Page 99 of Slaying With Sylphs

Get it together, Lou, I shout at myself.

Rising to my full, short height, I match her stance. “I’m ready, Obi Wan.”

“Don’t quoteStar Warsto me, girl,” she snarks.

I’m so shocked she got the reference, my mouth drops open.

Laerith continues right on as if she didn’t just “get” a human reference. Nobody gets them here.

“You knowStar Wars?” I blurt out.

She pinches the bridge of her nose. “Didn’t I already say that I don’t live within the haven system?” She narrows crimson eyes at me. “So, if we use our incredible powers of deduction, where might I live, ifnotwithin the system?”

This lady’s got attitude by the bucketload.

I wonder if that’s a blue witch thing?

“Noted,” I bark. “Let’s get going, then.”

She sighs again, returning her hands to her hips, where they seem to be a majority of the time. Then she begins muttering to herself about what a bad idea this all is. It’s on the tip of my tongue to be sassy, but people’s lives are at stake—my mates, my girls, my friends.

“Please,” I say quietly, “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt if I can potentially stop him.”

Laerith stops in her tracks and turns to me. She stares for a long moment, crimson gaze dropping to my feet and coming back up. It’s a lazy perusal, but I stand tall and lift my chin. It feels like she’s assessing my soul, and I don’t want her to find it lacking.

“Fine,” she says, crossing her arms. “Blue magic is so rare that most of us have just learned bydoingover the years. But there are a few basic tenets that can be taught.”

“How many of us are there?”

She snorts. “Within the haven system? I can’t think of any. It’s well known Evenia wants one to become her personal guarddog, so most of us stay out of the havens, lest our power show itself. The stronger you get with the power, the more frequently it’ll come out, and nothing screams blue witch like blue flames licking up your hands.”

“That happened to me,” I admit. “Leighton, the revenant, threatened one of my mates, and I burst into flame.”

Laerith’s brows rise. “And then?”

“It shocked him, I guess, and he left.”

“You’re lucky, and strong. But I’m guessing you have no idea how to recreate what you did?”

“I don’t,” I admit. “Or how to use it if I could create it. Well, I’ve read part of one book.”

“Blue power is primarily born from the fire elements, meaning it works like fire. But you can guide and direct your flames into weapons of almost any sort. Wait,” she stalks closer, “you know it's battle magic, right? Do I need to start at the very beginning?”

I grin. “I knew that much, thank you. I started that book about it to try to figure things out.”

“Written by blue witches?” Laerith looks skeptical.

“One was,” I manage.

She shakes her head. “Let’s move along. Nothing better than working with your magic. The magic arrives through the power of belief and need. Needing to help someone, believing that you can, those things are the crux of your power. Like this.”

She focuses over my shoulder, lifting a palm. Blue flames crackle, and then they spin and morph into a long sword that looks like it’s made of glowing blue glass.

“I’m going to throw this,” she murmurs. “Watch what happens.” She never takes her eyes off whatever she’s looking at.

I walk to her side, and she tosses the spear with a grunt. It slices through the closest tree and embeds deep into the treebehind it. Blue flames lick up the tree and begin to catch fire to the lower limbs.

I gasp, staring at the spot where the spear’s lodged.

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