Cassian's POV
I was going to kill whoever summoned me.
One second I'd been tracking a dangerous artifact through the Veil forest. The next, magic yanked me through reality like a fish on a hook. My wards hadn't even slowed it down. Whatever spell caught me was powerful enough to override protections that had kept me alive through three wars.
Now I stood in some pathetic cottage garden, facing the idiot who'd just committed two death-penalty crimes.
A woman. Young, dirt-smudged, staring at me with huge terrified eyes.
"What. Have. You. Done?" I let ice drip into every word.
She scrambled backward so fast she fell on her backside. "I—I didn't mean—you're not supposed to be—"
"Answer me!" Magic crackled around my fists. The air temperature dropped ten degrees.
"A garden sprite!" she squeaked. "I was trying to summon a garden sprite to help my plants!"
I stared at her. Then at the summoning circle she'd drawn—and my blood went cold for an entirely different reason.
Wild magic. The silver residue coating the salt lines was unmistakable. This wasn't some minor mistake. This woman had just used forbidden wild magic to create a binding spell strong enough to trap an Archmage.
"Do you have any idea who I am?" I took a step toward her.
She shook her head frantically, dirt streaking her face where she'd wiped away tears.
"I am Cassian Valorent. Archmage of the Battle Courts. The Winter Blade." I let power roll off me in waves, making the ground frost over. "And you just bound me with wild magic. The penalty for using wild magic is execution. The penalty for binding a Court Mage without permission is also execution. Congratulations. You've earned two death sentences in one night."
Her face went bone white. "No. No, that's impossible. I don't have magic. I haven't had magic for three years—"
"You just pulled me out of the Veil from ten miles away using a spell that would challenge most High Court mages." I advanced on her. "Don't lie to me."
I reached for the bond connecting us, intending to analyze it and break it immediately.
Pain exploded through my skull.
The bond was strong. Terrifyingly strong. Silver threads wrapped around my core like unbreakable chains, anchoring me to this woman and this worthless piece of land.
No. This couldn't be happening.
I turned and strode toward the property line, twenty feet away. I'd break through by force if I had to.
The moment my boot crossed the boundary, agony tore through every nerve in my body. I heard the woman scream—she felt it too. The bond yanked me backward like a leash, and I crashed to my knees, gasping.
She was on the ground too, clutching her chest and sobbing.
When the pain faded enough to think, I understood the horrible truth. Soul tether. She'd accidentally created a soul tether, one of the rarest and most dangerous forms of wild magic. I was bound to her property. I couldn't leave without both of us suffering.
"How long?" I demanded, my voice rough with pain and fury.
"What?" She looked up at me with tear-streaked cheeks.
"How long does the spell last?"
"I—I don't know—" She crawled toward her spellbook, hands shaking. "It just said to summon help for one moon cycle—"
"One moon cycle." My laugh was bitter and sharp. "You've trapped me here for thirty days."
"I didn't mean to trap you!" Her voice broke. "I was starving and desperate and I just wanted help with my garden—"
"Your garden." I looked around at the dying plants with disgust. "You risked wild magic—risked execution—for vegetables."
"I didn't know I was using wild magic!" She stood up, and I saw fire flash in her eyes despite the fear. "I told you, I don't have magic anymore. I failed my Coming of Power ceremony three years ago. Everyone saw it. I've been powerless ever since."
I studied her more carefully. Thin, almost fragile. Cheap, worn clothes. Dirt under her fingernails from real labor, not spell work. And those eyes—the desperate, haunted look of someone who'd lost everything.
My uncle's voice echoed in my head: Never trust tears. Never trust weakness. It's always a trap.
"Your magic didn't fail," I said coldly. "It evolved into wild magic. You've probably been using it for years without realizing it."
She shook her head. "That's not possible. I would know—"
"Would you? Wild magic doesn't work like Court magic. It's instinctive. Emotional. It responds to need, not training." I gestured at the cottage. "How many 'coincidences' have you noticed? Things growing when they shouldn't. Objects appearing where you need them. Lucky escapes from danger."
Her face changed. Realization and horror mixing together.
"Oh gods," she whispered. "The roses that bloomed in winter. The deer that led me to water when my well broke. The roof beam that didn't fall even though it should have..." She looked at her hands like they belonged to a stranger. "I thought I was just lucky."
"You were doing wild magic. Untrained, uncontrolled wild magic." I clenched my fists. "Which makes you a danger to yourself and everyone around you. When this bond breaks in thirty days, I'm taking you to the High Courts for proper containment."
"Containment?" The fear came flooding back. "You mean execution."
I didn't answer. We both knew what the Courts did to wild magic users.
She wrapped her arms around herself. "Please. There has to be another way. Help me break the spell now, and I'll disappear. You'll never see me again—"
"I've already tried to break it. This bond is too complex to unravel quickly." I hated admitting it, but facts were facts. "We're stuck here together until the moon cycle ends."
"Then what do we do?"
"You stay out of my way while I work on breaking this bond. I'll secure the property and make sure you don't accidentally kill us both with more wild magic." I looked at her cottage with distaste. "Do you have a spare room, or am I sleeping outside?"
"There's a spare room, but—"
"Good. Show me."
She stood there, trembling and small, and for one second I felt something almost like guilt. She really hadn't meant to trap me. She'd been desperate and alone and had made a terrible mistake.
Then I remembered the last time I'd let sympathy cloud my judgment. Remembered finding my best friend's body after I'd trusted the wrong person.
This woman might seem innocent, but she'd just caged the realm's most dangerous mage with wild magic. Whether she'd meant to or not, she was now the greatest threat to my survival.
And I didn't let threats live.
She turned to lead me toward the cottage, her shoulders hunched in defeat.
That's when I felt it—a second magical signature, faint but approaching fast. Someone was coming. Someone who'd just felt the massive surge of wild magic from the summoning.
I grabbed the woman's arm and yanked her behind me.
"What—"
"Be quiet," I ordered. "We have company."
Three figures emerged from the Veil forest, moving toward us with clear hostile intent.
And they were dressed in the colors of the High Magic Courts.