Page 30 of Ensnared
I raise my eyebrows, waiting for her to elaborate.
“I can’t even touch it with my magic,” she grumbles.
“What do you mean?”
I take her hands in mine and look them over. She said earlier that she was holding the magic, but I didn’t see anything then, and I notice nothing different now.
She pulls her hands from mine. “I don’t know. Maybe I just wasn’t focused enough. I kept thinking of other things I could try, and in the end, nothing worked.”
I recline back on my elbows. Magic freaks me out a little, but hers only seems to affect technology. “Does everyone’s magic work the same?” I ask. “I mean, do all witches learn to levitate things?”
“Yeah. It’s a really basic manipulation. That, and lighting small fires with our minds.” She rubs her palms together, staring down at them. “That’s exactly what I’m worried about. Even if I find the right spell, my mind might not be sharp enough.”
“Hey,” I object. “You’re plenty sharp.”
She ducks her chin. “Thanks. Only I spent several weeks in the presence of sea dragons and it didn’t even occur to me that you weren’t human.”
I sigh. “Well, that’s partly our fault. We’ve had decades of practice in hiding our heritage. Don’t beat yourself up over it.” I pick another leaf off the ground and hand it over to distract her. “Want to try again?”
She does, with no success. Her eyes nearly cross with effort, and she’s visibly flushed.
“Just once more,” she says with a stubborn frown. “I keep flinging magic at it, but it won’tdoanything. I don’t understand. There’s got to be a catch. I conjured up those flames on the beach, didn’t I?”
A small line appears between her eyebrows, and I itch to smooth it over with my thumb. I’m pretty sure she’d bite my hand off if I tried that, though, so I swipe the leaf from her fingers and stand.
“Come on,” I say. “We’ll practice more next time.”
I offer her my hand and try not to howl in triumph as she takes it. I help her to her feet and let go, not willing to touch her longer than necessary. If she wanted anything more from me, she would have told me. Skye isn’t shy about her desires, and she certainly didn’t have a problem with Ty or Jack.
Not that I want to get in the middle of that.
I turn away from her to hide my traitorous body’s reaction to the thought of beingin the middleof Ty, Jack, and her.
“Whoa,” she murmurs.
A thud has me swiveling around. Skye is kneeling on the ground, blinking as though the sunlight hurts her eyes.
“Shit.” I hurry back to her side. “You went too far again, didn’t you?”
She shakes her head as though trying to clear it. “It didn’t feel like it while I was sitting.”
I clench my jaw so hard, my teeth creak. I should have stopped her earlier. But I was too distracted with the possibility of magic.
“Come on.” I take her by the waist and hoist her to her feet. “I’ll carry you back.”
Skye bats my hands away. “No, you won’t.”
She inhales through her nose and takes one tentative step forward. And another. Then she stops, trembling on her feet.
“Skye, come on.” I close in on her. “Don’t be—”
“Don’t bewhat?” she snaps. “Stupid? Because if you want me to make any sort of progress, I can’t be laid low by a fucking simple levitation spell.”
“I was going to say stubborn,” I reply. “Let me help you.”
She doesn’t reply. Instead, she wobbles on, her arms outstretched at her sides.
“The village is that way,” I tell her quietly.
