Page 48 of Troll Queen

“Yes.” Some of the tension left Farrendel’s shoulders. He sipped his hot chocolate, the ache through the heart bond fading. He picked up Essie’s free hand, running his thumb over her palm. “I have been so distracted that I had forgotten you used my magic. I suppose you will need to be trained to use it.”

Essie tucked her feet beneath the blanket, her arm tingling with the gentleness of Farrendel’s thumb tracing across her palm. She struggled not to yawn. While it sounded nice to curl under the blanket and go back to sleep, Farrendel tended to be more forthcoming during the late night talks. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to. I just won’t use your magic if you don’t want me to.”

“My magic is too dangerous to risk you using it by accident without training.” Farrendel stopped stroking her palm and clasped his fingers through hers. For some reason, the logistics of training seemed to steady him. “But, perhaps, we will not begin training right away. We both need to be ready. And we will need to ask your brother for a safe place to train where magical explosions would not cause widespread damage.”

“Good point.” Essie winced at the thought of accidentally leveling half of Aldon with a magical accident. Neither she nor Farrendel would ever forgive themselves for something like that. “Lance would have a field day studying this new magical development. How did this whole magic-sharing thing happen? Weylind seemed surprised by it, so it isn’t something that happens all the time because of a heart bond.”

Lance Marion was a magical engineer who worked with the Escarlish government to invent weapons. When Essie had introduced him to Farrendel the first time they had been in Escarland, Lance had found Farrendel’s magic incredibly fascinating. He would be even more distracted studying this new development.

Farrendel set aside his hot chocolate to reach for a chocolate chip cookie. “I am not entirely sure what I did or how it happened.”

Essie was inordinately pleased he’d chosen to give up his hot chocolate rather than let go of her hand. “Definitely sounds like something Lance would find fascinating.”

Farrendel took a few bites of the cookie, then washed it down with more hot chocolate, before he set both aside. The tension returned to his shoulders and to the heart bond. “In that dungeon, I was helpless. The stone kept me from accessing my magic. But I could still feel the heart bond. Somehow, the stone could not touch that magic.”

His words came hard, as if being dragged from him.

Essie squeezed his hand and glanced up at him. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

At least, that was what she forced herself to say. She wanted so very much for him to open up to her.

Perhaps, with the heart bond open between them, he could sense that. He stared at the ceiling as he continued talking. “But when Melantha healed me, she put her magic between me and the stone. It gave me temporary access to my magic. I was desperate to figure out a way to store my power so that I could get to it when I needed it. So I attempted to store it in the heart bond.”

“You tried to store magic inside of magic?” How would that even work? Essie set aside her mug of hot chocolate as well.

“I am sorry I was not able to ask you first before I tried it.” Farrendel put his arm around her shoulders to tug her closer.

“You were desperate.” Essie rested her free hand on Farrendel’s chest, his shirt warm and soft beneath her fingers. If she wasn’t careful, she would fall asleep right there.

“Still, you probably should have had a choice in making such an irreparable change.” Farrendel shook his head, his voice going softer. “I thought I was merely storing the magic. But, instead, I think I linked my magic to the heart bond permanently. Whether it happened that first time I tried to store magic or if it happened over time or strengthened the more I used that link to store magic, I do not know. However it happened, my magic can now be accessed through the heart bond. I can still draw on it separately, but I can also reach through the heart bond for it.”

“And that’s how I can feel it as well.” Essie nodded against Farrendel’s shoulder. That made sense. And it explained why it felt like she needed his help to wield it. “Does this mean you can never be cut off from your magic again?”

“Maybe. I am not positive. It will take training and study to discover the limits of what happened.” Farrendel’s thumb rubbed her shoulder.

Essie hoped it was true. With his magic linked to the heart bond, it would be much harder for enemies to capture Farrendel. The Escarlish traitors never would have been able to capture them if Essie had been able to draw on Farrendel’s magic. He had not dared to use his magic when she had a gun pressed to her back. But if she could have defended herself, then both of them could have fought back.

That was another good reason she needed to train in this new ability. The Escarlish traitors had used her as Farrendel’s weakness. If she could prevent that from ever happening again, then both of them would be a lot safer in the future.

When Farrendel woke, sunlight already beamed through the window, splashing pools of bright light on the floor. Essie was curled against his chest, warm and breathing deeply in sleep. His arm lay over her waist while her red hair frizzed over her pillow, his pillow, and into his face.

He must have slept late after he and Essie had spent hours the night before talking about the war and what had happened to both of them during the two weeks apart.

He had already talked about what had happened to him during the counseling sessions with Mr. and Mrs. Harwell, and somehow that had made it easier to talk about it the second time with Essie. If anything, the weight pressing against his chest and mind lifted further. It still lingered, there at the back of his mind. But, it was manageable now, even before taking his morning dose of Taranath’s medicine.

Sometime in the early morning hours, Essie had fallen asleep against Farrendel as if worn out from all their talking. He could have picked her up and set her back on her side of the bed.

Instead, he had eased her from his shoulder where she lay, then wedged himself between her and the wall. During the night, the pillow wall had gotten shoved off the bed, and he was in no hurry to put it back. If his nightmares remained as mild as they had been the night before and if Essie’s ability to tug on his magic could wake him quickly when he did have a nightmare, perhaps precautions would not be as necessary.

As much as he wanted to linger, he could hear the sounds of Julien and Captain Merrick in the garden below, muffled through the closed windowpanes.

He brushed Essie’s hair out of his face and moved the locks of her hair out of the way so that he did not accidentally set his elbow on a strand and pull it. Essie stirred, but she did not wake.

Farrendel eased onto his elbow, then sat up the rest of the way. When that did not disturb her, he climbed off the bed, then pulled the blanket over her shoulders.

After dressing and taking his medicine, Farrendel strapped on his swords. He was now at the second hole in the leather instead of as tight as they would go. A good sign that he was regaining his strength and filling out after starving there in the trolls’ dungeon.

Still, his balance and strength was not yet restored enough for him to risk climbing down the tree outside the window so he had to take the longer route down the stairs and out the door.

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