“No, that is all right. I really need to get going.” He stood up and retrieved the shirt, putting it on. “Thank you both so much for your help.”
“Thank you for protecting Lena again.” Mother went to hug Quill, and he winced. “Oh, sorry!” Mother cringed.
Quill just laughed softly. “I shall give you my hug of thanks next time,” he bowed, then turned to me. “And I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” he said quietly before strolling outside, the door clicking shut behind him.
“That boy…he is so special,” Mother whispered, looking out our window.
“He is…” And I knew I couldn’t deny him for long. What would have happened in the pond had those guys not appeared…we would have gone all the way. I needed to make sure pregnancy was not an option.
More importantly, with the danger that had begun to appear as of late, it was time for me to learn something new. If not for my own sake, then to protect Quill if it came down to it.
“Mother?” I said with my eyes on my palms.
“Yes?” she replied, turning her gaze from the window to me.
I exhaled and met her stare. “I want to learn enchantment.”
Chapter Eleven
“So,let’sstartwiththe basics.”
I had never seen such happiness on Mother’s face until I finally agreed to start learning magic. However, my desire had nothing to do with caring about magic and everything to do with getting laid. I bit my lip to prevent my smile from creeping over.
Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. Being able to make healing elixirs would be beneficial. Even though Quill’s wound wasn’t fatal, what if it had been? What if one of those men had managed to strike him? There would have been nothing I could have done to save him. Perhaps I could even learn healing magic on its own.
Wow.
Somehow, Quill had managed to enthrall me so profoundly that it overpowered this fear I had felt my entire life. Well, not completely. The thought of using any other sort of magic still made me break out in a sweat. But throwing some herbs in a pot and using a small amount of magic couldn’t be that hard. And how could learning healing be dangerous?
“Lena, are you listening?”
I snapped out of my daydream. “Yes, sorry.”
Mother plopped a thick, ancient-looking tome on the table, and my eyes widened.
“You’ve kept a spell book with you?” I hissed in disbelief.
“Yes,” she said quietly. “I know many by memory, but there’s plenty I do not. You never know when one might come in handy.”
I figured I would have to ask Mother about a contraceptive elixir in as non-obvious a way as possible, but knowing that it’s most likely in this spell book helped a lot.
She flipped open the book to one of the first pages.
“Healing elixirs, infused with healing magic,” she said as she pointed at one recipe. “Depending on what type of elixir you wish to enchant, you must tap into that power source. Healing is one of the more novice-style magic types.”
I furrowed my brows. “Well, what are the harder types?”
“Healing magic can be learned by any Mage, as you know. Elixirs infused by elemental magic can obviously only be made by those who have unlocked that power,” she mumbled as she flipped through the book. I wondered how old this tome must be as the pages were yellowed and crinkled. “Not only can the difficulty vary based on the type of magic, but also its efficacy. Expert healing Mages can make elixirs that heal gaping wounds, whereas the novice ones can maybe heal a paper cut.” She stopped flipping and looked at me. “That will be our first goal.”
Mother decided on the most basic healing elixirs to start, and though she had memorized it, she let me look in the book at the recipe listed. I trailed my fingers along the aged, darkened pages.
I wonder where she got this from…
Mother gathered some dried herbs along with other ingredients that I was familiar with.
Chamomile, milk thistle, sage, Epsom salt.
Life had changed so much in the month since I had met Quill…since I held my dagger to that girl’s neck. My hands and body had ached with the desire to let out my abilities my whole life, but never as much as in the past few weeks.
