Law of Shadows

“Two is more than one.”

- A memory of the Old Ones.

***Spain***

***Magnus***

I step through the doorway and follow Tina into her domain. Sely is right next to me, dressed in a white gown which looks simply stunning on her. If it was up to me, I would never let go of her.

What awaits us is quite surprising. There is no glamorous mansion, no huge castle, not even a villa! I am standing on a seemingly endless beach with an ocean to my left and, a generous distance away from the beach, several houses to my right. On the beach are about two dozen Old Ones who are busy preparing a grill-party, while more are having fun with decorating the paved plaza which is located between the houses and the beach.

I raise my eyebrows, asking myself if it was worth the effort to dress myself up like a penguin. “Maybe I should have chosen the swimming trunks? By the way, nice effect with the ocean and the beach. Are you folding the borders of your reality marble?”

Tina smiles, but doesn't answer. Hatlix follows me through the doorway and pats my back. “Cool effect, is it not? I fiddled with the details for over a year. The mathematical quirks of the spell are really complicated. But the end result was definitely worth it.”

Sely raises both eyebrows. “You created this reality marble for the Rhondu?”

“What do you mean? I created it for Cecilia and her family, who I am very fond of.” He grins and waves his hand at one of the Old Ones on the beach. “Hey, Jenn! I see that you are still alive. How is it going with your husband?”

The person in question squints her eyes and starts a tirade. “I heard that you didn't kick the bucket, but I didn't want to believe it. The thought of you resting peacefully under two metres of earth is much more comfortable...”

She keeps bickering, but I stop listening when it becomes clear that she isn't hostile. Despite her words, her tone isn't threatening.

The others follow us through the doorway and Cecilia hurries to catch up to Hatlix. Lately, they are spending a lot of time together.

“It's too bad that Eva declined when I invited her to our wedding. She acted as if I wanted to bring her to her own funeral,” Sely mumbles, clearly disappointed.

I sigh. “Our people have a certain reputation for violence. It's no wonder that she doesn't want to risk walking among more than fifty Old Ones. She trusts us not to harm her in a fit of rage, but she clearly doesn't extend her trust to another clan.”

Oilell appears in front of us, a plate with spare ribs in her hand. “She is just a chicken. Look at me! I am not an Old One, but I am perfectly fine with walking among you.”

“Thief!” An Old One at the grill-party shouts. He picks up a large skewer and runs towards us.

“Oops. Looks like my presence wasn't announced. I'll excuse myself, Master.” Oilell blurs and a trail of footprints appears, leading down the beach.

Sely clears her throat. “Her ability astonishes me every time, no matter how often I see it. At such speeds I would expect displaced air or something similar. But look, she didn't even throw up sand. It's as if she can completely defy physics.”

I clear my throat. “I don't think that it's as easy as that. She isn't just moving at incredible speed. Oilell clearly activates some kind of magic when she accelerates. Unfortunately, she never told me her secret, but I have the suspicion that she is somehow accelerating her own time by creating a miniature space-time bubble around her. It's related to the reality marbles, just a different application. One could say that she has her own version of a warp drive. The bubble is the reason why she blurs when she starts moving.”

“I thought that Oilell is our family's servant. Can't you just order her to tell you the trick?” Annia asks from behind us.

I grin. “She may be a servant, but she isn't a slave. The contract clearly allows her enough freedom to have her own secrets and make her own decisions. Oilell evades every question about her abilities or the whereabouts of her race. I also think that she can terminate her relationship with my family any time she wishes.”

The enraged Old One with the skewer reaches our group and gets intercepted by Tina. We leave it to her to inform her clan-members of Oilell's presence.

Meanwhile, Cecilia continues to introduce us to everyone. It quickly becomes clear that Hatlix is well known character among the Rhondu. They treat him like an honoured guest.

We follow them and spend the rest of the day with traversing back and forth between the beach party and the plaza. There is beer, wine and food, so I eat like a horse and try to forget about all our worries.

Once there are a few silent moments, I search for Grandpa and ask him what's the deal with the Rhondu. “Grandpa, why do you know them so well? I never heard of you having such good connections to other clans.”

Hatlix sighs and turns his attention to me. He was engaged in devouring a plate of seafood. “That's all a bit complicated and goes back to the time when your grandma was alive. There is no way around it, so instead of boring you with every little detail, I'll give you the short version. I wasn't always a Bathomeus.”

He stays silent for a few moments, gathering his thoughts. “A long time ago, I was more like a free spirit. I wandered a lot and researched the art of enchanting, gathering artefacts all over the world. It was a nice, and most importantly, free life. On one of my adventures, I met Cecilia and Juliet. They were searching for a legendary artefact, so since we shared the same goal, we joined forces.”

Clearing his throat, he continues, “One thing led to another and I hooked up with both of them. They were both pretty, nice, and I loved them. If someone had asked me to choose one, I couldn't have done so. We travelled a lot and did all sorts of things together. Like creating this reality marble. For a very long time everything seemed okay, since Cecilia and Juliet were very good friends.

“But in the end Juliet couldn't cope with a relationship between three people. I guess that someone always has to get the short stick. In our case, that was Juliet and she couldn't handle it. Juliet grew ever more jealous and when she got pregnant Cecilia decided to step aside. I suspect that they made a deal of whoever would get knocked up first could have me.”

He sighs. “Cecilia returned to her clan, the Rhondu. I stayed with Juliet because I had to take responsibility for the child. So I became a Bathomeus. But don't think that I didn't love your grandmother. It broke my heart when she got killed in a skirmish with the fae. It was one of those stupid battles long after the war was over. I also got wounded by that arrow.

“I mourned her for years. Cecilia visited often, but we never returned to the old times.” He waves his hand in a helpless gesture. “I wasn't quite myself with that thing inside my brain. And Cecilia became the head of her clan, so she had her own troubles and responsibilities. I just hope that she doesn't return to her old duties. Having her around is quite pleasurable, if you know what I mean.”

I smirk. “Everyone knows. Hey, why don't you ask her to marry you and then we can have a double wedding?”

“That's an excellent idea! I'll go and ask her right now.” He gets up from his seat, forsaking his food, and walks away in search of Cecilia.

Wait.

What?

Stop.

I meant that as a joke! I try to follow Hatlix, but a certain someone holds onto my clothes.

“Let him go. It's his own choice whether he asks her or not.”

I turn to Sely. “How did you guess my thoughts? And I didn't mean it!”

She shakes her head and links arms with me. “They want to start the ceremony. Hatlix and Cecilia are adults, so leave them to their shenanigans.” Sely guides me back to the plaza where the others are waiting.

Tina is standing in front of the magical circle, which we agreed we wouldn't activate. I try not to ruin the moment by saying something stupid, so I simply follow Sely and step onto the circle with her. As the clan-head of the bride, Tina is the one who performs the ritual. She starts reciting the ancient words in the guttural tones of the first language.

I already dread the moment when I have to perform such a ceremony. A cheat slip wouldn't be such a bad idea. My mind starts wandering while Tina talks about eternal love and the merging of two hearts. As if I would need such proof. Sely is already my perfect partner. I don't need magic to make sure of that.

What felt like an eternity passes before Tina finally finishes her speech. Returning to normal Akkadian, she asks me, “Do you wish to protect each other until death?”

“Of course,” I answer and Sely replies with, “Yes!”

It feels unbelievably satisfying to be done with this ceremony. Even more so now that addressing Sely as my wife is finally a proper thing to do. I don't really listen to Tina when I turn to Sely and kiss her, hugging her. She plays with my lips and wraps her arms around my head.

When our tongues touch, there is a sudden jolt of electricity and I feel magical energies curling around us, through us. The logical part of my brain tells me that we should stop kissing and find out what's happening, but the animalistic side doesn't want to let go of my wife. Time seems to come a creeping halt and the moment stretches out forever!

She is mine.

He is mine.

No, Sely is a she! Magnus is a he!

What's wrong with my thoughts? I didn't think that.

Shut up, my curse did something! Oh, yes! The curse.

Sely? Magnus? Wait no, did the curse activate?

That's bad! I think it latched onto you, Magnus! Heck, no!

'Don't worry! I think it's actually a good thing.'

I finally manage to discern my own thoughts from Sely's. I concentrate. 'Why is that a good thing?'

'Because that's what the marriage bond is supposed to do! Maybe I'll be free at last,' her thoughts echo through my mind.

'So what do I have to do?' I ask.

'Just don't interfere with the wild magic and kiss me,' she suggests.

That's something she doesn't have to tell me twice, so I am actually disappointed when the wild magic disperses as if it had never existed. Our lips part and I look up to find out that the other guests of the party had fled in all directions. The pavement is glowing red in a radius of two metres around us. It's hot like hell and I feel as if I am inside an oven! I curse when I realize that the soles of my shoes are melting! I pick Sely up and hurry away from the area.

“What happened!?” I ask, studying the small zone which was burned to a crisp.

“I think that my curse recognized you as my husband. Otherwise you would be a pile of ash.” Sely giggles happily. “Do you feel the magic between us? I think the curse transformed into a blessing.”

I gulp and try to investigate my own magic. “I just feel like something changed. I feel more powerful.”

“As do I. And I feel like doing something else.” Sely kisses my neck, which really doesn't feel so bad.

“Are you two okay?” Tina asks. She and the others returned to our side when it became clear that we are no longer magical volcanoes.

I put Sely down on the ground and shrug. She answers for me. “I don't know what happened, but I feel better than ever. Maybe it would help if you tell us what you saw.”

Tina spreads her hands. “I don't know. You kissed and wild magic wrapped around both of you. The power erupted outwards and it became unbearable to stay in your vicinity. You two should definitely try to find out what's wrong with your magic.”

I nod. “Of course! We'll do that right after solving all our other problems!”

Tina snorts and sighs upon seeing the damage which we dealt to the magical circle. “Hatlix, Cecilia, what do you two think about an old fashioned marriage on the beach? We can use the sand to cast an improvised circle.”

Oh? So they'll marry too?

One of the Rhondu raises his hand. “We have a lot of tin in the warehouse. I'll go and get it.” He runs off towards the houses.

We look around and search for the second couple, but they are nowhere to be found. Tina curses. “Where are they?”

In a blur of colours, Oilell appears next to Tina, pointing a skewer with a piece of meat at a few trees. “I would check over there. The bushes are moving strangely.”