Page 124 of An Empress of Fire & Steel

“Of course, I did.” Her voice trembled a little and the corner of her eyes started to reveal a dampness that he had seen in her eyes a few times when she thought he wasn’t looking at her. She pressed the gown closer to her skin. “Just like you would have for your brothers.”

He nodded his head, in complete agreement. He had taken many scars for his brothers, and he would do it again in an instant.

Sybil inhaled a sharp breath. “I need you to do the fastenings,” she said, pulling him back from his thoughts.

“Course,” Gideon said, his voice a little throatier than expected. He coughed it down whilst he moved closer to her.

He shifted a loose, untamed curl of fire from her left shoulder blade and placed it around her neck. She lifted a hand to grab it, and their fingers brushed ever so softly. She quickly pulled her hair tighter around the nape of her neck, gathering any other loose strands.

Gideon had seen Sybil’s hands grow flowers from a seed in a matter of minutes, and it had been beautiful to watch her use the element she bore to create life. Her presence had a calmness that he had always appreciated in an Earth Witch. They were normally serene and balanced, and he worked well with them. After all, he descended from a great line of them. His mother was an Earth Witch, his late grandmother, and even the females beyond them, had all been members of House Earth. So it was natural for him to feel comfortable around their energy.

Sybil remained still and silent as he worked all the buttons into their tiny fastenings, which he counted thirty-three of, all the way down her spine. His knuckles occasionally made slight contact with her skin. The final button was at the very base of her spine, and it clasped together like the rest, closing her in.

“That’s all of the fastenings closed, I hope.”

She turned, pressing her palms into the fabric. “Thank you,” she said, turning another shade of red. “I am honestly too mortified to have even asked you to do this.”

“Don’t be.” He smiled and ran a nervous hand through his own untamed hair. “I actually wanted to catch you before we went down into the grand ballroom, anyway.”

“Really?” Confusion set in her features as she pierced a diamond earring through her ear.

He had wanted to catch her alone at training, but she had run off with Emara, eager to teach witchcraft. So that is why he had opted to escort her to the celebrations instead of Marcus or Arlo.

“Yes.” He swallowed and reached into the lining of his tunic. He pulled out a little leather grimoire. “It’s not much, but I wanted to give it to you for the winter solstice.”

Her face changed in a way he had never really witnessed before, and her hand dropped from her lobe.

“It was my great-grandmother’s grimoire,” he said, extending a hand to give it to her. Eyes wide, she took it, her lips parted. “It has been rumoured to have been an Empress of Earth’s grimoire as the covens of this kingdom started to emerge. It’s that old.” Her gaze found him again, and for a moment, he felt a little twinge in his heart. Ignoring it, he continued, “But you know what old tales are like.” He laughed. “They always run away with themselves, so it really could have just been my grandmother’s.”

She ran her small hand over the face of the leather, and then opened the first page. “Gideon, this…this is…ancient,” she finally said, a smile forming on her lips.

He laughed at the unexpected truth.

“Well, you told me the other day that you believe you have an old soul.” He titled his head to the side, remembering what she had said at their training session. “And I knew my mother had it. She doesn’t use it, having read it over and over. So I thought I could pass it from one old soul to another.”

Sybil looked back down at the grimoire, which now lay in the palms of her hands like it was the most expensive diamond in the kingdom, though he was sure this was more impressive to her than a rock.

“It’s amazing,” she breathed as she turned a new page. “I can feel how old the magic is on the leather and paper. Gideon, this is incredible.” Her leafy-green gaze touched his.

For whatever reason, his heart skipped a beat. “I hear a lot of powerful witches have healed and protected these lands and our warriors with the help of this grimoire. Maybe now that it is in your hands, you will too.”

“Maybe I will,” she said, placing the old grimoire to her chest before setting it on her vanity with care.

“It’s been through the wars, that thing.” Gideon nodded in its direction. “I don’t think you need to be so delicate with it.”

She turned to him, a small smile passing over her lips. “As a healer, I tend to hear that a lot.” She looked him over, her large green eyes wise and bright. “But you can’t change the nature of a true Earth Witch. Not until you get them a drink of Winter Solstice wine.” A smile broke across her face, her little freckles moving on her nose and her cheeks.

“I guess I will need to make that happen as soon as possible, then,” Gideon said, his grin wide.

She beamed as she walked towards the door with a twinkle in her eye. “Come on, then.” She turned her head as she passed him, her navy gown drifting over his feet like the calm waves of a night’s sea. “Since I need your assistance to go everywhere, you may as well assist me in getting inebriated too.” She laughed and opened the door.

And it was almost impossible for Gideon not to smile back.

Breighly Baxgroll and the pack had arrived at the Amethyst Palace a few hours ago, giving her enough time to bathe in one of the most sickeningly wealthy tubs she had ever laid her Shifter ass in. It wasn’t like the one she had back home.

She didn’t have her own room for the trip, she was sharing it with Roman, which was the usual set up at the annual winter solstice event. She didn’t expect anything less, the palace would be housing a shitload of Shifters and Fae, and it was already home to witches and their guards.

It was the winter solstice, after all, a tradition that should bring every magical faction under one roof—or so the old books say.

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