Page 84 of Flowerheart

He touched my sleeve. I whirled back, my cheeks aflame.

“Have I thanked you?” he asked. “For saving my life?”

I laughed, high and nervous and weary. “I can’t remember.”

“Well—thank you.” Sadness flickered in his dark eyes like moonlight on water. “And I’m sorry, too. It was horrid to think that I was doing you a favor by taking your magic. Your circumstances were dire; you were desperate, and I should have given you my help for nothing at all. I’m truly sorry.”

“Yes, you should have.”

After wiping my sticky fingers against my apron, I took the damp cloth and tended to the wounds on his arms.

“Your father,” said Xavier. “He’s better, then? I know the blessing was completed, but after that...”

Contentment glowed warm as sunshine in my chest. “Papa’s back to his old self. And I couldn’t have cured him or tamed my magic without you.”

He laughed. “No, Clara. I was no match for your magic. My power only ever whispered to me, and I could push it aside, but yours... it’s so relentless. Yet you fought it all on your own. I cannotfathomhow you bear it.”

You can’t,growled my magic.One day, I will break you.

You speak in lies,I reminded it.

He frowned at me. “It’s talking to you now, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “It says it’ll break me someday.”

Xavier exhaled deeply, his thumb brushing against my sleeve. I shivered. “It cannot break you,” he murmured. “Not when you’ve mastered it.”

“I’m in control.” I looked at him instead of focusing on the loud voice of my magic. Iwasin control. It still writhed and whispered, but I was the one who commanded the spells. The attention Xavier gave me, the way he looked at me so watchfully, like a knight holding vigil, made me grin. “It’s... nice, in a way. You, knowing how it feels to carry my magic.”

His hand rested beside mine, palm up. Now each of us bore a faint pink scar along the lines of our hands. Where I had held his hand and first made the vow. And when I had held to him as my magic took hold of him and burned me.

“I respect you all the more,” Xavier said. “You have fought it so bravely. But if there’s something I can do to help you fight it, please, tell me. You shouldn’t battle it alone.”

He was right. I fit my hand in his, a glimmering, excited hum running from my fingers to my middle. “Thank you,” I whispered.

My magic shouted at me, telling me that I didn’t deserve love.You broke into his things, violated his trust,it reminded me.

It was right this time. “I owe you an apology, too,” I said. My magic screamed its assent, hurling accusations at me, but I concentrated on the task at hand. “I invaded your privacy. I read your journal and stole away your chance to tell me the truth in your own time. I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t too soon. I had just been too much of a coward to say something before.”

“No, Xavier. It wasn’t right. I shouldn’t have done that.”

His eyes crinkled in the corners, gentle and kind. “I forgive you.”

I leaned close, pressing a kiss to his brow. When I sat back, I found his cheeks deeply flushed. He averted his gaze.

“Miss Lucas,” he said—how I hated the formality!—“You have a brilliant future ahead of you as a witch. You could go anywhere, do anything... I want you to know that you should not feel hindered by me in any aspect.”

I scowled. “Why would I be hindered by you?”

“I—I just mean that, if you wanted to work independently as a witch without any distractions, or if you didn’t want me to trouble you with all of my... with all ofme, then—I dunno, I’d go to Álbila or—”

“Xavier Morwyn, what are you talking about?”

He burrowed himself back into the mountain of pillows behind him. Now his whole face was turning red, even the bruised bits. “Well, you’re a young witch about to start your career, and I’m a disgraced ex-wizard with nothing to offer, and I went and—and made a declaration of my love.... I’d wish to escape that, if I were you.”

It was as if he was speaking a foreign language. I narrowed my eyes at him. “Do you mean to say I cannot be a witch and love you at the same time?”

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