Chapter 3: Chapter 3

Mara, as well as many others in the magical community, looked down on the practice of Beholding. Some viewed it as a cop out, a way to boost magic for the practitioner who didn’t have much. Mara, I knew from our many discussions over the years, thought it a low-brow and “blue collar” way of doing magic. It was a snobbish view, and I disagreed. But I had still completed the ritual without telling her first.And once something like that was done, it couldn’t be undone.

When I had finally admitted what I’d done, Mara was livid. She didn’t talk to me for three weeks. Eventually, she got over it and I’d thought she’d made peace with it. At least mostly. It wasn’t uncommon for her to throw in a jab at my Beholden status every once in a while. Occasionally we’d get into real arguments about it. But nothing like what happened today because I usually shut it down before it got that far.