again and again in her sleep, yet she’d seen almost nothing. “Is that a bad thing?”
    “You tell me,” Void said.
    Emily frowned. She’d killed a man, personally. It wasn’t the first time she’d killed, but it was the first time she’d done it with her bare hands. Master Grey had wanted to kill her, but she’d killed him instead...and she felt almost nothing, as if she’d lost the ability to care. She’d snuffed out his life to keep him from taking hers...
    She looked down at her hands. They