I brushed my hands off. “Right, right. Can we hurry up and get to the combining magic though? Because you know. Feelings.”
Krew tipped his head back to laugh, then kissed my temple as he offered me a hand to pull me away from the tree. “We are going to need Owen on these trips just to keep us focused, I’m afraid.”
I considered that. “Maybe a few times of just us and then we should totally try ganging up on him. Could be fun.”
For the next fifteen minutes we combined our magic to move objects. It took a little getting used to. The first few objects we had entirely too strong of magic, so they went flying.
“Interesting,” Krew muttered. “I need to send like a quarter of what I would for an object that size.”
I nodded my agreement as we moved to an even bigger log. But despite sending far less magic than we would’ve if using magic separately, we were still able to move the log and keep it moving in a pattern.
“What does that mean?” I offered as he gestured to a fallen tree. “Wait. You want to movean entire tree?”
“Use the same amount as last time. Just humor me?”
With a shrug, I sent my magic out, doing as he asked. The tree was massive, the roots bent and broken at least three feet in the air from where it had fallen. It would’ve taken more than ten men to even budge it. Yet here we were, trying to use our magic to do just that.
Krew’s navy magic weaved together with mine before it even reached the tree. There was an eerie creaking noise from the tree, and then sure enough, it started slowly sliding.
“Let’s try to lift it,” Krew offered. “Just a little.”
I shook my head, thinking he had lost his mind, but did send more magic to help his. I found I didn’t even need to know specifically what he was willing the magic to do, I could just will my own to help his and that was enough.
Our magic again wrapped around the tree, and it began pulling upwards. The creaking noise was much louder this time. Instead of our magic just lifting the tree in the middle, it wrapped around the trunk, and it also traveled up the branches and down to the roots. It wasn’t being lifted from one point, but from all the points of the tree.
I gasped when the tree was fully off the ground a few inches. Part of the branches were still brushing the ground though, so we sent a little more magic to finish lifting it.
We had to lift it about four feet into the air before the branches were fully off the ground. But our magic was lifting an entire tree. Without either of us using a significant amount of power.
If I would’ve tried to do this on my own, given the size and weight of the tree and all the magic I had already used today, I was certain there would be blood trailing from my nose already. “What does this mean?” I repeated.
“It means,” Krew said as he began walking for me while the tree still hung in the air, “that similar to the other day with the sound barrier, together our magic is more potent.” I began backing up, recognizing that look in his eyes. “It means,” he continued, “that while we might be powerful apart, we are more so together.” His hands were now on me, one on my waist, one cupping my cheek as he yanked me into him.
“Krewww,” I warned. “Stop feeling what you’re feeling right now. We’re supposed to be practicing magic.”
He brushed a hard kiss to my lips. “That is not likely. I havefeelingsabout you all day long.” He moved back in to kiss me again but instead said, “You haunt my every dream. And even in my waking moments, you somehow command those thoughts as well.”
As he trailed a line of kisses down my neck, I managed to form words enough to get out, “Krew. The tree?”
“What about it?” he asked without moving, his breath on my neck.
“It’s still in the air. We can’t just leave it up there all night.”
He still didn’t move. Nor stop his pursuit, his hands trailing just shy of the areas he knew would drive me to madness. “Could you? I’mquitebusy.”
With a snort of a laugh, I reached out to stop our magic. Owen had taught me the method which he had compared to being as simple as blowing out a candle. I’d done it enough times by now that all I had to do was visualize our magic being snuffed out and simply close my palm.
The tree crashed to the forest floor loudly. I had been a bit too distracted to soften the landing.
“Whoops,” I offered. “Should have sent my magic out to catch it.”
Krew finally stopped, but only to lift me into his arms. “Best not let my father’s spies find us out here then. Shall we?”
“We can walk. You know how I feel about this.”
Krew grinned at me. “Yes, but I have lots offeelings, love. So many in fact that we may be up a while.”
I held onto his neck for dear life as he shot us into the sky.
