Page 100 of Ruthless Scoundrel
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t meet Meianha right away. Even after, running her errands got me in trouble sometimes.”
I touch his arm softly. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“It was easy for them to hate me. I didn’t speak the language well and I didn’t look like them. I was different.”
“That’s not an excuse. People should be better than that, and I know we can be with the right guidance.”
He chuffs, pushing some of my hair behind my ear. I lean into his hand before he smirks. “Maybe you’re right.”
“Now, what do you want to accomplish with your magic?” he asks, his hand still lingering on my face.
“I would love to fly,” I say off the cuff.
He laughs. “I bet you could. It would take a lot of control, and muscles, but I’ve seen the way you can release your magic and I think you can do it.”
Something swells in my chest. Hope? Affection? Both?
“Will you really help me?”
“Of course.” He rubs a thumb across my cheek. “What else is a husband for?”
Chapter twenty-nine
Jasper
“Ithink that’s enough, sunshine,” I say after three hours of practice. Her magic is coming in tiny spurts now, and a sheen of sweat glistens on her forehead in the low light of the magus crystals that float on little leaf boats we made. If she’s not careful, I’ll be carrying her back to the tent.
Again.
Not that I mind. She practiced to the point of exhaustion the night before, and the night before that…and the night before that. She’s taken to training like a sha’kara scenting blood in the water. For almost two weeks now she’s practiced every night, and I’ve had the pleasure of watching her grow, and experiment. She’s a wonder.
“One more try,” she says, sloshing the water around her ankles as she resituates.
Relentless, just the way I love her.
She opens her hands to the ground beside her and splays her trembling fingers. Blue fire shoots from each fingertip, and thena wide circle from her palms. The force of her magic casts ripples through the water that reach me at the shore. Her arm muscles strain and bulge as she fights to keep them steady, and herself rigid.
She’s got it in her mind that she can fly with her magic, or at least hover, and who am I to tell her otherwise? I want to see her soar.
Reina grits her teeth and curls her fingers, uniting the streams of magic into one powerful blast that sends the water splashing away from her. But then her left arm gives out. It bends at the elbow, making her fly sideways in a sudden burst. I leap through the river into her path, and she smashes into my chest with a yelp.
“I’ve got you,” I say, holding her tight around the waist.
She pants heavily, going slack in my arms. “I know I can do it.”
“I know you can, too. You just need to get a little stronger,” I say, carrying us back to the sandy shore.
“I want to be strongernow.”
I chuckle. “You’ll have to settle forsoon.”
She blows out a heavy puff and finds her footing. I help her stand, though I don’t want to let her go just yet.
“You don’t have to chaperone meeverytime, you know,” she says, leaning down to grab her water skein.
I smile. “But who’ll carry you to bed every night?”
