Page 53 of Voices in the Stars
Sitting up straight in my chair, I drummed my fingers along the wood table. “Who’s that?” I asked, clenching my teeth at the thought of the one man I’d let into my bed disappearing to meet someone else.
Instead of answering, Leon just glanced at me, a smirk pulling at one side of his lips.
“What camp did you guys go to?” I tried again.
“Training” was all he offered at first. “Sent there as boys to join the king’s army. Me as a soldier, him as one of the generals.”
I leaned over the table, trying to keep my new excitement hidden. “What all did you learn there?”
“Combat, tracking, basic medical—don’t ask your prince to help you with that last one, though. He’s terrible at it.” He glanced back at me, looking over me. “Not that you’ll ever need help with that.”
“Right.” I nodded. “This supposed healing magic that I have.”
“Don’t you?” he asked, turning his attention back to the food, tossing what he had cut up into a metal pot.
“Wouldn’t know,” I answered honestly. “All I’ve managed so far is to randomly set shit on fire.”
“Is that so?” he asked, finally turning his attention to me, arms crossed as he leaned against the counter.
“Yup. Some grass, myself. Even lit a guy on fire before Atlas had to carry me here.” I took advantage of the curiosity that was twirling through his dark eyes.
“That explains the state you were in,” he commented, nodding his head.
“Atlas told me a little bit about it. How bad was it?” I asked, bracing myself for it.
“Bad. You barely had a pulse, yet were gasping for breath like the world didn’t have enough oxygen for you. Random parts kept sparking with flames. I lost count of the burns that covered Atlas. Even youwere bad. Fingers were charred black. Clothing was falling away. Did the best I could to patch you two up. That’s how I know you have some healing magic inside ya.” He nodded his head toward my hands.
I glanced down, clenching my perfectly unmarked hands together. Twisting them in the sunlight that streamed through a window next to me, there was nothing. Not even the smallest of marks.
“This is insanity,” I whispered.
“Well, this insanity is your life now,” Leon commented.
“You’re right.” I reluctantly pulled my attention away from my hands. “Which is why I should learn to fight back without almost killing myself.”
“Oh no.” Leon shook his head. “I know nothing about this magic shit.” He gestured over me with one hand.
“No.” I tried to put on my nicest smile. “But you should know a lot about weapons. Teach me how to fight.” If I couldn’t learn to control myself, I could control metal.
“Ask Atlas.”
“He’s very busy,” I tried again.
Leon grunted, turning back to the food. I was quick to give up, leaning back in the chair with a quiet huff, crossing my arms. If I could get ahold of some weapon, I could teach myself. Might lose a finger in the process, but apparently that wasn’t much of an issue for me. I flexed my fingers against my arm. Not that I really wanted to push myself with that. I couldn’t control a flame, let alone regrow a limb.
“I’ll think about it,” Leon huffed out without looking at me. “This gets me killed, I’ll come back to haunt ya,” he threatened, but I could hear the smile in his words.
“I wouldn’t dream of letting it,” I answered back with a smile of my own.
Turnsout that was all the convincing Leon needed. One moment, silence had blanketed us in the kitchen. The next moment, Leon finished slicing through the vegetables, leaving them to simmer in a dark liquid as he ushered me outside.
We were in a small clearing in the middle of a forest. There were random spots of grass that were much shorter than the rest. I glanced at the giant in front of me. It was possible he cleared out this entire area surrounding us. I looked back at the house we had just left; it was a log cabin. Maybe it was more than a possibility then. Clucking filled the silence as we rounded one side of the house.
There was a round, wooden fence with chickens moving around inside it.
“Wait here,” Leon mumbled, walking over to the side of the house.
A wooden ladder trailed up the house. I shifted my weight from foot to foot as I followed it up the tall building. The ladder ended at a flat section of the stone roof. It looked flat enough that someone could definitely sit up there. I glanced over at Leon, wondering what the possibility of me climbing up there would be. I shook my head. That was an issue for another time. There were more important things that needed to be done now.
