Page 73 of Luca

“I don’t want to know.” Zadok threw up his hands, turning on his heel to walk out. I groaned in humiliation.Lord, please let me hit my head and lose all recollection of this. Before he reached the paddock, he called out over his shoulder. “Meet me by the field on the hill when you’re presentable. And give the horses extra treats. They deserve it.”

I sagged against the sink, dragging a hand over my face. “Welp, now I can never look my dad in the eye again.”

Cair scoffed. “As if he has any room to talk. He and his lover are at it like rut-crazed goblins most evenings.”

“Scratch that, I’m just going to pass away. No resurrection this time, please.” I glowered at him. “Why thehellwould you tell me that?”

He shrugged, looking away, and that was the moment I realized that Cair was sulking. The big, two-hundred-year-old Fae prince was in a strop because he’d been interrupted during sex, and I had a hard time not finding it adorable.

Pushing off the sink with a grin, I sidled up to him, wrapping my arms around his waist and trying to garner his attention. “We can fuck for days when we get back to the human realm,” I said. “It’ll be better that way. No interruptions, and we can go for as long as we need to.”

I knew his blood would be boiling in his veins, desperate to finally reconnect with me again after everything that had happened. However, I also knew he wouldn’t dream of getting in the way of me bonding with Zadok or learning magic after the effort it had taken to get here—and my complaints of boredom for the last week and a half. No matter how much he wanted to throw me over his shoulder and finish what we’d started.

With a deep breath through his nose, he finally glanced down at me and nodded once. “I agree.”

“You could use my mouth later?” I bit my lip suggestively, feigning coyness. “To take the edge off.”

He leaned in, kissing my temple before brushing his lips over my ear. “I’d refrain from baiting me, little one. I could still send you to meet your father with your hole stretched and dripping with my cum. Don’t think I’m holding back for the mere sake of propriety.”

No idea how I managed to leave after that, but I deserved a fucking medal.

* * *

“I have a theory,” Zadok said as we trekked into the middle of an empty field. He seemed excited, so I let him continue. “I think you can open portals.”

My eyes widened, and my feet stopped. “What?”

“Cair mentioned that you found a tome back at the palace with instructions on temporary tears. That tome was mine, by the way,” he said to the empty space beside him, carrying on walking despite my pause. I hurried to catch up. “He said you both used it to travel to and from the human realm, but you thought it was Cair’s Fae blood that allowed their creation. I’m not convinced.”

He shrugged his satchel off his shoulder, laying it on the grass under the single cherry blossom tree at the top of the hill—a detail that stunned me for all of three seconds because I’d expected the same Fae species that surrounded the farmstead, not the human variant, but it was cool all the same. It was beautiful up here, the viewandthe smattering of wildflowers, but I couldn’t give it the appreciation it deserved as I needed a moment to catch my breath.

Zadok carried on regardless. “As you are my son, I believe we may share similar gifts—portals being one of them—while you’ll also have a few of your own. We may not have the time to get you wielding your magic expertly before you leave, it can take years, but we can at least figure out what we’re working with and go from there. Besides, portals are a good start as they’re not only useful as transport, they are also an escape route should you ever need one.”

I stood from my bent-over, hands-on-knees position. “I want to learn it all.”

He chuckled, the look on his face suggesting he’d expected my answer. “We will see how you do with portals, then perhaps we’ll throw in a few of the basic defensive and offensive spells from that grimoire I gave you. I want you to be able to protect yourself, especially if a war is brewing.”

I nodded enthusiastically, recalling my conversation with Cair the day we’d left the palace. “I want to be able to protect Cair too. I don’t expect to be able to fight on the front lines, but I don’t want to be completely useless. What would be the point in having a skill like this if I can’t use it to protect the people I love?”

His gaze softened, though there was a hint of pain there. “Of course.”

For the next hour or so—maybe even days, I couldn’t tell—Zadok tutored me on how tosafelymanifest my magic and center it in my palms. He said it was a crucial step. That formally introducing myself to my power and coaxing it to one area of my body before a spell made it easier to steer. It also meant I’d achieve the desired effects from incantations much quicker.

Oh, and there would be less chance of it accidentally bursting out and wreaking havoc. You know, because that was super important.

“Once you master this, you’ll be able to call on your magic much more naturally,” he reminded me for the fifteenth time, and I didn’t doubt it.

Problem was, I couldn’t seem to get the hang of it.

“It’s not happening.” I threw up my hands in frustration,so closeto tearing out my hair. If he hadn’t been there, I’d have given up way before now. I was a persistent fucker when it came to my special interests, but I had a limit, and if I wasn’t seeing any progress after the first few attempts, I didn’t want it.

Zadok sent mea look. “You’ve only tried six times.”

“Can’t I just try to open a portal?” I grumbled, wiping the sweat off my brow. That sun was killing me. “Clearly you think I’ve done it before, so…”

“I do, but I also believe it was a mere coincidence. You followed the symbols in the book and it happened, but you had no control over it. Now that your powers are wholly unleashed, it makes sense to learn how to wield them. Trust me, putting in the work to get this right will make everything else so much smoother in the long run.”

“You’re the mage, I guess.” I exhaled a long breath, shaking out my hands. “Can you show me one more time?”

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