Amplified by Leigh Roman

Author:Leigh Roman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: wyvern, dragon, magic, magick, adventure, suspense, paranormal suspense, ghosts
Publisher: Brass Rag Press
Published: 2022-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

I shivered as my mother’s words drifted through my mind.

“Never, ever, agree to anything without knowing the price first. Magick can be expensive. Always be sure you can afford the cost, and are willing to pay, before you use it.”

Cole stood behind me, looking over my shoulder. “You aren’t going to use that, are you?”

“Not on your life. Not without knowing what kind of price it’s talking about.”

“Look at the designs in the margins. Maeve showed me something similar once. Unless I’m mistaken, that’s a binding spell. Use the incantation inside it to find anything in this book and you’ll be tied to it, maybe for life.”

My attention caught, I stared at the border. An interlace motif ran endlessly around the page’s edge, with a knot at each crossing. As I gazed at it, the design rippled, the knots loosening and tightening in time with my breathing. My mouth opened and—

Cole squeezed my shoulders hard, shaking me out of the spell’s grip.

“Turn the page, Char. Or better yet, close the damn thing and we’ll burn it.”

“I don’t burn books,” I said automatically. “What happened?”

“You started the spell. I called your name, shook you, with no response. You were halfway through the second line when I—” He looked away, a dark blush staining his cheeks. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of any other way to pull you out of it. Did I hurt you?”

I rubbed my shoulder. “I’m fine. Thank you for stopping me. I don’t want to be bound to this thing.”

“Glad to see we’re on the same page.” His lips quirked, despite the lingering worry in his eyes.

I clapped a hand to my forehead dramatically. “Goddess, preserve me from terrible puns,” I said. The moment of humor eased the tension, but I still needed to know which spell Simon had used. At this point, I was sure he was our villain, the lack of supporting evidence notwithstanding. “Right. So what do we know about the spell’s elements?”

“It requires a blood sacrifice,” Cole said, then winced in sympathy as I shivered.

Stiffening my shoulders, I nodded. “Yes, and according to Medea’s research notes, it has to be done in threes.”

“And I think we can safely assume it needs to be repeated every decade.”

“Or every repetition increases its power, the time between notwithstanding.” I brought the scene in my living room into my mind’s eye. The blood, the small, circle-shaped void, the pile of gray ash... My head snapped up.

“That’s why,” I said.

Cole stared at me, confused. “That’s why what?”

“That’s why Simon was at the library. When I examined the scene of my father’s murder, there was a pile of ash. I thought then that it was more than a spell written on paper would produce. My father fought back, Cole. I think he somehow burned the second codex, and that’s why Simon invaded the library to get the last copy.”

Understanding dawned, and Cole nodded. “That makes sense. And if it’s true, it means...”

“It means we have something Simon wants. We have leverage.

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