Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
She looked up at Gen with the sad darkness still in her heart and the fear that this might really be the end blackening her soul. “What do I do if he doesn’t change his mind?”
“Take it a day at a time.”
Because what else could she do?
“I would like to go on record and say that I think this is a bad idea,” Niamh said as she marched across the marble flooring on her way to the sacred tree a few days later.
“Noted,” Kierse said.
She’d spent the last few days vegged out in Gen’s room and had managed to convince her friends that the best treatment for her broken heart was to start training again. It helped that whatever lock Lorcan had on her powers had officially broken after the party, which meant she could form her triskel.
“I think it’ll be great,” Ethan said.
Gen shrugged. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Niamh gestured to the tree behind them. “The last time we used your triskel powers, you created a sacred tree and knocked Kierse out.”
The trio glanced at it and gave Niamh the point.
Niamh held her hands up. “I just worry about emotional stability.”
“Fair,” Kierse said with a sigh.
“We’ll take it slow,” Gen promised.
Niamh took a position before the tree across from Kierse with Ethan and Gen on either side of her. “We’re going to flow the energy between the three of you. Remember the alignment of a spell is almost as important as the spell itself. Since we’re not working on a full moon or a holiday, it may be more difficult than last time.”
Kierse nodded. “We’ll try.”
“All right,” Niamh said. “Do you want to get us started?”
Kierse took a deep breath and then released it slow. She linked one at a time in a careful direction as if she were holding out a helping hand and not pushing against them. They both inhaled sharply the moment the connection was through.
“Whoa,” Ethan said. “I forgot…”
“Incredible,” Gen whispered.
The connection felt right, like settling into her bones. And she wanted to enjoy it. She wanted to revel in it the way that her friends did, but there was a reason it felt better and easier than before.
She’d had a lot of practice the last couple months. And none of it had been with them.
She dropped the connection like a glass threatened to shatter out of her hands. She took a step out of the circle and put her head in her hands.
“I…I… Sorry,” she stumbled on her words.
“Kierse?” Gen said.
“You okay?” Ethan asked.
But it was Niamh who was standing before her and pulling her hands aside. “What happened?”
“It was…easy.” She looked up at her hollowly. “I’ve had a lot of practice. He was training me even while he held my magic in place.”
“Do you want to stop?”
“No,” she said. “I just wasn’t expecting it.”
“Okay,” Niamh said slowly. “Why doesn’t Gen try next?”
This time when Gen tried to connect with Kierse, she managed it. The faint wisp of gold with the uniquely Gen scent of earl grey tea and lavender bath soap. The things that reminded Kierse of home. Still, it didn’t overpower the tap, tap, tap on her chest where the bond lay.
“I’m sorry,” she said before breaking the circle again.
She dropped to a crouch. Her hand smudged the chalk circle as she lowered her head to her knees. She was dizzy and disoriented. Like she might puke. But she wasn’t quite physically sick.
“What is happening?” she whispered.
“I did say that emotional stability was important,” Niamh said gently.
Gen crossed the circle and sat down before Kierse. She put a hand to her head and heart and closed her eyes. “I don’t sense an impending illness. It feels like heartsick.”
“Heartsick,” Kierse said, blowing out another long breath. “It’s passing. I can…I can try again.”
Niamh frowned as she reformed the chalk circle. “One more time is all you get, all right?” Kierse nodded. “Fine. Ethan, your turn,” Niamh said.
Ethan reached out with less finesse than Gen had. They both grunted as the connection—a wave of golden light instead of a trickle—knocked them in the chest. The smell of soil and holy oil hit her in the face.
“Sorry!” he said. “It was my first time.”
“Hold the connection. Now try a power share.” Niamh’s eyes caught Kierse’s. “You want to show them how it’s done.”
Try to pull my tie through your fingers.
Kierse closed her eyes and pushed Lorcan’s words out of her mind. She didn’t need him in her mind. Or the feeling of doing exactly what he had said to draw magic into herself.
Right now, she was the one who was full up. She was the one giving her magic to them. She pushed a tiny grain of sand down the bond to each of them. They gasped at the magic, the bud she’d given them that would enhance their own powers.