Page 14 of Claimed By Midnight

"I don't know yet." I stand and walk to the window, watching shadows stretch across my grounds as the sun sets. "But she's mine now."

After spendingthe better part of the morning with Raven and Koros, who I kicked out of my workshop study, I go to retrieve Athena. She looks even more stunning now, her ringlets restored after a shower and dressed in tight leathers to keep out the cold.

I lead Athena into my workshop, watching her golden-green eyes widen at the array of weapons lining the walls. Her honey-blonde ringlets catch the afternoon light streaming through the high windows.

"This is adamantine." I lift a curved blade from my workbench. "It holds enchantments better than standard metal."

She steps closer, but keeps a careful distance. Smart girl. "How do you infuse the magic?"

"Like this." I place my palm against the flat of the blade. Heat ripples through the metal, making it glow a deep crimson. "Each enchantment requires different elements. Different ways to be forged and imbued with magic. ."

"What about healing enchantments?" There's that spark in her eyes again.

"Those are trickier." I set the blade down. "They require balance, empathy. Most warriors can't manage them."

She moves to the workbench, fingers hovering over a row of crystals. "These focus the energy?"

"Yes." I catch her wrist before she can touch them. Her pulse flutters against my thumb like a trapped bird. "But they'll burn human skin."

Instead of pulling away, she turns her hand in my grip, examining the calluses on my palm. "You don't use magic for everything?"

"Magic is a tool, not a crutch." I release her, surprised by her boldness. "The best weapons are forged with both."

"Show me more?"

I find myself explaining the intricate process of tempering enchanted metal, the way magic must be woven through eachlayer. She asks intelligent questions about magical theory, catching details I wouldn't expect a human to notice.

"The energy patterns," she says, sketching them in the air with her finger. "They're like healing meridians in the body."

I pause in my demonstration. "You understand magical theory?"

"I studied healing." A shadow crosses her face. "Before."

Before I took her. The words hang unspoken between us.

But her interest seems genuine, not just an attempt to placate her captor. She leans over my shoulder as I demonstrate how to trace binding runes into the metal, her breath warm against my neck. The proximity sends an unexpected thrill down my spine.

I need to remember what she is. A human. A curiosity. Nothing more.

But when she correctly identifies the components of a complex protection ward, I can't help feeling a flutter of pride.

Which quickly dies.

She circles the workbench, those golden-green eyes fixed on the half-finished sword. "Your rune placement is inefficient."

"Excuse me?" I come up next to her, wings bristling. One second she's asking me questions and the next she's criticizing like she knows what's going on.

"Look." She points to the protection sigils I've etched near the hilt. "If you moved these closer to the blade's center of gravity, they'd require less magical energy to maintain."

I lean over her shoulder, close enough to catch the scent of honey and herbs in her hair. "And what would a human know about magical efficiency?"

She whirls to face me, chin lifted in defiance. "Enough to see you're wasting power for the sake of aesthetics."

"Aesthetics?" My laugh comes out harsh. "These patterns have been refined through generations of warfare."

"By warriors too stubborn to consider alternatives." Her fingers trace the air above the metal, following the flow of magic. "The energy should spiral, not branch."

Heat rises under my skin. She's right, damn her, but I'm not about to admit it. "Perhaps you'd like to forge the weapons yourself?"

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