“Really?” My insides vibrated. “You would do that?”
“You’re an elemental. Your magic is part of you.” There was an uncharacteristic sadness in his voice I didn’t understand, but it was gone with his next words. “You deserve to know how to use it.”
“When can we start?” I asked, unable to keep the eagerness from my voice.
He stopped, looking around as if searching for something. “How about today?”
Chapter Twelve
LOCHLAN
The sun was beginning to sink, and after a grueling day of walking, we decided to stop for the night, wandering away from the road and deeper into the hillside. Unlike Apolis with its jagged gray stone, green grass covered the isles of Valoris, so starkly green it almost looked like a painting. Tall rock formations rose from the ground, creating natural arches and barriers to the wind and rain.
We picked the flattest location we could find. Leoni wandered off to hunt while Driscoll worked on getting a fire started. Poppy had volunteered to start the fire, but I’d reminded her that we had some magic to learn.
“Who decided I was going to be in charge of the fire?” Driscoll mumbled from behind me. I ignored him, approaching Poppy.
She sat in the grass, knees drawn up to her chest as she gazed out over the hills, steep and punctuated by sharp, jutting rocks. Her fingers trailed over the green blades, and she stared in wonder at her surroundings.
“Ready to learn some magic?” I asked.
She jumped, and I mentally kicked myself. Right. She wasn’t used tobeing out in the open like this, not used to traveling with complete strangers. She didn’t need someone sneaking up on her.
“I got a spark!” Driscoll yelled from where he sat under the rock formation. “Oh, bloody earth. Never mind!” he called out.
Poppy stood, straightening her shoulders, the wind blowing her braid wildly behind her, and I remembered the way her braid had come undone after I’d yanked her out that window, how her lovely hair had cascaded down her shoulders, all the way to her waist.
“Prince?” she asked.
I cleared my throat. Blood and water. I needed to get a hold of myself. Women didn’t have this effect on me—I had this effect on them. Yet Poppy seemed no more impressed by me than she would be with a mosquito buzzing around her head.
I wasn’t sure why I even cared about impressing her.
“You’re doing it again, Prince Lochlan,” Poppy said, brushing hair from her eyes. “The staring?”
Damnit. I shoved a hand through my hair. “Just thinking about how you almost kissed me.” I winked at her.
Her mouth dropped open. “You’re already rewriting history? You almost kissed me.”
“Not rewriting history,” I pointed out. “Predicting the future. Spend enough time together, and you’ll be trying to kiss me. I have a sense about these things.”
She flipped her braid over her shoulder. “And I have a strong resolve.”
Oh, I could see that.
Driscoll yelled out again in frustration, and Poppy held up a finger. “Excuse me for a moment.”
She strode to him and crouched down, showing him how to build up the wood around the leaves and debris we’d collected, creating a triangular shape. Then she picked up two thick sticks, rubbing them together to create sparks. I watched in fascination, wondering where in the world she’d learned that. Smoke curled in the air, and soon sparks shot from the wood. Driscoll’s shoulders slumped in relief. She nodded in satisfaction and marched back to me.
“I didn’t know we had a fire-building expert in our midst,” I said, bowing.
She gaveme a look, one that was half exasperation, half amusement. Maybe a touch of something else I couldn’t pinpoint.
“Gran taught me how to build a fire. She taught me many things. Everything else she didn’t teach me, I learned from books.”
Now that she mentioned it, I remembered all those books stuffed into the shelves in her tower. “You read a lot,” I said.
She spread out her hands. “There wasn’t exactly much else to do. Do you read, Prince?”
