Page 169 of Gift from the Stone

“Sure as fuck seems like you are,” Corentin says, but there’s no heat in his tone. A small little lip twitch tells me all I need to know about what that sweet music coming out of her mouth is doing for his mood.

It only takes a second for Draken to join in, which as always, causes a chain reaction.

“You try, little Primary,” Caspian orders Will lightly.

“Me?” she asks, surprised.

“Obviously you. You can broadcast like Tillman can, so you should be able to command people as well,” he says literally.

“You can command me, kitten. I’ll do whatever you say.” Draken grins.

“That’s exactly why she’s not practicing on you. Try it on me, Will,” I instruct.

“What am I supposed to command you to do? I feel awkward commanding you,” she admits with a little scrunch in her nose.

“Make him get naked, sweetness.” Draken laughs. The saucy smirk Willow shoots me damn near gets me fucking hard. Her more than obliged thoughts definitely do the trick.

Focusing on me, I watch her take a deep breath and I prepare myself for the command to wrap around my mind.

“Take your clothes off,” she orders.

No sooner the words leave her mouth than she’s gripping her head, crying out in pain.

“Willow,” we shout, running to surround her.

“I’m apparently not supposed to do that yet.” She pants as the pain eases off.

“Fuck, nothing else today. I can’t take it.” Corentin groans, leaning his forehead against hers. A small smile breaks through her pinched lips and she cups his cheek sweetly.

“Agreed. How about someone feeds me, and we can relax on the patio,” she says.

“Whatever you want, little warrior.”

We’ll give her whatever she wants.

Every time the silence stretches on, she sinks into her mind.

For the past few hours, we’ve enjoyed each other’s company. No talk of the Mastery, no responsibilities. Just easy conversation. But when the conversation dies down, her thoughts start taking over. Like right now. She’s rambling on and on to keep herself distracted. Keeping her mind focused on anything other than what happened today.

“Pull yourself together. They’ve done everything they could this afternoon to cheer you up. Well, almost everything…beside the point… You learned Tillman likes romance when he reads even though he rarely does. Corentin can play the piano, or well, their version of the piano, not like what I know a piano to be.

“Draken hid all of Corentin’s clothes one time when he first moved into the palace, which damn near gave Corentin a heart attack. It took him hours to pull his gift back in. And Caspian, so sweet and dark, definitely a little deranged, said he’d rip people’s bodies apart if they looked at me wrong. Get out of your head. Get your shit together.”

On and on she goes. Recounting every conversation we’ve had today. Multiple times over she thinks of every little detail of us. She just can’t get the thoughts to stop.

“Come here, little warrior. Well, everyone actually,” I demand, standing from my chair. Her head whips toward me, finally pulling herself away from her internal sprawling.

“What are we doing?” she asks as she comes to stand beside me.

Placing my hand at the base of her neck, I call my element forth. Shimmering down her body, I change her outfit to a midthigh, stretchy sundress, one that shows off every perfect curve, but not too tight that it’s going to get in her way. Then I disintegrate her shoes, leaving her barefoot and fucking beautiful.

“We’re not going anywhere, are we?” she asks as she gives a little twirl in her dress.

“Run, Will.”

She quits the little shimmy she was doing in her new dress and looks up at me with parted lips.

“What?”

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