Chapter 18
Tino
I looked at Gilbert who was swallowing down a whole pig.
I was battling the urge to gag at the sight, but knew I had to get used to it.
He was mine forever and had apparently been mine before if the book Tair showed me was correct.
He’d proudly showed me the pages where our powers were written down in detail, going so far as to describe what we could do together too.
Gilbert had been named Ferro in that life, but according to the drawing of him, he was the exact same in appearance.
Kitty had been named Charcoal which we determined must’ve been from an inside joke we’d forgotten in this life.
It wasn’t as though we could remember past lives, the only proof was the feeling of safety we felt around the others.
Silver, Wilston, Niam, and Xarius were our family, and I felt it deep in my soul.
“That’s vile,” Tair exclaimed next to me. It appeared he had trouble watching Gilbert eat, too.
Silver scoffed. “You obviously haven’t seen our familiars eat mages then.
” That got the attention of several mages around us.
It probably wasn’t the wisest thing to announce while we ate with the others, but Silver wasn’t wrong either.
According to the book Tair had read, it was also something we’d done back then, offering dead mages for our familiars to eat and gain their powers.
The more magical creatures they ate, the stronger they became.
I read a couple of pages this morning with Tair, and we found so many cool things we had to teach Gilbert and Kitty.
We already knew they could be invisible, but we found they could teleport, too, while invisible.
In the book it was written down as an ability they only had while invisible, but they could turn invisible at will, then appear in another location in the next instant before turning visible again, startling enemies and driving them mad.
Willow came over to our table with a serene smile.
“Hi boys, everything to your liking?” We’d asked her not to call us anything formal which in turn had turned us into her “boys”, not that we cared what she called us, but seeing as she had wanted to adopt Silver, it was a little sad.
Silver thought so too, but had refrained from telling her.
She truly seemed like she would’ve been a great mother, and I could only guess they hadn’t been able to have kids themselves.
“It’s perfect,” Xari replied with a grin. He was easy to please, and as long as Niam was next to him, he seemed to always be happy. Niam gave her a soft smile and nodded as he chewed on his food.
Nujik had woken us this morning and told us a feast would be held in the middle of the camp. Several tables filled the huge space but it had quickly filled with mages as they woke up for the day.
Willow and Nujik had made a point when they said we should all eat before we started testing out our magic.
It had also helped that we’d gotten a lot of sleep since bonding.
I’d hoped to get some bonding time with Tair this morning, but we’d both been too hungry to stay in bed, and after eating some left overs while reading the book, we’d been interrupted by Nujik.
I would just have to jump my man later today to show just how much I appreciated him.
It was still surreal to think that we could have sex whenever we wanted now.
After being denied it for days, it seemed too good to be true, but nothing was stopping us other than the mages who kept bothering us about our duties, which was fair, but still fucking annoying.
Willow continued to linger at our table and I sensed she wanted to tell us something we didn’t want to hear. “Just out with it,” Xarius sighed, clearly feeling her emotions.
She gave a tense smile in return, then frowned. “I don’t know how to say this, Silver, but your grandma passed away yesterday.”
I didn’t have Xarius’s emotional power, but I swore I could feel Silver’s heart breaking. A sob escaped him and then Wilston guided him back to their cabin for privacy. I felt torn.
“Should we go with them?”
Xarius shook his head. “I sense he needs Wilston for now. Maybe later we should stop by.”
I nodded and shared a worried look with Niam. He could feel pain, but I had no idea if this sort of pain could be taken away by him too.
Willow continued to stand there looking at us, and as sweet as she was, it was getting annoying.
I looked at the table where Nujik sat with some other mages and with my mind I willed her to go over there.
Knowing it wouldn’t work didn’t mean I didn’t want it to.
But to my surprise, she turned and walked over to the others, silently answering my wish.
Niam frowned at her retreating form but seemed just as pleased as I was that she was leaving us alone for now. We hadn’t had a private moment with our small soulbounded family since before Tair and I bonded, and we all needed to continue bonding for us to face the council of mages.
Xarius looked at Tair and then at me before asking, “Still up for training today? We can always postpone it if you want Silver and Wilston to be there too.”
I shook my head just as Tair replied with a firm no. We were in agreement then, both eager to work our new magic.
“I don’t think it’s wise to waste time,” I said, looking at Niam too. “We need to train, and right now Silver needs to mourn. It could take days before he’s ready to continue training for all we know, and if that’s what he needs, then I’ll happily wait for him to join us.”
Xarius nodded. “I think you’re right. I just have one question for Nujik and Willow before we start training.”
“What’s that?” Niam asked, looking worried for a moment.
Xarius leaned in closer so we wouldn’t be overheard by the nearby mages. “How did they know Silver’s grandmother died?”
“Oh,” Tair exclaimed, and then realization dawned on me too. “You think they still have ties in the Realm of Mages?”
Xarius shrugged. “How else would they know?”
“I think they told us when we got here,” Niam spoke with a frown, deep in thought. “Other mages are on our side and waiting for us in the Realm of Mages, they told us as much. One of them could’ve been watching his grandmother, maybe our families too.”
“That makes sense,” I agreed, mulling it over in my head. “If I were them, I would watch our families too.”
“We should call Nujik over here and ask him,” Tair said, turning in his seat to look behind him. But before he could indicate for him to come, Nujik’s eyes met mine and he got up wordlessly from his table and walked over to us.
“Huh,” Xarius exclaimed in surprise. “Guess he somehow knew we needed him.”
Nujik sat down at our table with confidence. “What can I help you with?”
I blinked in surprise and so did the others. Could he read minds? Instead of thinking it, I tried to project it into his mind, willing him to speak the truth of his powers.
“I have wind magic and am stronger than all mages here except for you six,” he said, answering my unsaid question. “I have no other abilities than that.”
I doubted that.
“Then how did you answer my unsaid question?” I looked at him and waited for him to deny it, to lie to our faces, because somehow, he’d heard what I’d thought.
“I…” he frowned. “I don’t know.” He looked truly puzzled. “I just needed to tell you about my powers.”
We looked to Xarius, silently waiting for his verdict if this was a lie or not. He frowned as he looked at Nujik. “He’s telling the truth.” That had even Nujik frowning in confusion.
“Wait,” Niam said, looking with narrowed eyes at me. “You said you asked him a question. Was it telepathic? Like can you communicate without speaking?”
“Oh! That would be so cool!” Tair exclaimed excitedly. “The book so far hadn’t told what our abilities were, maybe yours is telepathy.”
I had no idea if they were right or not, our magic couldn’t be felt like that. “I can try when we train to project my thoughts to any of you.”
“It would be wise to train your abilities, too, since they’re the one thing you have that differentiates you from the council of mages. With those abilities you can tip the scale in your favor.”
“I thought we were stronger, too?” Niam said, voicing it like a question rather than a fact.
Nujik nodded with a smile. “You are stronger too, but don’t count on that being the thing that wins you this battle alone. The council won’t fight fair. Trust me on that.”
“What did I miss?” a raspy voice to our left asked and we turned to see Julie standing there with messy bed hair and a soft smile on her lips.
We’d let her sleep when we came here, knowing she needed it.
After they’d protected us yesterday while we bonded, Julie had been with the others and helped them control their magic, something that had taken a lot of her energy.
“We’ll catch you up,” Niam said, scooting over to make room for her on the bench.
After Nujik left, we filled her in on what she’d missed.
She was devastated to hear about Silver’s grandma, but found it a blessing in disguise for him.
Now the council couldn’t threaten him with her safety and life, something that had Xarius, Tair, and me terrified, because she was right.
The council could hurt our loved ones, just as easily as breathing.
The question left unsaid was if we would let our loved ones die in order for all mages to be safe.