Page 9 of Forgotten Arcane

The guys all laugh while River nods in understanding.

“Well, we’ll be helping you figure out your magic anyway, and Ed said that yours and Raiden’s magic was enhanced. So, you already have Death magic, which makes a lot of sense,” Griff points out.

“And other than River, the rest of us will remember that we have new magic that’s going to gradually make an appearance,” Van points out with a smile.

“If we do forget something, then I’m sure that we’ll get reminded about it at some point,” Doc points out.

“I think the death magic is more of a thing that we’re going to have to wait and see what happens rather than something that we need to look into,” Raiden replies to the other part of my sentence and agrees with Van.

I nod, “Yeah, that’s true.”

I can’t help but frown though, there is so much that I need to know about, my magic being a big one and everything else that comes along with it. Just thinking about everything is overwhelming and I decide to focus on one thing at a time. If I don’t then I risk curling up in a ball in the corner somewhere for a while.

“Come on, let’s get out of here and get home,” Van suggests, thankfully pulling me out of my thoughts.

The guys all nod in agreement and then start to head through the chamber and back out the way that we came in.

I stay where I am.

“Erm, guys,” I start, and they all pause, turning back to look at me. “The Elders said that I should only practice my magic within the safety of Ransom’s wards, and while I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them, I think we all agree that I should keep the fact that I’m an angel a secret from most of the supernatural world.”

“Agreed,” Doc says curiously.

I smile, it’s a testament to how exhausted we all are that they haven't caught on to where I’m going with this yet.

I gesture to my wings, “I probably shouldn’t be going outside of this room, where we’re going to be filmed, with my wings on show.”

Realization dawns on all of their faces.

“No, you really shouldn’t,” Reed agrees.

They all just stand a stare at me.

Raiden suddenly gets it, “Oh shit, you don’t know how to put them away do you?”

I shake my head with a smile, “Nope. Can they even be put away? I mean, I know you guys can all put your wings away, Raiden seemed to just instinctively put his away, so . . .”

“Wait, Raiden?” Coen asks. He grins, “Dude, you have wings?”

Raiden nods, with a big smile, “Yeah, look.”

Within seconds, Raiden has freed his wings, and Coen’s mouth drops open in shock. “Well I’ll be damned, I’ve never seen a reaper with wings like that. Did you finally stop blocking off most of your magic?”

It is so strange to me that they know each other, and that Coen knows the guys better than I know them. It’s pretty mind boggling actually.

Raiden nods, “It was either I unleashed and accepted that part of me, or Neith died, permanently.”

Coen’s eyes widen, as they move to me, “What?”

“It’s really complicated,” I reply.

“And it’s definitely not something that should be discussed here where we don’t know who is listening,” River adds, pointedly.

“I want to go home,” I say, the longing in my voice giving away just how much I mean it.

“Me too,” River says as he pulls me under his arm and then kisses the top of my head.

Clearly deciding that isn’t adequate enough, he tilts my chin up with his fingers and kisses me. His lips caressing mine in a soft kiss. I smile happily when he pulls back, and then it hits me. Coen hasn’t seen me with the guys, not like this, and although he had absolutely no problem when Dimitri kissed me, in fact, they used to love to push me to the edge and over it together. That was different.