Splinter (The Machinists Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

“It’s the Arch Mage, Leira. And he has the consent of the Forum—they have the only authority.”
    “No,” Leira said again. “The Forum can no more destroy a Family than they can create one. We are held together by the bonds that brought us together in the first place, and I will not see them broken. I won’t let this Family splinter.”
    Jaxon stood and stepped toward Leira, reaching out a compassionate hand. She recoiled.
    “What do you mean to do?” Jaxon asked.
    “They must have given a reason.” She said it as much to herself as she did him.
    “Their charge,” Jaxon said slowly, “is an act of war against a magi Family without the consent of the Forum.”
    “If the Forum had acted in the first place, we wouldn’t have been forced to…” She bit her bottom lip angrily.
    Jaxon held up a hand. “But,” he said, letting the word hang in the air for a long second, “I believe their true reason remains unspoken. My mother said something I can’t seem to shake free from. She said the members of the Family would be absorbed by the other Families, that their magi bloodlines would continue. Only the McCollum Family name would cease to exist.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “They want us,” Jaxon said. “But they don’t want our Family.”
    “Why?”
    “Because we’re weak. We have nothing to offer and would be a drain on any Family that took us in.”
    “But that’s not true,” Leira said. “We have Liam. And Allyn. We know about a new kind of magi.”
    “I know.”
    “We have to speak to the Forum.”
    “That’s not going to happen,” Jaxon said. “They won’t assemble for us. Remember, we no longer exist in their eyes.”
    “Then what do we do?”
    “We force them to look at us.”
    “How?”
    “We show them our strength.”

Chapter 3
    A llyn held his breath as Kendyl removed his bandage. Her dark hair was pulled back in a quick ponytail, and a couple of strands hung loose to frame her face. She wore the black magi compression armor, though hers was untarnished—unlike his, hers had never seen battle. It had never seen death.
    Allyn grimaced. The bandage had a way of sticking to the wound, so that when Kendyl pulled the strip away, it tugged painfully on his blistered skin.
    Kendyl sighed, her eyes darting to his before returning to the wound. “Why don’t you just have Nyla or Leira heal this?”
    The brand looked worse than it had the last time she’d changed the dressing. The skin around the edges was dry and leathery, and the angry-red center looked wet, even though she hadn’t yet applied the salve. Small crimson droplets spattered the inside of the bandage, but the wound didn’t bleed in the open air, though it did seep when he moved his arm to look at it. Liam hadn’t cauterized the edges of the brand as thoroughly as Rory had his.
    “That’s not how the ceremony works,” Allyn said. “It has to heal on its own. It’s a magi rite of passage.”
    “It’s barbaric.” The heat in her voice surprised him.
    “I think it’s kind of beautiful.”
    Shaking her head, Kendyl grabbed the bottle of water off the windowsill. She poured some over the top of his arm, just below the shoulder so that the cool liquid trickled down over the brand.
    Allyn grimaced as the water washed over the wound and dripped from his elbow onto the bed. Kendyl’s room, like his, was full of childhood relics. A princess pillowcase accompanied the pink frilly comforter that covered her bed, and the door was covered in faded Barbie stickers. They had found old toys hidden under the bed and inside the small closet. Kendyl displayed them on the windowsill. She wasn’t embarrassed; she was proud.
    When they had first moved in, she had attempted to give the room to someone more valuable, but Jaxon hadn’t allowed it. The McCollum Family were guests in the cabin, and as the host and hostess, Allyn and Kendyl had the privilege of their own rooms.
    “You confuse me sometimes, Kendyl. I know you