Chapter Nineteen #2
“Even though none of this is happening how I intended it to, I can’t shake the feeling that you’re meant to be here, with me, while I do this.” He finishes sweeping his eyes over the city, and his attention lands on me.
“I’m holding you back.”
“You’re helping me learn. Forcing me to take time to become acclimated to Midscape before I have full use of my powers.
Teaching me to be still and patient, showing me that I can’t charge ahead and defeat Boltov overnight.
I shudder to think of what might have happened if you weren’t here to force me to slow down. ”
His mouth tugs into a smirk at one corner.
The look is a bit sultry in an entirely unintentional way that makes it irresistible.
Davien doesn’t realize just how attractive he is, I realize.
His appeal is like his magic. It was unused in the human world, a muscle that went unflexed for such a long time that he doesn’t even realize the strength he has.
Soon enough, he’ll realize that power too.
And then women will be fawning over him left and right.
A handsome prince returned from exile to claim the throne…
I bet there are a hundred fae who will fall all over themselves to be with him.
And where will that leave me?
Forgotten, back in the Natural World.
You never had a place here to begin with, a nasty voice says in the back of my mind. You were never even meant to be here. Or with him.
“I’m doing all that?” I arch my eyebrows skeptically, keeping my reservations to myself.
“And more.” Davien reaches for my hand and then thinks better of it; it’s as if he can read my mind. “Oh, look, they’re going to begin.”
I do as he commands, relieved for the distraction.
There’s a small pile of supplies off to the side that Oren and Giles are moving, some materials I would expect to find for building and some I would not.
It’s everything from lumber to blocks to geodes, cracked like eggs, their shimmering, crystal yolks catching the sunlight.
There are buckets of paint and brushes, one of which Giles picks up.
He begins to dribble paint along the ground, murmuring as he goes.
Meanwhile, Oren is taking some of the smaller tree limbs and placing them at the four corners of the outline Giles is making.
At the top of each of the rough posts, he places a crystal.
The branch magically weaves around it to hold the stone like a jewel at the top of a scepter.
Giles goes back to the foot of the mountain to paint swirls, dots, and lines across one of the stones there.
He does the same on the wood off to the side.
Oren and Giles square off on opposite ends of the outline they’ve made.
They each crouch down and press their fingers into the wet paint that’s pooled unevenly in the divots of the hard-packed earth.
In my periphery, I see Davien move. His lips brush lightly against the shell of my ear as he whispers, “Watch closely. Feel their magic. Feel their connection to the earth—to everything around us, all that was and could be.”
I want to do as he instructs, but I don’t think he realizes just how painfully distracting he is when he speaks in my ear like that.
Giles’s and Oren’s chanting becomes fast and low.
The air around them pops with small sparks of light in increasing frequency.
I hear a rumble off to my side. The giant tree trunk groans with unseen pressure.
A crack splits the air and the wood. Simultaneously, the mountainside comes to life like a golem waking.
The stones behind Giles begin to levitate as the marking he placed on the large boulder glows.
It’s a maelstrom of shimmering magic, stone, and wood.
Invisible builders saw, hammer, and nail.
They fit the joints with careful precision as a hole is bored into the mountainside.
The magic does the work of several craftsmen in a blink.
Before I know it, a tunnel has begun. Clay seeps up through the ground, beading and joining along the path. Support beams shore up the overhead.
I stare in awe…and frustration. The latter must show on my face because Davien asks, “What’s wrong?”
“It’s so…so simple.”
“I assure you, it only has the appearance of simplicity. In actuality, to perform magic like this takes years of practice to understand both rituals and your power.”
I thrust my hand toward the start of the tunnel.
“In mere minutes, two men bored a hole into a mountainside with thoughts. They accomplished something that would take years. If I had this power—if I had even a fraction of it—my family’s home would’ve been different.
I could’ve done more. I could’ve been free of them long ago because I would have been able to support myself. ”
My eyes are burning unbidden. Why does this frustrate me so much?
Why do I feel so wounded? Davien just stares at me in that inspecting way of his, making me feel more vulnerable than anyone has before.
I look away and shake my head. I’m about to say that it’s all right and dismiss my feelings when his hand lands on my shoulder.
“If you want to do it so badly, then do it,” he says softly.
That draws my attention straight back to him and I stare into his emerald eyes.
“Right now, you have this power and so much more. If you drew on even a fraction of the power of kings, you would be able to finish the tunnel and its main hall in a blink.”
“But I…” I think of my attempt with Vena and shake my head. I didn’t learn how to repair plaster or mend a roof overnight. I won’t learn how to use magic overnight either. It’ll take practice. “What should I do?”
Davien smiles, genuine, big, and bright. His whole face lights up with excitement. “You’re going to start small. Some lanterns, perhaps?”
“All right.” I follow him toward the front of the tunnel. Oren and Giles are leaning against stones, catching their breath.
“Well done, you two,” Davien says as he picks up the book.
“We’re done for the day now, right?” Giles pants softly. He looks like he just worked an entire day in a quarry. Which quells my frustrations about the ease of their building some.
“A bit more.” Davien hands the book to me. “We’re going to do it together, you and I.”
“You could do it in an instant,” Giles says to Davien.
“This isn’t about me,” Davien says curtly.
“Rare of our lost prince to recognize that not everything is about him.” Giles grins. Davien ignores him.