Page 44 of The Discovered
He moved closer to me. “I will not let anything happen to you.” He stroked my cheek, brushing his thumb over my lips before dropping his hand back to his side. “You’re already up, so let’s get to work.”
Despite my exhaustion from poor sleep and astral battles, Daelon had me doing exercises all morning to work through my anger and keep learning defensive strategies. He hadn’t calmed down from earlier, and his intensity was overbearing, to say the least.
“Again, Áine. I feel how erratic your power still is. What if he were to kill me?”
“Stop, Daelon,” I spat, opening my eyes. The fire beside us roared, the flames spitting and furious. “I don’t want to—”
“You need to be prepared for the worst,” he insisted. “You need to learn to use your emotions constructively. Just think about the possibility and try to light this candle.”
“I am not going to think about your death!”
We carried on like this for a while. Daelon provoked me and then asked me to channel my energy into far too simple of tasks. So far, I had scorched the carpet, exploded two apples, and sent Daelon across the room, which I had to admit, was mildly entertaining. He’d deserved it.
However, I did see notable progress, in spite of his questionable methods. I was beginning to tap into my ocean of power quicker and more easily—to access different forces and frequencies without getting completely lost in my mind. I was detaching more and more from my impulses. I was uncovering my own methods for magick that worked with the source energy.
I was learning how to separate my emotions from my magick so that I could finally stop closing myself off to the limitless possibilities at my fingertips. I contained so much, and my ego only got in the way. I was slowly but surely beginning to open up—to find the faith my mothers needed me to have in my purpose—the purpose I knew would save witches from the evil of this realm like Lucius and his companions.
Lucius wanted to make me feel like I was alone, but in each burst of magick I felt my mothers, my people, and sometimes, I even felt everyone all at once. Daelon might have refused to tell me more about this enemy, but I could sense that Lucius’s powers were unnatural, cold, and lifeless. It was as though everything he had was stolen.
It was he who was truly alone.
“Daelon. I’m tired,” I said, after I was pretty sure I made it snow at least a foot.
“I know, baby.” His eyes softened slightly. “But I have more planned.”
“Damn this is a lot of snow,” Daelon muttered. He side-eyed me, an impressed smile on his lips. His hand was clasped in mine, which would’ve been endearing if he wasn’t practically dragging me along through the forest.
I was thankful I had my black snow boots from last winter handy, as my magickal tantrum had snow up to my knees. I wore a chic red cape-like coat that Rena had talked me into, which she insisted gave me a ‘sexy, red-riding hood vibe.’ She was right.
“I like this,” Daelon said, pulling at the fabric.
I knew he would. “What are we doing, Daelon?” I groaned, still exhausted from this morning’s intense sessions. Not to mention my battle in the astral realm.
“It’s a surprise.” He led me toward the clearing where he practiced magick, and a chill ran down my spine at my last memory of the place. “I’m teaching you offensive magick now.”
We headed into the center of the circle of trees, but Daelon suddenly halted and let out a frustrated sigh. “I tire of this. Can you melt it?” he asked, nearly pouting.
I laughed. “Okay.” I let go of his hand and moved a few steps ahead.
I reached out as if to clear a path for us, but instead turned on my heel, channeled a gust of wind, and hurled a wave of snow at him. I couldn’t contain my laughter as the burst of white powder rammed into his chest, some of it ricocheting into his face.
Confusion quickly turned into annoyance as he lunged for me. I couldn’t stop giggling as he wrapped his arms around me in a mock hold and pulled my back up to his chest. “You think that’s funny?” he asked into my ear. He attempted to sound menacing, but I could tell he was trying not to laugh with me. His forearm was tight under my chin.
“No, no, not funny,” I laughed, gripping at his arm. “Hilarious.”
He let go of me, spinning me around to face him. I looked up into his eyes, dizzy from the movement and laughter. He looked flustered for a moment, but he soon melted into pure adoration. His hands encircled my waist, and I looked to his lips. I thought he was going to kiss me, but he pulled me into his chest instead, his hand on the back of my head. I breathed in his clean, woodsy scent, content to skip out on the rest of training to be held by him instead.
He let go and clasped his hands on either side of my face. He leaned down and finally pressed his lips, which were soft and tasted of cold and snow, to mine. I responded to him hungrily, tilting my head and reaching up to tangle my fingers in his hair. He groaned softly, feeling his way along my curves and grabbing my ass.
We lost ourselves in each other, my head spinning with desire, pent up emotion, and intensity that needed an outlet. He bit my bottom lip lightly, deepening the kiss until I couldn’t figure out why we ever did anything else.
He pulled back, resting his forehead against mine. “As enticing a distraction as you are,” he said, “we have work to do.” He pulled his head back.
I huffed. “Sounds boring.” Tired and longing for him—all of him, I changed tactics. “And Iwant you,” I said softly, putting all of my yearning into my gaze up at him. I reached my hand out slowly, curling a finger through one of his belt loops beneath his coat, lightly pulling him toward me.
He shook his head, grinning. “No, Áine. But an admirable effort, truly.”
I glared at him. “I know you want to,” I said, feeling bold.
