“Of course you do,” Lucus said. “You’re a mage.”
“You still sound super angry about that fact. You know I can’t help being what I am. It’s not like I was all ‘Hey, Universe, hook me up with some blood from a complete dumpster fire guy from the Renaissance, why don’t you?’”
“I am trying to remember the value of choice and the weight it should have on my feelings. My heart and my mind know you aren’t my enemy, but my blood shrieks the opposite.”
Not a fan of shrieking blood. “Okay. Well, my blood isn’t saying anything bad about you.” I turned to find him standing closer than I’d thought. His chest moved against my arm, and my skin soaked in his warmth and the tingling pleasure that emanated from him. His breath stirred my hair as he studied my face, the moonlight casting his shadow around me like a ghostly fortress. Yeah, his blood might have been screaming Get away from the evil mage but mine was singing He is hot as sin and actually pretty damn nice and we want to jump his bones.
He pushed a strand of my hair behind my ear, the touch making me dizzy and the bond between us taut. I was keenly aware of my nakedness under his robe.
“I mulled over our situation while you slept,” he said, “about how I might make your role more comfortable.”
Was he talking about the fact that we were fated or about me breaking their curse and freeing them to eat the world like a Hot Now donut from Krispy Kreme? I was going with the curse thing. “I appreciate that, but until we see if I can even do anything, it’s kind of a waste of time.”
He blinked. “I suppose. I have little doubt you’ll accomplish some change.”
If I could gain control of my magic, maybe I could just off them all. Ugh. I hated that I’d even thought of that. It was rough. But at the same time, they were monsters. Not all bad, but monsters indeed.
My eyes adjusted to the moonlit chamber, and I left Lucus to find the unicorn skull, as one does. But where Kaippa had left the skull there was now a large, plum-colored book with tattered edges. Two twined snakes marked the cover.
At my touch, they slithered.
I breathed in, feeling magic rushing through me. My heart jumped. Was I going to have another attack? I fisted my trembling hands, wishing I could throat-punch my magic into behaving.
A warm hand touched my shoulder. Lucus looked from me to the spell book. “Feel your magic. Trust yourself. If you’re ready, open it. I know the simplest spells will be at the beginning.”
I couldn’t feel any magical instincts. Nothing. “Right.” I exhaled and opened the book anyway.
The scent of something like salt and burning herbs filled my nose. Markings like the ones on the floor danced over the front page, shifting to become readable.
To raise your energy, for a fight, for defense
Rub two henbane petals between the palms
Breathe the scent
Focus on your aura
Place hands on either side of throat and drag toward heart
Despite my fear, a smile tugged at my mouth. “This is a recipe. I can handle recipes.”
Lucus beamed, wearing a grin I hadn’t seen before. “Perhaps you have been working magic all your life. People love your baked goods, yes?”
Heat sparked inside me, and I glared. “I worked for years at baking while my friends were partying. I gave up soccer, college, time with my mom.”
A memory of my mother surfaced, her flour-dusted fingers handing me a measuring cup. Gold biscuits for the gold girl, she’d said, using Aunt Viv’s nickname for me. Mom had been gently teasing, and we’d both grinned thinking of crazy but sweet Aunt Viv.
I’d burned the batch that day. Because Mom had the first of her cancer pains.
Swallowing hard against the hot edges of that grief, I lashed out at Lucus. “The skill didn’t magically appear. And I’m good at it with no magic to help me. Don’t discount my ability and hard work, Lucus.”
He had the decency to look abashed. “Apologies. I am merely trying to understand.”
Mom’s loss still felt like a pit in my stomach, an endless, hollow darkness. The waves of loss hit me at the strangest times. Gone for a year, then back again with no warning, and then I was as angry and grief-stricken as I’d been the day I’d lost her, the day that made me regret every moment I hadn’t spent with her.
I flipped Lucus off. “Understand this.”
His sincere gaze settled on my left hand, where Mom’s sapphire ring blinked in the moonlight. “You have lost someone dear.” He touched Francesco’s red silk at his belt. “I do understand that.”
It made me feel like a jerk. I sighed. “Sorry. Yeah, my mom died five years ago. Five years ago…” I paused to consider, and then blinked at the realization. “Today, actually.”
Lucus took my hand and kissed Mom’s ring. “I honor your fallen.”
My tongue grew thick. I couldn’t seem to find something to say. I wiped unshed tears from my eyes.
“Do you need a moment, or would you like to continue?” he asked.
I coughed. “Please. Let’s just move on.”
“Is that what you always do when you feel the grief? Move on?”
He was getting dangerously personal. “Look. I appreciate the sentiment, but I didn’t ask your opinion on how I deal with my own shit.”
He raised his chin, his gaze going chilly. “Understood. Now, what about your friend Hekla? She saw through the curse’s block. Did you intend for her to see me that day at your home? Do you think you worked magic then?”
It was only when he asked that I remembered my wish and the purple light that had blinked over my eyes. “I think…yes, I might have done the magic thing.” I explained what I’d seen.
“That
