His knuckles brushed mine as he escorted me into his bedroom, the magical trees expanding over our heads. “And you know I cannot even attempt such a deceit.” His smile was made of sin, and I loved it so hard.
I tidied up, then returned to find him sprawled across the bed waiting for me. I crawled in beside him, glad he’d glamoured the wings away for comfort’s sake. He put an arm around me and pressed a kiss against my hair. After a talk about the differences between cannolis and croissants, we dozed. I was happy to put off my plotting and the untangling of the mess my life had become. I had always been a joie de vivre kind of gal, and if fantastic sex with an alpha fae lord didn’t qualify for an hour or three away from life’s problems, I didn’t know what would.
Chapter 27
Lucus and I worked on two more spells. One more was successful—a recipe for hearing that helped me eavesdrop on Baccio and Aurelio in the courtyard. They had been chatting about Kaippa and how long he should suffer. But the second spell was proving difficult. It was supposed to draw moisture to me so I could create a fog. Sounded cool, but so far the pitcher of water Lucus had provided was just as full as it had always been, and I had no cool haze at my magey fingertips. My head was pounding.
“Listen to your instinct. What spell do you wish to try?” Lucus nodded toward the spell book.
“I don’t have magical instinct like you. This is all crazy to me.” Feeling super itchy and irritated, I turned pages in the spell book. “I’m telling you, I can’t—”
The slightest hint of what might have been deemed instinct flickered in my gut. I hadn’t had too much queso like last Friday night, so perhaps my magic truly was trying to tell me something.
“What is the spell?” Lucus peered over my shoulder at the spell.
An illustration of clasped hands showed above an incantation. I couldn’t believe I knew what these words meant, let alone that I used them. Blowing out a breath, I focused on the words as they spun, then fixed themselves into letters I could read.
“It says Protection.”
“That sounds like a perfect choice.” Lucus glanced at me, eyebrows lifted. His scent drifted through the air, all pines and spice.
“It does.”
The spell read:
Clasp hands at heart
Remember your worth
Feel the earth’s energy rising through your feet
When the warmth reaches your palms, open arms wide
“Sounds simple enough. This one has a fae vibe to it.” I stepped away from the book and clasped my hands.
Lucus’s eyes widened. “In what way?”
“I have to harness the earth’s energy.”
“Truly? I wouldn’t have thought mages could do such a thing. I thought it all came from potion work and your own power.”
“Maybe this mage had a fae friend and learned a thing or two.”
Lucus’s mouth lifted, and he nearly smiled before the happiness faded from his face. “You are the only mage I’ve met who wasn’t fully intent on acquiring power at any cost.”
“What about the Mage Duke’s daughter? You loved her. She didn’t seem evil.”
He blinked and chewed the inside of his lip.
“Hey, you don’t have to answer that.”
“No, you are owed any and all explanations I can offer. Lucilla was a passionate girl with a kind heart. She didn’t inherit any of her father’s power.”
“She wasn’t a mage?”
“No. The power runs in families, but it is like fair hair or a height. The magic doesn’t always come through in the blood. Can you guess where your power originates?”
“My mother. No way my asshole dad had jack to do with anything like magic. He left us when I was little.”
Lucus touched my shoulder. “I wish I could avenge you.”
I whirled to face him straight-on. “That’s really sweet, actually. But yeah, I’m over it. Sort of.”
“Well, he sounds like a mage.”
“Oh, because he was a jerk, right. Well, my mom’s sister, Viv, she used to talk about fae and vampires. She knew about magic.”
“Then why were you so surprised to meet me?”
“Surprised is a nice way to put it.”
Lucus cocked his head and had the decency to look ashamed. “I should’ve handled that differently.”
“Yes. You should have. But with Viv’s stories, well, after a childhood spent believing her, I was talked out of it. No one else believed in magic or fae. But Mom’s side of the family has to be the ones with mage blood.”
Warmth surged up my legs and poured into my palms.
“I think my spell is ready. Since it’s for protection, maybe you should come at me, and we can see what happens.”
“Come at you.”
“Attack me”
“I don’t know.”
“Do it. Just, like, stop if I suck at the spell, okay?”
He walked to the far side of the room. “Agreed.”
In the shadows, Lucus’s face darkened, and green magic sparked in his eyes. Fear sliced through me at the sudden change. Maybe this had been a bad idea.
I threw my arms open. Magic crackled across the space between my palms as he lunged. An amethyst shield appeared between us, reaching to the room’s ceiling, and when Lucus hit the shield, he called out and fell backward, shot to the wall like I’d kicked the hell out of him.
Heart hammering, I dropped my hands and felt the magic fizzle away. I ran to him where he was sitting up and rubbing the back of his head.
“Are you okay? I didn’t mean to knock you down like that.”
He got to his feet, apparently not dying from my new fabulous magical skills. “Oh, you enjoyed that, didn’t you?”
I reached up and touched his head,
