Page 87 of Their Chosen

“Hi, dear. I'm glad to see you're awake. How are you feeling?” he asked as he studied me.

“Oh, you know, I've been better,” I said, playing off the fact that I felt like I’d been hit by a Mack truck.

He smiled at me, both of us knowing the truth. “I imagine so.” He leaned in to look at my back, the smell of incense and sage entering my nose. If I inhaled more deeply, I could smell the ink on his fingers and the scent of old books, which came across more faintly.

“I'm going to touch you now, but I just need to sense how your wounds are coming along,” he murmured before he started prodding on my wounds.

I hissed in a breath and bit back several curses, knowing he only intended to help me. Finally, he stopped, and I exhaled just as my head was starting to swim from holding my breath.

“It's looking good. No signs of infection or anything else that I can see or sense. Although, it's not healing as quickly as I would like it to,”he said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, apparently my glamor and magic are still on lockdown,” I joked, trying to use humor to dispel the tension in the room.

“Yes, well, on that front, how do you feel?”

“My senses are stronger, more than human I would guess. And I can feel the guys,” I told him.

“To be expected. Anything else?”

“Like what?”

“Look inside like we did the other day. Can you feel their magic?” he asked me curiously.

I closed my eyes and sank into myself, finding the center faster this time. I must be getting used to this. Maybe one day I’d be able to access it with barely a thought.

I found the golden center, no longer surrounded in shadows, but with new threads outside of it instead, all interconnected around the core, touching but not interwoven like the others. I saw red, blue, green, and a dark purple color. Each one seemed to be associated with each of the guys.

I opened my eyes to look at Jude. “I think so. I see four different colors all there. They're still not interwoven with my magic though, just resting around it. Mine still hasn't changed.”

“Hmmm....” he said, pursing his lips and furrowing his brow in thought. “May I join you again?” he asked me. This must be an intimate act, since he felt the need to ask me again.

“Sure,” I told him. He placed his hand on my arm, and I closed my eyes again, finding that place more quickly.

“You're getting faster at this. That's good.” I felt a spark of hope from the guys at his words along with fear and worry.

I stopped closer to my magic this time, studying the colors as they danced around my core. A part of me but not. It felt right to have them there, somehow.

“Now reach out for one of the colors, Rhowyn,” Jude instructed me.

I formed my metaphysical hand in my mind again, reaching my fingers toward the strands, beckoning them. The blue color jumped into my hand more readily, as if eager to touch me. Not sure if this was Baer or Arryn, I was at a loss for what to do with it now that I had it. “What now?” I asked.

“What does the magic feel like, Rhowyn?” he questioned.

“What do you mean?”

“Does the magic feel like a certain element? Does it give you a feeling of a certain season?” he clarified for me.

I focused back on the blue strand as it wrapped around my fingers and wrist, dancing and playing like a puppy, eager for attention. I smiled at the thought. The feeling of hope and of something new embraced me. “I think this is Baer's,” I said.

“Why's that?” Jude asked me.

I smiled physically. “It feels like spring. Like new babies, the light air of hope. It's playful and easygoing,” I said, describing the feeling as best as I could.

“Good,” Jude praised me as the strand continued to dance around. “Now, pull it into you, as if inhaling it. See if you can call it to do what he does.”

Confused, I tried to think of something I could do. I had seen him dry things, amplify sound, and form a sound barrier.

“Try to form it into a breeze, like blowing out a candle,” Baer said, sensing my confusion at what to do. “Can you send it out to ruffle Lennox's hair?”

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