Page 69 of The Witch is Back

“Okay. So, what about your plant stuff? I know you can make them thrive. Can you make them die?”

“Why would I want to do that?”

“To really piss off an enemy?” He grinned. “What else?”

Her shoulders moved in a restless motion. “I don’t know.” Her inadequacy all but choked her.

“Can you create flowers out of nothing?”

“From a seed?”

“No, from nothing. Say I wanted a flower, right now, could you do a conjuring?”

She picked at the idea like a hangnail. Examined it from all corners. “I’m not sure. Usually I have to start with something.”

“Okay.” Thoughts raced across his face. “I have an idea. But we’ll start basic.” He closed his hand into a fist, then turned it around to open it, a small brown seed now sitting in his palm.

No surprises that Bastian could master that advanced magic.

“Is there anything you can’t do?” she muttered.

He attempted a bashful look. “If it’s telekinetic or mind-related, not really.”

She exhaled thinly. “It’s a wonder I’m not fending off attacks.” At his lifted eyebrow, she explained, “From the mothers who want your bloodline mixed with theirs instead of mine.”

“Not like we have a choice with that, thanks to the contract.” It came out sharp and she shot him a surprised glance.

He wagged the seed in his palm as if he hadn’t just snapped at her. “How fast can you make this grow?”

Apparently he wasn’t going to explain the hostility. Fine. “I don’t know. It’s never been about speed.”

“Amen to that.”

He sent her a long, lascivious look that was clearly meant to make her laugh, rather than stir up anything hot. Ever the overachiever, he managed both. She let his weird hostility go, tucking it away to examine later, and snorted in response.

Bastian put the seed on the counter. “Grow it.”

Well, that at least she could do. Ever since she’d taken her first steps, she’d been able to make plants thrive, flowers bloom wildly. They’d always reacted to her emotions, flourishing brilliantly when she was happy, withering when she was sad.

Now she focused on the seed, able to see the flower in her mind’s eye. Magic hummed in her blood, pushed against her skin and then drifted out like a warm summer breeze to surround the seed.

With a magical nudge, she urged it to peek out, to take its first look at the world, to bloom and grow. A few sparks of silver magic surrounded the seed, growing as it too grew until the beautiful flickers of magic fizzled into nothing to reveal a sunflower lying on the bar.

Bastian picked it up, twirled the stem. “Impressive.”

Her eyebrows drew together. “Hardly.” Nature magic was one of the least skilled—almost anyone could do it with a bit of practice.

“You know, if you keep putting yourself down, I’m going to have to start reacting.” He tapped the sunflower on her nose, making her jolt. “As your future husband, I will promise at that altar to defend you from all comers. That, sweet Emmaline, includes yourself.”

“I’m shaking in my boots,” she said, deadpan.

“That mouth.” He released a breath, looking to the heavens as if the Goddess would help out. “Yes, it’s uncomplicated, but you made the seed grow in under a minute. Without the aid of potions or an incantation. That’s skill.”

That took her aback. She was so used to thinking of her magic as weak, she hadn’t thought of it in those terms. And neither had her mother.

“But I think you could get faster. A bit showier if you can ‘burst’ the flower from the seed.” He nodded to himself. “We’ll practice. It’ll look great for our act.”

“Our act?” she repeated, lost.

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