Page 78 of Enchanted Shadows
I shrugged. “Earlier when I was surrounded without warning, I didn’t even have time enough to think about how it was similar to Theon’s, so no, I wasn’t really bothered.”
“Well, that was a low blow. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I can handle it.”
“So you do not mind?”
I shook my head. “Honey, at this point I suspect you are adeptat both Enchantments, so we might want to focus more on sword training with the others.”
She stilled.
I put up a hand. “If I cannot call you princess, I need to practice with some sort of endearment.”
“No. It wasn’t that. That’s fine.” One side of her face scrunched up into a wince as she blurted, “I have previously had sword training, but I could use more practice with my palm magic. I didn’t exactly have a ton of people to learn from.”
“What?”
A few people stilled in their positions because I had said it rather loud.
My wife gave me an innocent shrug.
“What else have you kept from me?”
She called some shadows to her hands and began swirling them around our feet. “You cannot honestly expect me to divulge all my womanly secrets within the first twenty-four hours of being married, now do you?”
“I—”What?What the hell had she just said?
She dipped her head toward her shoulder. “Not too late to get an annulment.” She was joking, but I could also sense her nerves and fear. Her ex was coming for her soon. And when he did, her tie to me would keep her away from him. Though I wasn’t sure I really believed that either. Kessara could fight for herself, of that I was sure. I just didn’t know if she believed that.
The others had gotten back to work, still, I lowered my voice. “How could I, with the allure of all those womanly secrets?”
“So, general, how would you like to strategize then?” she asked, still swirling the shadows around her feet.
Fall was starting to ease in, but today it was hot. Hotter than necessary. Come to think of it, she looked far less sweaty than the rest of us. “Are you cooling yourself off right now?”
She shot one clump of them toward me to do the same. “Yes.Shadows are cool. Though I learned I can warm them with my palm Enchantment.”
“Well, that’s going to be our strategy for today. You are going to use your Enchantments and I will use mine. Winner gets out of dishes tonight.” That was part of our plan. She would take her evening meals with me until training ended.
“Done,” Kessara stated.
She could have warned me how she normally used the shadows, but I realized that I’d be figuring it out firsthand as a mass of them aimed for me.
I released my magic to burst through the shadows, willing it to brighten them with the light. The result was that it looked like lightning struck within a small, but ominously dark, cloud. Despite my willing them to be torn apart, the shadows were compacted and weighted. They couldn’t be obliterated into nothing. I could light them up, but I couldn’t scatter them.
Three tries later, I willed my magic to chase down and encircle different sections of the shadows, trapping them in my magic. If I couldn’t break them apart, maybe I could move them myself.
She gasped as she took in her shadows wrapped up in my green magic. “You commandeered my shadows. Turned them into your orbs.”
“I did,” I told her. “But you can just release them anyway, right?”
“Yes.” She did exactly that to one. “Or do this.” She released her vibrantly gold looking magic to wrap around my green and squeeze, forming a barrier around my barrier.
While I stood there trying to thicken my magic to block out hers, she sent the four shadow orbs hurtling at my head. I had to dive to the ground in a pushup position to keep from being blasted by them, and even then, I still felt two at my back.
I turned to look at her, a slow smile spreading across my face.
“Oh no.”
