“Well, what is done, should not have been done!” I argued, temper rising. “I was never meant to have this much magic, Krew.Youwere born for this. I was not. Not only am I unworthy, I am not...ready.”
He stopped to look me in the eyes. “No, on the contrary I have never met a person more worthy of her power. But I promise you, this gets easier. It takes a week or so to get used to the feel of it.” He gestured with his free hand back toward the castle. “Like back there. You probably visualized a little magic. And I should have explained this to you then, but we didn’t have time. For you, a little is probably a teaspoon full or you pictured a quick shot of magic like you have seen before. Instead of picturing that, you need to visualize a strand of magic that is barely visible. Like a strand of hair. Little is relative. So when you are visualizing how to use your magic, you must be specific in what you picture and also the amount. You will learn over time how to do that, and what seems hard today will be second nature in a week or two.”
All of that sounded exhausting. I just wanted sleep. I wanted to sleep for a week straight. After a long talk with Krew about what object hit him in the head hard enough to convince him to willingly hand me all but a drop of his magic.
I love you.
I squinted at him. “Stop talking to me in my head until I know how to respond back!”
He put his hands in the air in surrender. “Sorry.”
“And we can communicate telepathically already?” Owen rocked back on his heels from where he had stopped too. “Quite the morning.”
“Only half of us.” I stomped forward. “All I wanted was a postcoital deep sleep of no fewer than eight hours. Instead, here we are. Traipsing in the forest for me to fail at using magic again.”
“You didn’t fail last time.” Krew shot me a grin. “And the other half of that can still be arranged.”
Owen tried and failed to cover his laugh with a cough.
I noticed we were quickly making our way to The Dead Lake. “I believe that is how we got ourselves into this mess. A lack of talking about important matters, like I don’t know, the fact that we are apparently soul bonded and you canhear my thoughts, because we both assumed we had a few days before your magic would settle in me.”
“He didn’t know either, Jorah,” Owen provided softly.
I snapped my head in his direction, expecting more jest and not for him to sound so serious.
“There hasn’t been a royal soul bound pairing in at least three generations,” Krew provided. “Granted, being a Valanova is powerful, but being soul bound is more so. That could’ve affected how fast the magic settled. I honestly have no idea.”
“Or it could’ve been the amount of magic he gave you.” Owen provided the thought we were all thinking. “Either way, we are working in uncharted territory here.” He nudged my shoulder. “If you’d like to be pissed at Krew for not telling you he was giving you all but a drop of his magic or be mad at the amount of magic you now find you have, go right on ahead. But don’t question the soul bonding. It’s a testament to your relationship and connection. A miracle I was honored to have been there to witness.”
I squinted at him. “Fine, but why do you have to sound so logical about it?”
Their laughter settled my nerves, my magic pulling back to a dull buzzing.
Once at The Dead Lake, my eyes automatically trailed to the areas I had healed while Owen expanded and thickened his sound barrier, just in case anyone should stumble upon us.
“That tree,” Krew provided as we walked around the lake. “The tallest one there. The one that is half dead if not entirely dead already.” I looked up at the tree in question as he kept speaking. “We need to remove those branches before they fall and damage the surrounding younger trees.” Krew spun toward me. “So use your magic and do exactly that, Jorah.”
I shook my head. “No. Not the forest. I don’t want to hurt the forest too.”
He took my hand and pulled it into his chest. “You won’t, love. If anything, you are helping. We need to take care of this tree so that it doesn’t hurt the others.”
The buzzing increased. Even just thinking about using it again was rousing my magic. “You want me to just chop off branches with my magic?”
Krew nodded. “Yes. Exactly. Picture it however you’d like. A saw. A snap. Whichever. And then imagine the branch falling slowly, and your magic cushioning the branch’s landing so that it won’t hurt anything on the way down.”
“That—” I shook my head. “My magic can chop down a branch and land it softly? That is too much. Can’t I just send a breeze into the trees or something?”
“Breezes are harder to master,” Owen provided. “Especially when to stop them, and it’s hard to tell how aggressive of a wind you are making. Usually we start with object manipulation.”
Like turning water to steam. Goodness. Did that mean I could also freeze things? I had this power, this power I felt burning in my veins, yet I had very little idea of the extent of what I could do with it. It felt like this power was a weight on me, so heavy I didn’t know if there was any room in this body for me too.
“We will start with branches, love. One thing at a time.”
I glared at Krew. “Are you hearing my thoughts again?”
“Only when your emotions are heightened. Or you are panicking.”
I sighed. “So that’s a yes.”
