Chapter 6 Ezra
Ezra
I put a hand on Quinn’s waist and pressed, forcing her butt to even out with her heels on her plank. My plum-purple light didn’t shine as bright as my lover’s baby blue, but for my workout with Quinn, the moody lighting was perfect.
“Ezra, it has to have been at least an hour.” Quinn started shaking.
Every tremor pulled at something I shouldn’t want.
It had not, twenty seconds at most. “Hold it.”
Quinn let out an unhappy squeak, but didn’t drop her plank. I loved it.
‘Are you with Quinn?’ my lover asked over our mental link.
‘Yes,’ I responded.
I was in the gym, and he could feel her location, also in the gym. The question was redundant, which means he wanted something—seconds ticked by. Quinn started shaking in earnest. My lover didn’t speak; maybe I’d drawn the wrong conclusion.
“Release,” I commanded Quinn. The word left my throat heavier than it should have, a command dressed like a prayer.
Quinn sagged, resting face down on the floor, panting. Sweat slipped down her skin, pooling in the tank top and spandex covering her slight frame. I looked away too late; heat climbed anyway.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she slowly sat. A little imprint of the floor pressed into her cheek.
“Ezra.” Quinn wrinkled her nose.
“Quinn.” I echoed her inflection.
Quinn rolled her eyes before clasping her hands in front of her. Whatever she was going to say next made her uncomfortable.
“Do you remember the placement test where I destroyed that pebble?”
I did. Over the last few days, she’d destroyed everything she could touch, attempting to connect with raw magic. I had a feeling I knew where this question was going. I grunted, communicating all of that in a single vocalization.
“Okay, that grunt had a slight rise in pitch at the end, so I’m going to assume it means yes.” Quinn grinned. “I’ve been testing my Majekah a lot, and I need to try it on something with power inside it.”
I inclined my head. “You want access to the Alun.”
Quinn nodded. “No one talks about the Alun, and when I asked Cayden, he had no idea what I was talking about.”
“We do that on purpose,” I explained. “The Alun is a place outside of time, a void where magic remembers itself. It’s extremely powerful, but we treat it like any other cellar to make it seem unimportant.”
“I guess that works,” Quinn tossed her hands up. “So, can I go in there and touch something with power inside it?”
A younger me would’ve joked about my balls. I forced it away.
“Come.” I stood. For a heartbeat, I almost said her name instead. “Night is the perfect time to visit.”
“Right now?” she blinked, as if expecting some elaborate approval process.
“Got somewhere better to be?” I asked. We both knew the answer.
Quinn scrambled to her feet. “No. I just didn’t expect… I mean, I’ve been waiting on the Architect for days. So, it just feels weird that this can happen immediately.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. My lover was buried in work, correcting my mistakes, and pushing forward our plans. He hosted a Mixer every year in the name of transparency and peace. This year, it would serve a third purpose. One that required his expert finesse.
He wanted to meet the woman he bound. I could see it in his body language and the longing in his eyes as he read his reports on her.
But he didn’t act, and I didn’t know why.
Her emotions lived beside his heart. He could feel her, even now, watching me with doe eyes, waiting for me to explain his silence.
But I couldn’t. My lover’s choice to save her created a chasm between us we couldn’t cross, much less talk about.
I pulled her into my chest. “Hold your breath.”
Quinn did, and I stepped into my shadow.
Taking another person with me was challenging. I’d only done it a few times before, with my lover. The cold slide thickened, more syrup than air. Weightless nothing stretched two heartbeats before we came out the other side.
Her pulse thundered against my chest; for a moment, the world existed only in that echo. She shook, trying to catch her breath. I didn’t give her the time. It took me three more steps before we stood next to the trapdoor.
“That was intense.” Quinn put her hand over her heart and trembled.
I grunted and gave her a moment to catch her breath and acclimate to suddenly being in a new space, while I opened up the Alun. We dropped down. The world of crazy colors and ancient graffiti surrounded us.
No longer moving, Quinn’s big yellow hoodie came out of her pocket-void and completely covered her cross-legged body. Along with it, she pulled out a simple heat stone.
I mimicked her seated position, making sure our knees almost brushed. Magic heated my blood. I didn’t need a shirt…
“I guess I just do this,” Quinn muttered, stealing another glance at my abs before licking her lips. “Can you heat -er- the rock for me?”
I suddenly wished I had my lover’s mind-reading abilities.
I could heat many ‘things’ for her. Was her er a stumble of attraction, or had she forgotten the name of the ‘heat stone’ and only come up with rock?
I hoped it was the former, but the realization made my gut clench…
Did my lover want her? Or want me to want her?
The questions killed the playful spark trying to rise in me.
I sent magic into the ‘rock,’ and heat radiated off of it.
Without a word, Quinn reached forward and placed a single finger on it. There was no physical cue; her Majekah simply flowed. The rock crumbled into its base components, and a tiny, indistinct opal dragon, no bigger than a mouse, appeared in her hand.
The creature squeaked once and looked up at her with adoring little eyes sparkling with crystal rainbows. Quinn’s jaw dropped, and she pinched herself, as if making sure she wasn’t dreaming.
Tiny, perfect, and doomed. The way every miracle in my hands seemed to be.
“I don’t understand.” Quinn stopped pinching herself to give the creature a little pat on the head. “He’s smooth, like scales.”
I had no answer. Fear sank; I was out of my depth.
My Majekah awakened out of necessity, and I harnessed it through raw need. My lover was the teacher, not me. Words weren’t my strength. I couldn’t risk making it worse.
“Neither do I.” The words tasted like failure; I was supposed to have answers. “Energy exists. It’s human disruption that changes it and gives it purpose.”
Quinn furrowed her eyebrows. “I didn’t try to make a dragon. I didn’t try to do anything.”
I reached forward, scaring the little dragon, who dove off her hand. The moment it hit the Alun floor, the magic of the room pulled, absorbing it back into the world.
Quinn’s eyes widened. “It wasn’t real?”
We’d both seen her touch it. Again, I was out of my depth. This wasn’t the first time she’d done this. The flash of black I’d seen when her placement pebble exploded had been the same.
She needed my lover.
I continued reaching forward, and my palm came to rest on her knee. Her warmth bled through cloth and control alike. I didn’t move. Xan had never shown interest in a woman before, whereas I was equally attracted to both genders.
Was I the reason he hadn’t reached out?
“You’re unique, Quinn. This is why you will study with the Architect. He understands magic. He will help you,” I promised.
But if he didn’t, if he turned her away, I didn’t know what it would do to either of us.
I promised what I couldn’t guarantee, because the only thing more dangerous than his magic was what I felt when she looked at me.