30. Reyla
30
REYLA
I ’d acted without thought, though regret slammed into me almost as quickly as the wall of water Lore generated from the air and shoved in my direction to deflect my lightning.
The wall of water hit gentler than it should’ve, all things considered, but still engulfed me, drenching me through and extinguishing my puny attempt to defend myself. I stood on the stone floor, highlighted by the moonlight, sputtering and dripping while his rage at my father limped out of him with the drop in his shoulders. His too-gorgeous eyes widened with the realization of what he’d done.
Farris whined, but a quick wave of my hand soothed him.
“I’d suggest we were even,” I told Lore, gulping. “Except my bolt didn’t touch you, and I’m now soaking wet from your wall of water.”
“I’m sorry,” he said gravely, his hand lifting my way before he dropped it like his shoulders. “I . . . I don’t know what came over me.” He flicked his finger, and a hot wind whipped through the room, quickly drying my clothing and hair. Good thing I’d taken it down from its prior arrangement and bound it in a tail at the nape of my neck.
“Handy, isn’t it?” I said, my smirk somewhat restored.
He blinked. “What?”
“Your magical abilities. First you get me wet, and then you dry me just as quickly.”
Thankfully, he didn’t pounce on the potential double meaning of that statement. Although, I was still sort of wet in places it was best he didn’t know about. It had been like this between us from the moment we’d met. Him snarling and coming across much too sexy. Me responding to the fire he lit deep inside me.
Guilt should be playing a big role in my thoughts about now, but I couldn’t seem to dredge it up and smear it all over me. I’d planned to avoid him, but here I was, working with him at the request of my husband.
I was falling for Merrick. I wouldn’t try to deny it.
But I would deny that I was also falling for Lore.
“Crystals,” I said. “Back to business.” With shaky knees, I strode over to stand in front of the table. “Tell me what to do.”
“Yes, um . . .”
I’d never seen Lore lose his sharp poise, and I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to do so again. Snarly Lore messed with my equilibrium. Uncertain Lore made me want to drop to my knees and . . . It was also best not to think about touching areas I’d recently threatened .
“Crystals?” I prompted.
He shook himself like a nyxin coming in from the rain and joined me at the table. “Yes, crystals. I am sorry.”
“I accept your apology. My father is dead, and while I appreciate your willingness to thrust yourself between us, there's no need. My friends and I eliminated the problem already.”
“Yes. You did.”
I refused to simper at the admiration in his eyes. Wet, Reyla. Don't let him make you any wetter.
The weight of something indefinable hung between us as silence filled the room like a thick fog. This man pulsed with tension. I could feel it working its way deep into me, mixing in with a healthy dose of anticipation and uncertainty. A shiver ran through me as the remnants of his water attack were quickly pushed away by the heat of his gaze.
I planted my hands on the rough wooden table and leaned toward the colorful stones. “You said I need to send my power into them?”
“Yes. You do.” He stiffened, snapping back into control. “Remember to start gently. Any misfire could set off a chain reaction I'm not interested in dealing with tonight.” The seriousness in his tone was nullified by the flicker of awareness in his gaze. It sparked wildness inside me, a craving I couldn't find the will to suppress.
I needed to focus. Nibbling on my fingernail, I let my mind try to figure this out. “There’s one big problem. I can’t picture a well of power like Tempest described.”
“Your power must show itself in a different way.” He leaned closer, his eyes narrowing. “I don’t picture a well, either. I see whatever element is most handy at that time.”
“Seriously? You just see it? You're saying it’s like . . . Air is around us, and obviously, water.” That he'd generated earlier with a torrential downpour. I believed he'd done that. His eyes had boiled and there it was, lashing the tower around us.
“Exactly.”
Frustration stirred inside me. “But I don’t see fire or—”
“Or lightning?” His smile sent my pulse careening off the track. “I agree that might be too . . . overheated for you to handle for our first lesson.”
My heart twisted in a delicious mix of annoyance and something else. His simple words held a double meaning that ignited the longing whipping around inside me. It left me wanting, aching for what I’d never be able to have.
I swatted away those thoughts and pushed down the sensations threatening to consume me whole. “Let’s get on with it.” Even to me, my voice sounded breathy, my awareness betrayed by the warmth creeping into my cheeks.
“Amethyst.” He pointed to the purple crystal. “Focus your mind on it. Channel whatever power you feel around you and send it gently toward the stone. Gently .”
“No tearing down the tower around us.”
“It took a long time to build this tower.”
“I'd hate to ruin all that effort.” I pulled in a breath and let it suck away my tension as it eased out of me.
Farris came over to sit on my other side, the second part of my support team. That's what Lore was right now. Support. I wasn't going to think about him in any way but that .
“Here we go.” I lifted my index finger and created a flicker of light. As I directed my focus toward the amethyst, I pushed my power along with it. The crystal did nothing. No glow. No hum of recognition. It didn’t even wiggle. “I guess I’m not harnessing mental projection or emotional influence anytime soon.”
“Keep trying. Few discover their skill with their first stone.”
“Especially me.” I shifted my gaze toward the malachite. “Come on plant fates. Let's get things growing.” My tiny bolt of lightning skittered across the stone's surface, but again, nothing happened. “No plant manipulation in my future either.”
He gestured to the obsidian crystal. “Another.”
I gave him a sideways look before sending my energy into the obsidian.
A soft hum vibrated through the table.
I couldn't breathe or think. “Obsidian. Obsidian!” I lifted the warm black stone and clutched it against my chest. “Guess you'd better watch out for my future nullification, Lore.”
“I welcome it with open arms,” he said dryly.
We both laughed and smiled at each other for longer than I should allow this closeness between us to happen.
“I guess that's it, then.” I should leave the tower. We could work on my shadow abilities—shadows?!—and nullification another time. It was late. I needed to sleep if I wanted to have energy to face the day ahead of me.
“Keep going,” he said softly.
“But you figured it out.”
“Tempest has more than one skill.” His eyebrows lifted, a sure challenge. “Why not you?”
Because I wasn't my amazing friend. I didn't mind that she was fantastic at whatever she attempted to do, but sometimes, I just wished a little of her sparkle would drift off and land on me.
No harm in trying the others.
The sunstone yielded no results.
But the fulgurite, no surprise there, showed I had an affinity for wielding lightning, or flaming lightning, in my case.
He swept those stones away with his magic and brought out more. And more, with no response from any of them. When he announced we’d tried all the common stones, I nodded, standing beside him staring at the obsidian and fulgurite he’d nudged to the side of the table.
“I have skills,” I whispered. “Skills!”
“You do.”
I hopped around with Farris dancing along with me, crowing and waving my arms in the air. “I've got two pretty skills.”
“At least. We’ll work with those and test you for less common ones at another time.”
“I'm going to learn how to use them.” I skipped and sashayed around Lore to his obvious, jaded amusement, until I stopped in front of him, gazing up.
If he hadn't been looking at me as if he actually liked me, I wouldn't have the overwhelming urge to climb all over him.
I couldn't do that.
So I called out to Farris and bolted from the room.