Tomas has lived a carefree life, his family is gone, and he has no one to cater to but himself, so he spends his nights drinking and paying for it with magic.
It was supposed to be a small spell to let young lovers have a night together without the interference of the lady’s fey godmother. It was little enough to do; he simply waited until the appointed time and opened a rift in the wall of magic around the woman in question.
He really should have asked her first.
His client tried to kill her, and Tomas ended up sentenced to having his magic bound to him for fifty years. Only one spell would come when he called, and it was the balancing spell. He was now a servant of the Crossroads, glyphed and bound.
Trill is assigned to keep an eye on his adjustment to the Crossroads, and a more reluctant parole officer has never been seen.
“Tomas Marquiset, you have been brought here today to answer to the charges brought against you by the fey court.”
Tomas stood in the shackles that the bounty hunter had placed on him, and he lifted his hands. “I am sure it was nothing but a simple misunderstanding.”
A figure in a cloak stood up and moved to the center of the chamber, a few feet in front of him. The voice that emerged was feminine, and she was not happy.
“On the sixteenth of this month, you, in a drunken state, agreed to help a suitor lift the protection of a fey godmother from her charge.”
He thought about it and shrugged. “It sounds like something I would do to get a woman out from under over-protective parents.”
The woman waved her hand and displayed the image of a young woman who had a black eye, a split lip, and a slash that ran from forehead to the left edge of her jaw.
“The so-called suitor was a stalker. The child was one night before assuming freedom over her own magic. You left her unprotected and nearly cost her her life. I will spare you what happened to the rest of her body.”
His amusement faded. “I had no idea.” Nausea and fury rose in him. If he could get his hands on that asshole, he would tear him limb from limb. He focused on the woman speaking and plotted his revenge.
“You did not ask. Your ignorance and arrogance have cost her her confidence, her ability to control her magic, and her trust in her fey godmother. Those challenges were given to her on that night, and they were delivered by you. I have discussed a few possibilities with the guild masters, and we have come to a pleasant and equitable agreement.”
He lifted his head. “I will make amends in whatever way I can. If I am allowed, I will enact vengeance on the one who asked for my spell.”
There was a ripple of laughter from the shadows, and he could feel the power of fey suddenly making themselves known.
“The vengeance is not needed. Our girl fought hard, and she destroyed the one who attacked her. The fey nearby came to help her, but she did not need our help. He was in pieces, and she was injured but alive. He should not have tried to cut her up for parts. Her beast was able to rise.”
Tomas bent over, and he threw up.
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