Page 42 of Beauty At Stake
“Shahzy.”
I blinked at the warning in Raza's tone. I had called him on his weak parenting a few times, and he'd been making an effort to be firmer with her. But it still surprised me.
“Okay, Daddy.” She wilted and so did Raza.
But he didn't weaken. “Good girl. Go on now. I'll be home later.”
“I love you!”
“I love you too, dragonling.” Raza crouched to hug her.
Then I did the same. It made me feel a little better when Shahzy hurried into my arms.
“I love you, Mom.”
Aw, Mom. So she wasn't feeling as needy anymore. Good.
“I love you too, baby girl.” I kissed her cheek and nudged her toward the door.
After we had the door shut and locked, Raza and I went into the treasure room. It was surprisingly large for a hidden room. The first time I entered it, I was shocked that it was off the master bedroom, but the more I thought about it, the more that made sense. What safer place for the treasures of Unseelie than hidden within the King's bedroom? Anyone who wanted to get into the treasure room had to get past Raza first.
Frankly, if you could get past Raza, you deserved whatever treasure you could hold.
Raza led the way into the treasure room, taking me past shelves full of precious and powerful things. He paused, lookingaround, then went to a set of drawers whose tops formed a counter down the center of the room. Raza pulled open a couple of drawers before he found what he was after. He set a book as thick as my hand on the top of the drawers.
Bound in black leather, of course, it had the silhouette of a dragon on the cover, embossed in silver. No words. Just the dragon.
“This is King Raza the First's spellbook?”
“Yes.” Raza opened the book and started skimming the pages without bothering to angle it toward me. I didn’t mind since I couldn’t read the Fey language the book was written in.
Yeah, I know. I'm the Queen of two out of the three Fairy kingdoms in Fairy (and one on Earth). I've been Queen for several years. I should know the language by now. But I've been busy.
“Here it is,” Raza said. “This spell can summon anyone to you, no matter their race. It will pull them through any barrier as well, bringing them directly to you.”
“Sounds as if it would work on Demons.”
“It would. But you need something personal from your target—a bit of hair, nail, or blood. It can't be lint off their shirt. It must be of their body.”
“And there's no way that Witch got a piece of Losuc.”
“It's doubtful.”
“What else is in there?” I peered at the parchment pages. Anything that might help us?”
Raza shut the book and put it back in the drawer.
“Raza?”
“No.”
“What the hell, Raza?”
“That is not a path I want to go down, Seren. I believe it's what turned my grandfather into a mad tyrant.”
I stared at him. “Are the spells bad?”
“They are spells created out of necessity. Often necessity means war.”
