Page 20 of Whispered Warnings: Part Two

“He said that demons and dragons have had a long-standing relationship and that in Trieneliea, I would have been trained to fight from the back of them.”

“Wow, that is really fucking cool,” River grins.

“That’s not all. He said that he could feel my magic, and it must be exhausting to have it locked down all the time. He said if I ever wanted to set it free, I could come and hang out at the keep, and that it would take a couple of hours for the dragons to adjust to my magic, but like it did with you guys, they would get used to it.”

“Wait, what?” Doc asks with a frown.

“I think he means that if I completely let my magic free, with no barrier then you guys would get used to it pretty quickly and I wouldn’t have to keep it on lock down all the time,” Reed replies, somewhat cautiously as if he is unsure how the guys will react.

“No fucking way,” Griff reacts first, one of his rare big smiles crossing his features and making him look even more handsome.

River starts bouncing, “Come on then. Let the magic free.”

“I hate that you have to be so in control all the time. If we can get used to it like Draith said, then that would be amazing and definitely something worth doing,” Doc adds, his smile genuinely happy for Reed.

“It makes sense actually,” Raiden starts. “Your magic has been free a lot more recently, and we have all handled it better.”

“He’s right,” Ransom agrees. “Think about when we were in the clearing, your magic pinned us to the floor, but as soon as you realized and had stopped yelling at Neith, you pulled it back, and before that, it was completely free, and we were all fine. It wasn’t until Neith pissed you off that you let out a blast of power that sent us to the floor.”

“Really?” Reed asks in confusion.

Evander nods, “Shit, yeah, you’re right.” He grins, “Come on, man, let your magic out. We’ll deal with it.”

“Now?” Reed asks, his eyes widening slightly.

“There’s no reason to wait, is there?” Doc asks.

Reed shrugs, “I guess not.”

“I don’t think we’re going to react how you think we will. I mean, you have already exposed us to your power today, remember?” Van asks.

“Okay,” Reed says. “All at once or gradually?”

The guys all just share a look, communicating in a way that only people who have been friends for a really long time can. I stay out of it since his power isn’t going to affect me either way.

“Well, you do tend to release it in a blast, or because of a strong emotion,” Evander starts, “Maybe this time, if you do it gradually then it will give us a chance to get used to it and it won’t be such a big hit at once. Like I said you have already hit us with a big blast today, so that should help too, if Draith is right.”

“I would be inclined to believe Draith. He is really fucking old and comes from Trieneliea. He knows how it used to work there, and it would make a lot of sense that demons wouldn’t have had to keep such a tight lock on their magic at all times there,” I say.

Reed thinks about it for a moment and then nods. He doesn’t say anything else as he slowly starts releasing his magic. He keeps his gaze on the others, watching them for any signs of discomfort until his full power is finally released.

“Well?” he asks.

I think that it’s a good thing that they are all still upright and haven’t been flattened by his power, so I’m hoping that Draith was right and Reed is finally going to be able to be completely himself while he is at home, at least.

I can’t even begin how exhausting it must be for him to have to keep that much power leashed all of the time.

“I’m good,” River says as he stands up to prove that he is actually okay.

Raiden does the same with a huge smile, “Me too.”

All of the guys stand up to prove that they are okay and that they can.

Reed’s eyes are wide, “Really, you are honestly not affected?”

“At first, I began to feel that heavy feeling that I usually get when you release your magic, but it soon lessened instead of becoming heavier,” Doc explains.

“Yeah, I felt the same. I thought I was going to get flattened for a moment, but it didn’t get any worse and just slowly dissipated,” Griff adds.

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