Page 64 of The Jester

Turning towards the water, Briony skips her stone first, sharing a memory of Kayan being gentle and kind and always looking after the people in the cells.

I look down at my pebble and try to remember how I used to do this. It has been over one hundred years. Yet, the movement still feels familiar. With a flick of my wrist, I skip the stone across the lake surface. It creates ripples, making the exact pattern I expect it to make. And suddenly, in the centre of the lake, it drops, leaving one large ripple making a strange, undulating pattern across the surface.

As I watch it, a surge of energy courses through my body. It is completely unfamiliar and feels like nothing I can name. It’s like light and energy swelling inside me. And then I remember what Kayan said when he told me that his powers were different from mine. How he could feel them, how he latched onto them without really knowing how.

I try to catch hold of the feeling and focus on it. As I do, the ripples turn into a swirl. They move faster and faster, then begin to skip up into the air, droplets forming delicate, intricate patterns.

I glance at Briony. She is watching me in awe, eyes wide, her hands shaking.

But I’m not shaking. I’ve never felt more alive as a shimmering display of water and light materialises above the lake. “What’s happening?” Briony asks. “You said you didn’t have any magic...”

I don’t even need to think before answering her. The word is on my lips within a heartbeat. “Kayan,” I whisper. “It’s Kayan’s power.”

I glance at her again. “Perhaps I had it all along.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

ALANA

When we arrive at Finn’s room, my knuckles rap urgently against the weathered wood of his door. It takes every bit of willpower I have not to scream for him to answer me.

The sound swells in the air.

A moment passes, in which I can barely breathe. I need to tell him what happened. I need to show him what happened.

Finally, the latch clicks and the door swings inwards with a creak.

“Alana...” Finn breathes my name like a prayer, ushering me inside. It has been too long since we saw each other, and the need to be close to him is so strong I can hardly stand it.

He is uneasy, and ashamed, and I cannot bear to have him feeling this way.

As my eyes adjust to the darkness, I notice the way he is standing – beside the wall, gaze cast down towards his feet. Tendrils of embarrassment snake through the air around him. His wings, so delicate compared to Lord Eldrion’s, twitch nervously at his back.

“It’s not much,” he says, looking around his chamber.

“I don’t care.” I move to take his hands but then I change my mind. “Something happened.”

He tilts his head, examining the way I’m standing. “What is it?” Concern softens his eyes.

I hesitate. Suddenly, telling him doesn’t feel right. Not when he’s like this... Humiliated and broken by Eldrion’s display.

Smoothing my palms over his chest, I move them to his neck, up to his face, and stroke from his chin up towards his ears. He leans into my touch and closes his eyes. “I can tell you later,” I whisper. “For now, I want to take away the hurt.”

Finn presses his forehead to mine. “I’ll be all right,” he mutters.

But I stand back, drop my arms to my sides, and drop my gaze to my feet. “I’m yours, Finn.” I stand completely motionless. “Do what you want with me.”

Finn stares at me for a moment. His tongue moistens his lower lip, and he inhales deeply. The muscles in his jaw twitch. His gaze has darkened. “Alana...”

“I want to help you the way you helped me, but you don’t need me to take away your feelings. You need me to give you something back.” I tilt my chin up, presenting myself to him. “I know what it’s like to need to seize control.”

Breathing heavily, anticipation shimmers in the air between us.

Finn draws closer. Now, his eyes gleam with something untamed. Something feral. Something that makes my skin prickle and my breath quicken.

And it is not just his gaze that has changed; the air has changed, too. All around him, I feel longing, lust, and an edge of adrenaline. It is the adrenaline that excites me the most – his desire to take back what Eldrion just took from him.

“You are sure?” he asks, trailing an index finger across my collarbone.

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