Page 16 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

Dang. “I do feel better.”

“In what way?”

“More centered. I’ve never felt anything like when I centered this morning before my accession. Maybe the group setting was the reason for that. I’d thought maybe the fourth affinity had affected me too. Like that might have aligned the rest of my magic.”

Wild leaned back on the couch, one of his arms resting behind me. “You believe your demon was the cause of struggling with chaos.”

“Perhaps. I’d only struggled with that since my family’s murder, so I always expected that was the cause. Since being here, I’ve wondered if my demon was always the one saving me from chaos, not causing it—as though she would put herself in the driver’s seat when I was on the brink.”

“You’re speaking human.”

I rephrased. “Put herself in charge when I was giving up.”

Wild was quiet.

“You have a theory,” I said eventually.

“Not a theory. More… an observation. Two of them.”

Of course he did, or he wouldn’t be a grimoire. “Shoot then.”

“You recently dove right into chaos to save my life.”

I shuddered at the memory. I could safely say that I’d only felt that terrified once in my life—when I knew my grandmother, mother, and sister were lost to me. “Are you saying our capacity for chaos altered after going through that? Like we’ve experienced the worst it can be, and now the day-to-day stuff doesn’t feel as bad?”

He hummed. “You think our resilience has grown and our perspective has changed? That could have merit. I’ve wondered whether there may not be some latent effect of surviving that. Some scar that wasn’t immediately obvious.”

I definitely had a scar from it. So did Wild. There was a reason we’d thrown ourselves into a week of bedroom antics. Several reasons, but forgetting that hell was one of them. “You think there was a price to pay, and that price was my demon?”

“There are signs of her there still.” He shook his head. “More that maybe she couldn’t follow you into that space. We made the chaos pact, but perhaps she couldn’t fulfill it.”

“Your creature is around?”

“Yes, but my creature is a mimic only, not a true demon.” Wild lifted a shoulder. “I don’t see that my theory changes what you’ve already decided. If the connection has been harmed, then time should heal it. If she’s recharging from too much magical expenditure, then time will heal her too.”

And if it didn’t? “You said you had two observations. What’s the other one?” I felt his reluctance swim to the surface. “I can handle it, Wild.”

“I’ve worried you enough already.”

“Not knowing what may worry me further will only worry me more than it should.”

Wild’s lips quirked. “An excellent point. We’ve had a busy week.”

Had we ever.

He continued, “When we gained this bond, we decided to wait until we could wrap our heads around the new changes. I assumed that was the case this time.”

Did I need time to acclimatize to four affinities? Yes. Although, grimoire didn’t pop out of the ground to slap me in the face one morning. The affinity had come on in increments. First with more curiosity, then with the ability to borrow Wild’s grimoire magic to weave it into my barriers. I’d read more books in the last month than I had in my adult life. The magic was new to me, but also not. Unlike the bond we’d gained, the affinity felt more natural and like something that I could explore and understand over time. “That’s an issue for you?”

“Since the last step in the ritual, your chest has started glowing,” Wild said, watching my reaction.

My brows shot up. “What?”

“The glowing grows brighter every day. It’s hard to focus on your face through it now.”

“Can anyone else see it?”

“I asked Sven. The glowing is just for me.”

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