Magician's Touch (Deadly Touch book 3) Chapter 44: 44: Even Prettier

Read chapter 44 of Magician's Touch (Deadly Touch book 3) by Deb E Howell on NovelPedia.

Braph returned to his reality to the hiss of his machinery finishing its compression cycle. First, though, he had to sit with what he had learned. The sap crystals worked. The sap had solidified perfectly to shape within his mold, taking on a mottling of clear and milky browns, so slotted nicely into his cuff device. The power had a soft quality, not so intense as Syaenuk blood, possibly less addictive. While one could feel the flow of Syaenuk blood through the veins, the sap’s power radiated more diffusely. He had detected no discernible difference in his ability to communicate over distance. Flight, though, involved multiple concurrent processes, what with lifting a body, propelling it through the air, and protecting it from the air itself and from things that shared the airspace – birds, insects, and water in all its phases – and he wasn’t confident he could rely on the sap to power that. He would investigate further in the future, but it wouldn’t be worth the risk for his next jaunt. Much better to travel in the style he was used to: powered by Immortal blood. Jonas was surprisingly … lively; much stronger than Braph would’ve expected, too. He hadn’t sensed Syakaran strength, but Jonas should have been on the edge of death, if not gone already. Llewella’s tenacity in keeping Jonas fueled with her blood was impressive. And, he couldn’t be sure, but it had seemed that Jonas may have been hovering when Braph first entered his mind. Surely not. He had fallen almost instantly, Braph’s presence shattering his concentration. Given Jonas’s new disability, that made sense. And yet … He couldn’t allow them to progress further. What benefit was there in risking a fair fight now? Braph had spent half his life pursuing just that and, it could be argued, had already succeeded. Yes, Llewella had muddied the waters, leaving Braph himself in doubt of a fair outcome. But she had aided Jonas, of course. Had she not been there, Braph would’ve won, he was sure. It still irked him that no one else knew. Quaver had been supposed to welcome Braph back as their true hero, superior in brains and brawn. A hero who’d earned his accolades, every step, not one coddled as soon as he rounded his mother’s belly. He would never be Quaver’s son, but what was life if not a series of adaptations to disappointments? And he was a father himself, now. Father to the rebirth of Immortals, with all the responsibilities that came with that, and no one to guide him in it. He had to equip himself. He would collect Orin’s blood while his son allowed it, but he wasn’t ignorant enough to think that arrangement would last forever. The sap was a good backup. He needed to explore it deeper. The most intoxicating power he had ever infused had been Llewella’s when she had carried Jonas’s Immortal spawn. Would he ever experience that again? Llewella clearly remained barren, for now, or she would have healed Jonas with a touch. Pregnancy would break the Aenuk-Karan barrier and, Braph suspected, it would allow Llewella to drain the micro-organism either while Jonas still lived, or would allow her to return life to him after the bug was killed. Clearly, that was not a power available to Braph. He allowed himself some sorrow that he was a mere Karan. No, he didn’t believe that made a difference to Orin. Even if it had at one point it had become moot the moment he’d absorbed Aris’s power. It did mean that any Syaenuk carrying Braph’s child versus that of Jonas would deliver a diminished power in their blood. But there was nothing to be gained in keeping Jonas simply to stud for superior crystals. There would be no containing Jonas if Braph allowed Llewella to heal him fully, and keeping Jonas alive in his current state would require far too much of Llewella’s blood; it would leave almost none for Braph. No, there was no future in which Jonas survived. He opened his machine, pulled out the resulting crystal in a simple metal clamp, and held it up to the light. Just like any other of