Page 229 of Halfblood Deceived

The plates were cleared by a few members of the staff, and everyone’s stomachs were less full after a potion provided by Mari. Luce grabbed Aella’s wrist and tugged her toward a beautiful parlor. It was full of comfortable sofas and bookcases. At its center, there was a low table full of wrapped presents.

It took all of Aella’s willpower to not bolt from the room and hide somewhere. “Birthday parties are embarrassing,” Diana had advised, and she very much agreed.

The others entered the room as well and sat on the comfortable sofas. Mari sat next to Andreas, Aella noticed. Their sides almost pressed together.

She bit her lip to hide her smile and parked her butt on an armchair.

“Mine first,” Luce said, handing Aella a heavy box wrapped in brown paper with a green bow.

Aella smiled and undid the bow. She had a pretty good idea of what she’d find inside, but still lost a breath at the sight of the beautiful hardbacks.

Luce wrung her hands, uncharacteristically nervous. “Do you like them?”

“How?” Aella asked, running her fingers over the beveled leather of the cover. It was dyed black but had sparks of magic carved and painted opalescent that flashed even in the warm light of the room. The title—The Black Witch—was drawn with looping, gorgeous calligraphy, and silver ink. The edge of the first book had a painting of a handsome male with brown hair and a green-skinned female with black hair looking at each other longingly.

Luce shrugged. “I saw a tutorial, and Uncle Evan helped me. I’m not great at painting with acrylics, so I drew the illustrations on a tablet, and we used a special printer to paint the edges. Do you like it?”

Aella’s eyes prickled. She blinked hard. “I love it, Luce. Thank you so much. I don’t have words.”

Luce beamed and hugged Aella. “I’m glad you are here with us, Aella.”

Aella closed her eyes and hugged Luce tightly. “Thank you.”

Luce squeezed back surprisingly hard. “You’re welcome.”

Aella let her go, feeling overwhelmed and abashed, and she still had a pile of presents to go through.

Luce sat next to Mari, looking pleased.

Aella’s eyes inevitably looked for Zeydan. He was smiling warmly at her. Everyone was except for Andreas, who was examining her as if she were a weird creature indeed.

Diana gave Aella an encouraging smile.

Aella swallowed hard and cleared her throat to compose herself.

A slender, long box rose from the table, held by Sebastian’s telekinesis, and then it dropped gently on Aella’s lap. “Me second.”

“Show off,” Aylana accused.

“And proudly,” Sebastian unsurprisingly retorted.

Aella huffed and opened the box. Her eyes went wide at the sight of a platinum-gold sword with a beautifully carved handle.

“It’s magicked,” Sebastian explained. “Once you touch it, the magic will attune to you and prevent anyone from using it against you.”

Aella bit her lip and gripped the handle of the sword, lifting it. A buzz of pleasant energy ran up her arm. The blade glinted, runes popped up on it, and after a flash of blue magic the sword vanished, but a bracelet appeared on Aella’s hand. She gasped.

“Oh, it also turns into a pretty piece of jewelry,” Sebastian commented lightly. “If you need it, all you have to do is focus, and it will activate.”

“You are a bloody show-off,” Zeydan said to Sebastian, looking amused and slightly irritated.

Sebastian half shrugged. “I can’t help but be impressive. It’s in my nature.”

Aylana rolled her eyes at him.

Aella gigged. “Thank you, Sebastian.”

He winked. “You are welcome, darling.”

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