8. Eight
Eight
Willow
My love for training hasn’t grown a bit.
Although I’m thankful for it and it’s definitely given me more confidence in myself, I still hate working up the sweat.
I have no clue what Aurora has in store for us this morning and she gave us no hints at breakfast what to expect, but after yesterday’s revelation about Draken’s ability, she grew even more excited and couldn’t wait to get us together.
After that startling, amazing discovery, Tanith mentally walked Draken through on how to purposefully feed us his magic. Up until now, his emotions in the moments were leading the way, which makes sense. Every time I was hurt, he and his dragon were worked up. The same with the guys. He goes into his natural protective mode, and it just leaks out.
Once she gave him instructions on what to do, he mastered it quickly. He had us so full of magic, my eyes were glowing for hours, Corentin looked as though he had a spotlight on him everywhere he went, Tillman had a headache from basically hearing every thought in the healing wing, and Caspian was a walking cloud of smoke.
We had to stand barefoot in the garden and force it out .
I told Aurora then would’ve been a better time to train, but she said absolutely not. We could possibly destroy her palace.
Which was a fair concern at that moment.
Before we left the healing wing, leaving Layton there still asleep but healing well, according to Jamie, we paid Trex a visit and it killed me to see the sight of him.
The restraint it’s taking him to hold the Summum-Master back from breaking down Aria’s rune is slowly killing him. I can see it written all over his sunken eyes, thin cheeks, and pale skin. He refuses to see Keeper, and he refuses to remove the rune himself out of fear the Summum-Master will kill his brothers. So finding them and bringing them home is moving up higher on the to-do list.
“This isn’t going to be like our training, right?” I ask Tillman as we make our way to the gym in the central wing.
“I doubt it, but I couldn’t tell you, little warrior. She wouldn’t go over the plan with me.”
“You should’ve just read her mind. Knowing Momma Vito, she’s about to make us practice our hugging and talking about our feelings,” Draken says sarcastically, and Caspian immediately stops walking.
“You’re joking. We can do that on our own. We don’t need her help with that.”
I laugh at his disgusted face. Seems that he’d be willing to do that with us just not in the presence of his parents, so I’ll count that as a win.
“Just because I can read her mind doesn’t mean I’m going to. I’m not going to invade her privacy like that,” Tillman says as we start walking again.
“You have no problem invading all our privacy no matter how much we’ve told you to knock it off,” Corentin says snidely, tapping away at his communicator.
Fuck. I want to eat him up right now. He’s dressed in E.F.-issued black workout sweats and an all-black shirt, same as the others, but I’ve never actually seen Corentin work out or train, nor dress down like this besides pajamas. Those two days he took over my training for Tillman when they got kidnapped, he was in his slacks and a button-up with the sleeves rolled quarter length. Still drop dead sexy, but he was dressed, ready for work. Right now, though…it takes everything in me not to jump all over him.
“Don’t slip on your drool, little wanderer.”
“I’m not drooling, thank you very much.”
“Yeah, you are. You’re looking at the boss man like he’s your last meal.”
“Well, if I were in a situation to need a last meal, you four would be exactly what I’d consume. I’d—”
“Enough, you two. Don’t start that shit before we walk in here,” Tillman butts in, eyeing Draken and me like we’re torturing him before casting his glare back to Corentin. “You all don’t need privacy from me. What runs through Aunt Rory’s mind is none of my business. Whatever she has in store for us this morning isn’t going to be any harder or worse than what I’ve already put any of you through.”
Ugh. Says the giant who lives for working out.
He makes sure to send me a saucy little wink before shoving the double doors to the gym wide open for us. My feet halt as I gaze around because this sure as shit isn’t what I expected when they said gym.
It’s just a big-ass open room.
I mean, there is gym equipment around, but they’re practically pushed into the corner, out of the way. There’re windows allowing for natural light to come in, and then the bare hardwood floor.
That’s it.
No mats, no obstacle course. Nothing of the sort.
Aurora and my Patera-Nexus stand in the middle of the room, talking amongst themselves as we take a couple more steps in and then wait a few feet in front of them.
“So this gym is…different,” I say.
“This isn’t the traditional workout gym you’re used to, daughter-in-law, no, but this gym has been fortified to withstand our gifts. So it’ll hold your Nexus’s as well. Hopefully,” Dyce says with a devious wink.
I see he’s hoping for some mischief today.
“Why does it need to withstand any of our gifts?” I ask, cocking my brow .
“You’ll see, my girl. I’m so excited. We’ll show you first, then we’ll start working with you all. There’s going to be so much that you all can do that even we can’t, but you still need to learn structure and how to work as a unit. Go stand against that wall, all of you. Go on, chop, chop. You’ve kept me waiting long enough,” Aurora orders, waving us off with a happy little chuckle that her men melt at.
Damn, I hope my guys look at me like that after two hundred years together.
I cock my head curiously as Neil walks over to the far side of the gym and lays his hand on the wall. My eyes nearly bug out when a door pops open, and he just walks into the secret, mysterious room. With a chuckle and a grip on my arm, I’m brought back to reality as Tillman laughs and shakes his head at me. My curious little heart took control there for a second and my feet were moving faster than my mind.
“Did you all know about the cool secret room?” I ask.
“How do you know it’s cool, Primary?” Caspian asks instead of answering me, with a little twitch to his lips.
“Because it’s a secret. That automatically makes it cool. Will one of you answer me?”
“No, princess. We were unaware of the cool secret room. This is my parents’ private gym. This is probably the first time any of us have stepped in here since we were kids. We did most of our working out with our dads down at the palace E.F. compound,” Corentin fully explains. Thankfully. But that just makes me bounce on my toes in more excitement.
I love a good surprise. Good being the operative word.
“Okay, kids, no one panic. Nor do we need your help,” Neil says cryptically as he comes back out of the room holding a glowing box.
“What’s that?” I ask.
“You’ll see,” Roye says as he cracks his neck and shakes his limbs.
What the hell is about to happen?
Neil sets the box down about six or so feet in front of Aurora and the others, then moves to stand in the single file line they’ve created. I watch intently, with my heart thudding wildly with excitement, waiting for whatever they’re about to do with that box .
Together, Aurora, Roye, Dyce, Neil, and Theo all raise their palms and command the box to open.
There’s a quiet beat before literal chaos explodes around the room.
I jump, startled at the sudden noise and bodies piling out of the box.
Not just any bodies. Mastery members.
I attempt to step forward, but Tillman grabs hold of me. Whipping my head up to him, I see a mixture of confusion and astonishment written across his features.
“They’re not real, little warrior. Watch.”
Focusing on what’s going on in front of me like he commanded, my breathing quickens when I rapidly count out the fifty or so Mastery members circling Aurora and her men. They’ve moved now into a defensive position, with Aurora tucked in the middle of their protective ring.
Suddenly, the first Mastery member strikes out, and Theo throws out…well, I don’t know what that is that just came out of his hand, but it threw the Mastery member across the room. When he or she, whoever’s behind the robe hits the wall, they vaporize and fade to nothing. The glowing vapor gets sucked back into the box and then all hell breaks loose.
I swiftly realize I only know Aurora’s and Dyce’s gifts and elements. The others I’m completely clueless about and I’ll be learning on the go.
We stare, enthralled at the sight before us. Like a choreographed dance that they’ve done a million times, Aurora and her Nexus work seamlessly together, fighting off the massive gathering of fake Mastery members.
With graceful steps and precise moves, Aurora twirls between the men, shooting out her earth element, laying her hands on them for support, and her blue eyes are glowing as she mutters so low I can’t hear her.
Each of her men cast out elements, moving around in the circle with exact steps and synchronized strikes. It’s as if every one of them knows when to attack, when to move out of the way, and which one is to be the closest to Aurora. I’ve never seen such a display of a group of people being so in tune. I thought my guys worked flawlessly together, but this…this is something else.
“What the fuck?” Caspian mutters.
“This is amazing,” I respond breathlessly .
“Yeah, sure, but did you all just see earth come out of Theo or am I seeing shit?” he asks frantically.
“You’re not seeing shit,” Corentin says sternly, with his eyes narrowed, following every move his parents make.
“And that’s not normal because…” I trail off because obviously I don’t know what they’re talking about.
“Uncle Theo’s element is air, Will,” Tillman says, watching the show just as keenly, if not more now.
What?
None of us say or ask anything else as we focus back on the show being put on before us. The guys’ confusion and awe grow as the numbers begin to dwindle down. The smaller the attacking group gets, the faster they move in, and the faster Aurora and her men retaliate. Before the last of the Mastery members fall to nothing but particles and get sucked into the box, they’re all basically a blur of motion I struggle to keep up with.
Silence reigns as the box pulls in the last of the fallen, and with a loud almost zipping sound, it vibrates violently, then settles back to its glowing, still state.
My mouth gapes open, with my jaw nearly on the ground as I stare at Aurora and her men, who are smiling at one another, breathing heavily, and high-fiving like they didn’t just put on the most badass battle I’ve ever seen.
Sure, we’ve gone against numbers like this and come out on top, but that was just extraordinary. They barely moved from their first positions in that circle, and they took down fifty Mastery members as if it was a walk in the park. Within minutes. Yeah, they were fake, but still, that was impressive.
“What in the realm was that?” Caspian barks as the silence stretches on too long.
“That, son, was the unity of a true and completed Nexus,” Roye says.
“How were you all using elements you don’t possess?” Corentin asks immediately .
Aurora puts her hands up, halting all questions and answers as she catches her breath with a dazzling, energetic smile on her face. She’s practically glowing right now in the aftermath of that display.
“There is a lot to explain, so just allow me to do that first, then ask your questions afterward. Okay?” she asks and when we all nod, she lowers her hands.
“That is an illusion box. Tilly and Ian were the main creators, but her whole Nexus took part in it as well,” she says softly, smiling at Tillman.
Ian…
Looking over at Tillman, he’s tense, still, but he’s trying to shake it off. Ian was one of his dads. He had the gift of Illusion, apparently a strong one. He’s only told me their names and talked about them twice with me. The first time was the night I woke him from his nightmare, and the second, the conversation struck up after we found out Trex’s brother was an illusionist.
It was just a small moment, a quick conversation where he talked about them freely then changed the subject. I’m starting to see now that my big, gentle giant has been doing a wonderful job of hiding his hurt from me.
It’s just in this moment that I’m realizing all the times he’s distracted me and changed the subject anytime his parents have been brought up. I’ve fallen for it and moved on without complaint each time because every now and then he’ll make comments about how they’d have loved me, and that’s given me a sense of knowing more about them than I truly do.
Oh my gosh, he did it with that cute nickname too.
It sends a pang through me that I try to shove down because he obviously hasn’t wanted to talk about this or just hasn’t felt comfortable enough to bring it up. When or if he wants to talk about it, he will, but until now, I always thought he’s been completely open with me about how losing all his parents affected him. That’s not the case, I see.
I swallow down any hurt or negative feelings I may have because it’s not my place to push him or any of them to talk to me about things like this if they don’t want to. So it’s unfair of me to be upset that he hasn’t brought it up. I obviously don’t do the best job, though, because he squeezes my hand .
“Tilly used her knowledge of fighting and instructed Ian on what an ideal fighting scenario would look like had any of us got stuck in a situation like this where we’d be outnumbered and surrounded. Since the illusions aren’t real, we still needed a way to measure the damage we’d take if one were to strike us, so Hudsen embedded the rebels with his electricity. They give small zaps every time they hit you.
“Those first few training sessions were rough and needless to say, we got shocked enough times to decide we had to start working better together. Drudy, as you know, wasn’t one to be forthcoming with everything it meant to be a true Primary, so Tilly and I were on our own in learning. Until my sneaky brother gifted us a book,” Aurora says, nodding at Neil, who carries the glowing box back into the secret room and emerges with hopefully the book she’s referring to.
My eyes zero in on the bound leather and my heart knows it’s full of CC’s handwriting without me even needing to see it. His signature is all over it and the tie between him and me pulses in my chest.
“He’d been compiling research on true Primaries and their true abilities once their Nexus was complete. I have a feeling he got a lot of this information from his visions, and…” She trails off, looking at me sadly before clearing her throat. “From your mom, Willow.”
My heart flutters at the mention of her. I may be biased, obviously, but I’m positive my mom was the best true Primary to walk this realm. I haven’t been given the luxury of seeing everything she was capable of, nor do I know much of her Nexus outside of what Lyker’s told me. But there’s no doubt they were incredible.
“I believe the guardian bloodline, which is what Keeper has referred to you as, Willow, were, are, a more evolved line. You can manipulate multiple elements, gifts, and so did your mom. Tilly and I were only able to learn how to push our elements through our Nexus members, even if they don’t possess our element. Even that helped tremendously, but I have a feeling for all of you, it’ll be so much more because you have all four elements at your disposal. Plus, you possess each of their gifts. I think you’ll be able to strengthen that as well. ”
I gaze at my men, who are staring at their mom like she’s grown a second head, but something about her words settles itself inside my chest. Our bonding already strengthened their power, they’ve got new abilities as well, but if I were to combine my power with theirs…Shit.
“May I?” I ask, pointing to the book in Aurora’s hand.
“Of course.” She hands it to me gently.
As I run my fingers down the cover, a tingle passes through them and I smile, sensing his familiar magic. Opening it up to the first page, tears immediately well in my eyes at his handwriting. The ink is still plenty legible even after all this time. Aurora has taken great care of this book.
The Primary is the sole Source of the Nexus. They’re the center being who can fully activate a Nexus as one and balance the power of air, earth, water, and fire.
I smile down at the words I’ve read before. They’re in my journal, and it’s the first thing I read on Primaries after the truth was revealed to me about being the guys’ true Primary. What surprises me, though, are the paragraphs after the introduction. It’s an insert I’ve never read before.
Touch is a vital component of a Nexus and a natural want for a Primary. Their need to have physical contact with the members of their Nexus is ingrained in their DNA because they naturally seek to strengthen them. It is the gateway for the growth and development of the forming or formed bond and without it, the power will not flow properly from one member to the next. A Nexus cannot be strong if they are not close.
The Primary is the conduct that has the ability to pass on the manipulation of all of Elementra’s blessings through touch. It is only through the Primary’s guidance that the Nexus can tap into the full strength of the completed bond.
“That’s why you were touching one of them constantly just then,” I murmur out loud.
“Yes. As I said, Tilly and I only got as far as our elements flowing through them, but I believe you’ll be able to pass on all of Elementra’s blessings,” Aurora says. She had to have memorized this book to know exactly what I was referring to because she doesn’t look down at the book but instead holds my gaze .
“May I borrow this?” I ask as I close the book.
“It’s yours now, my girl. I’m pretty sure I was only supposed to watch after it until you got here,” she says sweetly, smiling proudly at me.
“Thank you,” I say, then walk the book over to the windowsill. When I join them again, I clap my hands and rub them together. “So where do we begin?”
Everyone chuckles at me, but I’m pumped now. From Aurora’s and her men’s badass display of their power to my new reading material, I’m ready to conquer it all. If what Aurora believes is true and I can pass my power through me into my men, which strengthens their abilities, I’m ready for it.
It also makes more sense now as to why she was so excited about Draken’s newest ability. With him being able to feed me his magic, I won’t grow tired of pushing power into them. We’ll basically have our own give-and-take system that doesn’t tire us out.
And in a war against a psychopath that has possibly hundreds of stolen gifts, we can’t get caught at anything less than full strength.
“Let’s start small. I’ll push my earth element through Roye and walk you through what I do. He has an earth element, and it was easiest for me to learn with him first,” Aurora says, but I hold my hand up because I’m utterly confused about what my Patera-Nexus, aside from Dyce, is capable of since they bounced around so much, and I saw each of them use an earth element because of her.
“Can I have a quick breakdown of your gifts and elements?”
Each of my fathers-in-law puffs up at my question. Their eagerness is heady, and I laugh at the smug smirks on their faces. It’s clear where my men, all four of them, get their cockiness from.
“You’ve opened a wormhole now, my girl,” Aurora says, snorting.
“Come on then, daughter-in-law. See if you can guess them. You already know my beast, but put that magical signature gift to good use on the rest.” Dyce cheers, pulling me forward before I can answer, and my guys grumble behind me.
Roye steps up first with his arms crossed and a sly smirk on his face. He’s not using his gift yet judging by the absence of the subtle vibration I feel when people are actively using their gifts, so I don’t know what he’s waiting for.
“Come on, Draken. You’ll be the prop.”
Prop? What in the realm does he need a prop for?
Draken snickers and jogs up happily for whatever’s about to happen and I arch a brow at him, earning myself a wink. “You think you can handle my dragon?” he asks excitedly.
“There’s no room in here for you to shift,” Roye says, shaking his head.
“Oh, but on the contrary,” Draken says, giving no one any warning before he sprints farther from us, and in the middle of this damn gym, shifts into his fifteen-foot form.
“When did he learn to change his size?” Theo asks, whipping his head to us.
“After we bonded. We both can shift to whatever size we please,” I say proudly as I look at my fearsome dragon. Luckily, the gym is big enough with the incredibly high ceilings and huge space, but he probably should’ve warned them.
“Well, this is going to be an awkward hold. Don’t flap around or swipe me with your tail, Draken,” Roye says as he marches up to Draken, then…crawls underneath him.
What the fuck is he doing?
Suddenly, Draken’s off the ground.
And not because he’s flapping his wings.
Roye stands tall underneath his belly, literally holding him up as if he were nothing more than a workout bar. I quickly shake myself out of my stupor so I can cast my gift out and pick up on Roye’s, although it’s fucking obvious.
“Holy shit. He has super strength,” I mumble.
“That I do, Willow,” Roye says proudly before tossing Draken to the ground. The entire gym shakes, and we all wobble on our feet before righting ourselves.
I never would’ve believed this if I hadn’t just seen it with my own eyes, but that is fucking astonishing .
“You barely even shook. Someone’s been working out, huh?” Draken teases, squeezing Roye’s biceps as soon as he shifts back.
“That was amazing,” I exclaim excitedly, then turn to the other two of my Patera-Nexus. “Who’s next? Oh, Theo, what was that thing you did to the fake Mastery member?”
“That was my gift,” he says, smiling, then cutting his eye to Roye, he hits him with that same blast of whatever his gift is.
This must be something they do a lot because Roye, although caught off guard, steels himself and doesn’t fly into the wall but does slide feet from us.
“Forcefields, Willow. Unlike a shield that would surround us in a protective barrier, I send mine out. Whoever is the poor sap to collide with it gets forced away. My element is air,” he says as he then wraps Roye in a vortex of it.
“Enough. Neil, your turn,” Roye barks, over being the guinea pig.
“Willow, if you would,” Neil says, holding his hand out for me to take.
Before I can even place mine in his, though, I’m snatched back, and all my men are yelling no at the same time.
“You boys are being ridiculous. I’d never hurt her. I’ll just make sure everything is in place as it should be.”
In place?
“He’s an Osteokinesis, little warrior,” Tillman informs me.
“Which is?”
“He can manipulate bones. Any way he wants to,” Caspian says, still holding on to me protectively.
Well, that’s terrifyingly cool.
“Can you crack my back?” I ask excitedly as the thought comes to me. I am a little stiff this morning and that would work wonders.
“Crack your back?” Neil asks, confused.
“Yeah, you know, when your bones or body feel stiff, you crack them to loosen up.”
He still looks at me as though I’ve lost it, but he nods nonetheless and I pull myself out of my guys’ grasps. They’re being crazy if they seriously think he’s going to do anything that hurts .
“Ah, I believe I see what you mean. You’re holding a lot of tension in your vertebrae,” Neil says when I finally lay my hand in his. His gift washes over me, and there’s this strange, itchy feeling flowing through my body.
I don’t have time to clarify or confirm with him when every bone in my spine cracks. I can’t help but arch into the sensation and I groan as the stiff feeling fades to complete relaxation. There’s never been a time in my life where my entire back has been cracked and shit, it feels spectacular.
“Better?” he asks.
“So much. Thank you.”
“Anytime. My element is water. It comes in quite handy when manipulating the fluid in the bones,” he says, then everyone chuckles at the shocked expression on my face.
Here I am thinking about how he’d make a damn good chiropractor and everyone else has murder on their minds. Granted, that’s a pretty perfect gift for either scenario.
Okay, so we’ve got Dyce our Tasmonium shifter with a fire element. Roye with super strength and earth. Theo is a Forcefield with an air element. Neil is an Osteokinesis aka bone breaker with a water element. Aurora, of course, an empath with an earth element.
Got it.
“Enough show and tell. We’ve got work to do. Come on, Roye,” Aurora orders playfully, laughing as Roye strings her up and pulls her to him in vines. The guys all groan and grunt, faking gagging noises while I laugh at the adorable affection. “Okay, okay, Willow, watch closely, then I’ll explain what I’m doing.”
I focus my attention on where Roye’s holding out his hand and Aurora is hovering hers right above it. The shift of energy in the air is their earth elements on the surface already. The power grows in the atmosphere as she slowly lowers her palm until they’re pressed together, and once they touch, the entire foundation shakes until a small flower bursts through the floor at their feet.
I could see the flow of the element the entire time as I called my gift to the surface. It traveled from both of their chests, down their arms, where it waited in their hands until it was united. I just don’t know how they commanded it together.
When I say that out loud, Aurora nods. “Yes, we command our elements out individually as we would any other time, but the trick to combining them is I must command the two to mingle, at the same time he commands his to obey. That took us quite some time to perfect because anytime we spoke to each other, it would break the connection. We just had to learn to work together, become more in sync. This is where you all will have an advantage. Maybe speaking telepathically won’t break your connections. How about you give it a go with your air? That’s the element that broke free first.”
Corentin and I look at each other at the same time, and his cocky smirk makes my knees weak.
Holding his hand out for me to take, our fingers lace together as he strolls us to the middle of the room with a certainty that boosts my own confidence. His control is in full swing, and part of me is lapping it up and soaking it in with every stride. While the other part of me is screaming to simmer the hell down before we embarrass ourselves.
“Ready, princess?”
“Ready, your highness,” I say, then blow out a nervous breath.
“Okay, you two, see if you can move this ball. Just try to focus on lifting it or moving it at first. Nothing crazy,” Aurora says from behind us.
Just as they had done, Corentin lays his hand out, palm facing up, and he calls his element to the surface. When I feel his air caress me, I call mine out and it pushes against my skin, practically begging to mingle with his.
That reaction makes a lot more sense now.
“On my count,” Corentin orders and I nod. “Three…two…one.”
“Obey,” he says, but my “Mingle,” comes a second afterward.
Instead of mingling, his air shoves my hand from hovering above his, causing the air I sent out to blast from my palm straight in front of us. The earth ball Aurora created goes flying into the wall, shattering to pieces on impact.
“Whoops,” I say, letting my hand fall to my side .
“That’s okay, try again.” Aurora molds the broken earth back together and places it back in its spot.
“Okay, on one or after?” I ask.
“After. As soon as I say one, we’ll send our commands out,” he clarifies and I nod. “Three…two…one.”
“Obey.”
“Mingle.”
I want to dance with joy when the feeling of his element weaving itself with mine flows through my body. I feel both powerful and light as a feather. It’s the most amazing, crazy sensation with the elements I’ve ever felt.
That elation is a little premature, though, as the power continues to build and I realize I don’t have a damn clue how to pass it back to him or what to do with it. I’m supposed to be powering him, not myself.
Mentally, I imagine the element flowing back through our hands and through him, but that doesn’t work. The force of the air just continues to grow within my chest.
“Shit, what do I do with it now? It won’t go back to you.”
“Release it, princess. This was a step my mother obviously forgot to mention or didn’t think we’d get so quickly,” he says and there’s a subtle strain to his voice. My element is pulling more and more from him and he’s trying to hold it back.
Fuck.
Commanding the air out, my mind works overtime, and I can’t think properly about the best way of dispelling some of this power. All that crosses my thoughts is how I may accidentally sweep everyone up in a damn tornado if I just release it, so I follow the original instructions given to us and hit Aurora’s earth ball.
The structure shakes violently and I gasp, covering my mouth with my hands as the earth ball turns into a cannonball. It soars so fast toward the wall, I don’t have time to stop it before it crashes through the solid stone, leaving a gaping hole right through to the outside.
“Shit,” I say, whipping around to face my Patera-Nexus, “I broke your unbreakable gym. I’m sorry. ”
They each stare at me with shocked eyes and slack jaws.
Draken’s snickering starts out soft, small, and when I cut my narrowed eyes to him, he loses it completely, dragging everyone with him into a fit of hysterical laughter.
“You should’ve seen your face, little wanderer. You look so surprised.” He continues to laugh as he holds his belly, and I cross my arms, staring him down.
“It’s not funny, dragon,” I complain.
“Oh, but it is.” He wipes his eyes and chuckles under his breath.
“Well, that was a pleasant surprise. Looks like we’ll need to reinforce the gym,” Roye says and when I turn to him, apology ready on the tongue, his wide, prideful smile halts me.
He’s not looking at me, though. He’s beaming at Corentin and the aura around my man is blinding. This is not the reaction I expected to destroying a whole wall, but if it makes Corentin this happy seeing his dad proud of him, I sure as shit am not about to ruin the moment.
“Don’t fret about the wall, Willow. Roye, you and Tillme go patch that up and reinforce it for now while I walk them through what happened,” Aurora says.
Tillme…
Tillman’s face colors pink and he refuses to make eye contact with me, but he does give my forehead a kiss as he walks past me. I have to bite my mental tongue from asking about it and I force my gift not to reach out to his mind.
“You knew that would happen, Mom?” Corentin asks.
“I didn’t know she’d send the ball all the way through the wall, but yes, I knew that first time her element would take over.”
“Why didn’t you tell us that?” I ask.
“I didn’t want to put any pressure on either of you to get it. It’s incredibly frustrating to try over and over and never see the results. I wanted you to just focus on getting your elements to mingle first. Next, you can work on sending that extra kick back to him. That starts before you even command your element out. You have to zero in on him, his element, and with strict intentions to go to him. It gets even more complicated when you start mixing elements they don’t possess,” she explains gently.
I blow out a subtle breath because when she puts it like that, it feels complicated. Just now, my element was solely focused on me and pulling from him. That was harder than I honestly thought it was going to be, and now it seems even more difficult.
“It’s okay, princess. We’re not meant to master this in a day. Let’s try one more time, then you can practice with one of the others,” Corentin says, tilting my chin up and laying a sweet kiss to my lips.
That’s rich coming from Mr. Controlling himself. He knows as well as I do, I want to master this now. Anything new, I want to figure it out immediately. He’s the same way about absolutely everything and the only reason he isn’t currently is because he doesn’t want to upset me.
We’re getting this shit right. Right now.
“If he’s Mr. Controlling, you’re Mrs. Impatience,” Tillman chuckles, and I glare at him as he winks at me.
Exhaling and shaking my body out, I clear my mind of all things but Corentin.
Chocolate and allspice fill my senses as I lean more into him. The sweet but dominant scent fits him so perfectly. His dirty-blond hair, styled without a strand out of place, would look wrong on anyone else dressed in workout clothes but not him. It’s a delightful mix between his normal controlled routine and this new attempt at wearing something other than suits all the time.
His sharp whiskey eyes see everything. They remember everything, plan for everything. I’m sure even now, he’s taken in the liberty of thinking through every scenario that can go right or wrong for us on this next attempt, and he’s ready for however it’ll go.
There’s a warm breeze, like lying in a hammock on a beach, that always surrounds him. It’s the perfect blend of cool air and the heat his light puts off. I fixate on the small glow to his skin now, knowing, feeling his beautiful gift just waiting under the surface for my touch.
“One more go, princess. Ready?”
“Ready, your highness.”
“Three…two…one.”
“Obey.”
“Mingle.”
My element flows out of me, wrapping itself around his, and I push, commanding it to follow my orders and move through him. There’s only the slightest bit of resistance before it does just that. I hear the gasps and quiet murmurs behind us, but my attention is solely on Corentin.
He grunts as the combination of my air and his flows through his limbs and he latches onto its strength like the commander he is. His light is shining bright in a halo around him, and it’s breathtaking, exhilarating.
I’m so in love with this man.
As he raises his hand to command the air out, the reality of what has everyone behind me whispering about slaps me in the face.
There’re six Corentins .
“Core…”
“Yeah, princess?” he asks excitedly. There’s almost an otherworldly note to his deep voice. Like power is lacing even his mental tone.
“How are you feeling? Do you have good control over the elements?” I ask, trying to keep the shock, the worry, the confusion of what the hell is happening out of my voice.
“It feels completely natural yet unbelievably powerful. I have them under control. I think I could hold it for a while before having to push it out. Your power is exhilarating, princess.”
Fuck, I want to swoon at his words, but now’s probably not the time.
“So you feel powerful, pretty amped up, huh?”
“Exactly. Why?” he finally asks as he looks down at me with a panty-melting smirk.
“Because there’re multiple of you. I think I pushed too hard.”
“What are you—” he starts, but his sight follows where I’m pointing my finger. “Shit. I’m reflecting myself.”
His eyes swing back to mine and I expected to see a little shock, maybe some panic because that’s what I’m feeling, but he’s even more collected, confident .
With a flirty wink, he flicks his finger at Aurora’s ball, sending it flying straight up into the air, then he turns to me.
All six of him surround me.
“You forced my ability to power up, princess. I haven’t done that since my emerging,” he whispers as he grips my chin.
“Making multiples of yourself…that’s your boost in power?” I ask breathlessly as the heat in his eyes traps me.
“Holding reflections is more technical, but yeah, I can make multiples of myself.” He smirks at my flustered state, but I can’t help it.
Between the power I feel him radiating, that look he’s giving me, and the fact I’m surrounded by more than one of him, even though they are only reflections, I’m about to be a puddle at his feet.
With a sweet, soft kiss, he breaks our connection as his duplicates return into him and he stretches his body out. Everyone swarms us, praising and congratulating us on what just happened.
Meanwhile, all I can think about is what I would do if I could get my hands on more than one Corentin at a time.