Wedding Hells (Schooled in Magic Book 8) Read Free Page A

were shaking.
    “I don’t know,” she said, finally.
    Void cocked his head. “And how are you feeling physically?”
    Emily took a sip of her Kava before answering. “I have a slight headache,” she said. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand. “And it feels like my skin is on fire. Is that normal?”
    “Very little about this is normal ,” Void said. “Most magicians tend to shy away from the kind of exertion that boosts one’s powers - or burns them out completely. I think your mana reserves have swelled past the point you can store them comfortably. You need to spend more time in the spellchambers, casting spells.”
    Or draining the magic into a battery , Emily thought. It hadn’t been too hard to set up another couple of batteries, once her magic had renewed itself. But what happens if this carries on ?
    “It’s a muscle,” Void added, seemingly unaware of her thoughts. “The more you practice spells that require large amounts of mana , the more your ability to store and concentrate mana in your body increases.”
    He shrugged. “But you can handle that, I think,” he added. “You haven’t gone mad, thankfully.”
    Emily gave him a sharp look. “Is that why you stayed? Did you think I would go mad?”
    Void met her eyes, unapologetically. “The possibility needed to be considered,” he said, firmly. “And...”
    “And someone had to be there to... handle me if I went mad,” Emily interrupted. She couldn’t help feeling a stab of betrayal. Void was the closest thing she had to a real father now, but he’d stayed with her out of fear she’d go nuts. “Did you plan to kill me?”
    Void held her gaze. “Would you rather leave a possible necromancer to her own devices?”
    Emily shivered. Void had saved her life...but Lady Barb and the Grandmaster had both warned her that he shouldn’t be taken for granted. He’d done a great deal of dirty work for the White Council in the past, trampling roughshod over everything else just to get the job done. She had no doubt he would have killed her if she’d gone mad...
    ...And he would have been right. A maddened magician with her level of control - and her knowledge from another world - would have been very dangerous. But the thought didn’t make her feel any better.
    “No,” she said, finally. She put the mug down on the table. “But I haven’t gone mad, have I?”
    “No,” Void agreed. “And the more you practice with your magic, the easier it should become to handle it.”
    He cleared his throat, loudly. “There are, however, a number of matters we should discuss,” he said, changing the subject. “For starters, Mistress Irene informs me that you will need to be back at Whitehall within the week if you wish to take your Fourth Year exams. Under the circumstances, Emily, I have no doubt you could redo Third and Fourth Year if you wished, instead of trying to take the exams now. I suggest you think about it over the next day or so and then let me know what you want to do.”
    Emily didn’t need to think about it. “I want to go back,” she said. “I can’t leave Caleb in the lurch.”
    Void smiled. “Missing him already, are we?”
    “Yes,” Emily said, feeling her cheeks warming again. She’d wanted to invite her friends - and her boyfriend - to the house, but Void had cautioned her against it. “Is that so wrong?”
    “No,” Void said. He smirked. “I would advise you not to discuss your expanded powers with him, as he might get a little jealous, but that’s your choice. You might also want to warn him that you’re not entirely stable right now. There’s a good chance you’ll say something to him you’ll both regret.”
    Emily colored. The first few days in the house had been bad, very bad, as her magic slowly returned. She’d found herself crying for no reason, then screaming her rage to the heavens, unable to keep herself under control. Void had been immensely patient, she’d come to realize slowly; she doubted there