Page 68 of Cam's Treasure

Micah

I had a headache.

Cam and Ember were curled up on either side of me, Ember's arm thrown over my chest while Cam lay with his limbs spread all over the mattress. Kai was in the guest room, and I couldn't fault him for opting to sleep there. We were still practically strangers to him.

I'd kept up my shields for most of the day, and I wasn't used to doing that. While I did sometimes hear stray thoughts from our neighbors, they were easy to ignore, and with Cam and Ember's permission, I kept my shields lowered at home.

But with Kai here, I couldn't. It was like Sisyphus with his rock. I had to constantly keep pushing magic into the shield to keep the voices out, and even after years of practice, it still took a lot out of me.

Since I'd had to keep the shields up for so long, even Cam and Ember's hugs weren't helping to relieve the headache.

Carefully, I moved Ember's arm off me, placing it on the mattress as I sat up. Sneaking out from between two extra-sensitive supes wasn't easy, but I somehow managed to do it without waking either of them.

Tiptoeing out of the room, I made my way downstairs. While painkillers didn't really work on supes, I had some tea from Raph that helped. If it was daytime, I could usually just go to him and he'd make the headache go away with his magic, but the tea worked fine in a pinch.

Walking into the kitchen, I made a beeline for the cabinet where the tea was, then turned around to fetch the kettle.

A shadow moved in my periphery, but I didn't pay it any mind, assuming it was Saaya. She'd kept her distance all day, probably because she was wary of Kai.

When I turned around with the full kettle, I realized the shadow was way too large to be Saaya. Hurriedly, I flicked on the lights, ready to send a mental shout to Cam, then relaxed as I realized it was Kai.

"Shit, you scared me!" I said with a shake of my head, my hand trembling as I placed the kettle on the stove.

"Sorry. I was lost in thought. I should've said something," he said with a sheepish smile, ducking his head so his long fair fell forward, hiding his face.

I wasn't sure if that would've helped or just scared me even more, so I didn't say anything. "Would you like some tea?"

Kai glanced up at me, then nodded hesitantly. Smiling, I turned to fetch some chamomile tea for him.

"Couldn't sleep?"

Kai nodded, his eyes on the countertop as he traced random figures on the marble with his index finger. "How ironic is it that all my nightmares are about drowning?"

I winced, sympathy welling up in me. That would be like Ember having a nightmare where he was on fire and it was actually hurting him.

"I'm sorry," I said, unable to find anything else.

We were silent for a minute as the water started bubbling, and I turned off the stove, pouring water into two cups and dipping a tea bag in one before sliding it over to him with a small pot of honey. In the other cup, I added the loose leaves from Raphael, watching as the water glowed a faint green color before settling into a light brown shade.

"Was that magic?"

I nodded as I stirred the tea, then strained it into another cup and added some honey. "Yeah. It's Raphael's special brew. Helps with headaches."

"Oh," Kai murmured. Then his brows furrowed. "Why do you have a headache?"

I didn't want to tell him, mostly because I was worried he'd blame himself for it. He had every right to not want his thoughts read.

"Just the strain of magic. It happens a lot, hence the tea."

Kai stared at me for a few moments, and I focused on my tea, ignoring his intent gaze.

"I have a question. You can refuse to answer if you want."

"What is it?" I leaned my elbows on the counter as I took a sip, exhaling softly as the warm liquid slid down my throat.

"What's your connection to Ravenshire? I could tell by your reaction that you were...affected when I mentioned it."

I sighed, lowering my gaze to my cup, and wondered how much I could bear to tell him right this second. Ihadbeen affected when he'd said his coat was stolen by a mage from Ravenshire.

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