Page 28 of Ensnared
A blink later, and the last flashlight goes out. The other four, the ones closer to us, remain lit.
“Whoop!” I punch the air and turn to Aiden. The movement has me feeling dizzy, as though I’ve stood up too quickly. “Whoa.”
Aiden’s strong hands catch my elbows, and he steadies me against him. “Are you okay? Did you pull too much power again?”
I give myself a couple of seconds to catch my breath. “No, I think I’m fine.”
I don’t move away from him, though. His hands are so warm, the heat of him scorches through all my layers of clothes. Or maybe I’m imagining it because I’m burning up from the inside. Magic is exhilarating. And I want to do it again.
“You did it.” He smiles down at me, devastatingly handsome. “Your aim was way better, too. Good job.”
The glow inside me intensifies at his praise. “Thanks.”
Our gazes lock, and my breath catches in my throat. He’s so close, so damn close, and he’s staring at me like he wants to devour me.
I blink. He’s a dragon. Maybe hedoeswant to eat me. With a cough, I step back, out of his grip. Aiden lets me go immediately, pushing his hands in his pockets.
“So, er, what’s next?” His jaw is bunched tight.
I try to think of a way to diffuse the awkwardness of the situation. “I need to learn more,” I say finally. “Right now, I’m just killing flashlights. The work you want me to perform is something else entirely.”
He frowns at me. “It’s magic, right? If you find the right spell, you’ll just follow instructions.”
I spread my arms in frustration. “But how? First of all, I don’thavethe spell. I doubt it’s even written down somewhere, or I would have heard it mentioned. My family can’t perform that type of all-encompassing protection, or they’d have warded our house like that years ago. We only know how to key the repulsion spell to a certain person, and that’s using a part of the person in the procedure, like hair or nail clippings.”
Witchy business was often nasty.
“Can’t you modify it?” he asks. “For example, in recipes, you can swap out the beef for chicken if you run out.”
I stare at him. “Beef?Chicken? This isn’t—” I growl in frustration and pace away from him. “You don’t get it. It’s like…” I try to think of a good analogy.
He faces me, his hands at his hips. “Like what?”
“Okay. Imagine…imagine the Mona Lisa. Right?” I motion with my hands in the shape of a woman. “The most intriguing painting ever to be made.”
Aiden pulls his mouth to the side. “I don’t really like it. She’s too—”
“That’s not the point!” I snap. “Just. Please. You know what I mean if I say it’s a masterpiece, yeah?”
He nods grudgingly. I can’t believe I’m standing in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness, discussing art history with a sea dragon. When did I turn down the path that brought me here?
When you broke into a pet store to free all those poor dogs.
Oh, right.
Aiden is still watching me expectantly, so I drag my thoughts back to the issue at hand.
“It took old Leonardo years and years to perfect his art enough to be able to paint it,” I continue. “And if I say that your protection spell is like the Mona Lisa, you understand that it takes a very proficient witch to accomplish it.”
“Right.”
“Well, imagine giving a toddler some finger paints and asking him to create a replica of that painting,” I say. “What do you think the result would be like?”
His mouth twitches in a smile. “Messy?”
“Yeah.” I sigh and let my hands down. “Messy.”
He nods thoughtfully. “But you could learn.”
