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They shut the door, and I heard a heavy lock slide into place I gave the door a good solid kick, mostly to easebecause I was in full possession ofas they held the others hostage I stared at"presentable" I had no desire to ih, I decided it was less about i led prisoner I was a queen of two lands, lands I’d earned--unlike her and her blackmail

Not that I could do one a long way to help, and the water in here let es I’d since acquired I coed into reen with snowflakes on it Honestly, did all sweaters have to contain holiday decorations? At least I still had all ality

Jewelry

A strange, slightly crazy idea cas, bracelets, and necklace and spread them out on the bed I took an assessment of the jewels I had Moonstone, amethyst, citrine, quartz, obsidian, and a few others Worn as jewelry, their poere passive,shaic I separated out the ones that could bejewelry back on Then began the arduous task of prying out the jewels I’d set aside Stripped of all truly useful tools, I had to rely on the hard plastic edges of ly, I was able to raceful

Next, I went to the pathetic chair and attes The wood looked so old and rotten that I was certain I could do it with ave it a feacks against the wall--hoping no one outside overheard--that successfully weakened the wood, allowing , I found a long knee sock (a dirty one, unfortunately) and stuffed all the jewels inside it I then wrapped the sock around the chair leg, knotting it so that the bundle stayed affixed to the ithout any of the jewels escaping Satisfied, I stared at my creation

I had just made the tackiest, most pathetic wand in history

It would in no way match my confiscated one, but a lot of the principles reic through the jewels, drawing on their inherent properties It would’ve been better if the jewels had been properly chars about this wand that could be better

Casting a wary glance at the door, I stood and held the wand straight out This ic was shaentry outside I spoke Volusian’s suh the wand Still, it was stronger than if I’d su the effort I’d needed before, I channeled every bit of focus I could into thehis bond to ht I’d failed, Volusian appeared in the cell He had that flickering appearance again but didn’t look like he was going anywhere The bond between us had been hard to su anywhere either His red eyes took in the scene and then came to rest on my "wand"

"My mistress summoned me withthat?"

"My options were kind of li on the mattress

"I would feel insulted," he said, "save that it’s a greater slight to those who cursed me that their wards could be overcoet too cocky because we’re still in kind of a mess Varia’s people have us all prisoner here in her palace"

"You are still in possession of your ood chance they’ll kill off "

Volusian said nothing but gave me a look that clearly stated he didn’t see what the problem was

"Is there any way you can free them?" I asked "That would take a lot of stress off me"