Chapter 16 #2
“No need. I had dinner in my quarters with Fenris, and the cook brought more than enough food. If the leftovers aren’t still there, I’ll simply order more for you.” He turned and headed back out of the lobby, clearly expecting me to follow.
“Hang on,” I said, hustling to keep up with his long-legged stride. “We’re not going to the training room?”
“No. We won’t be needing it for what I have planned tonight.”
Warmth blossomed in my cheeks as Iannis confirmed what I’d suspected – he was taking me to his personal quarters.
The last time I’d been there, the Chief Mage had briefly seen me naked, and we’d also fought about the idea of him making me his apprentice.
I still remember the way my body had tingled as he’d pushed me up against the wall and pinned me with his violet eyes, and I remembered how they’d blazed.
I hadn’t been sure whether or not he was going to kill me or kiss me at the time, and the idea of being alone in that room with him again made my heart beat a little faster than it should have.
Then again that room was also the same place where the Chief Mage had unlocked the seal my father had placed on my magic, giving me control over my powers for the first time in my life. So there were good memories of that room too.
Despite being located on the far end of the West Wing, it didn’t take very long for us to reach Iannis’s quarters.
I watched as he placed a hand on the brass knob and muttered an incantation, and the knob glowed briefly before the lock clicked open.
I memorized the Words he’d used – I wanted to try that out for myself when I got home.
With the way my life was going right now, it was probably a good idea to spell my locks so that nobody would try to ambush me in my own apartment.
I followed Iannis in through the open door, my eyes taking in the spacious, yet cozy sitting room.
It was decorated in the Chief Mage’s colors, the blue upholstery on the heavy, dark wood furniture and the matching curtains framing the large bay window embroidered with gold thread.
The wall to my left was lined with bookshelves, and a large bay window on the right offered a wonderful view of the Firegate Bridge stretching across Solantha Bay.
The couches were grouped around a marble fireplace, which lay dark and silent –no fire was needed at this time of year.
“Help yourself,” Iannis said, gesturing to a table by the bay window where the remnants of a meal were laid out – half a platter of ribs, a partially empty bowl of roasted carrots and sweet potatoes, and some salad. “I’ll return shortly.”
I watched as he disappeared through a door on the far side of the room, then sat down and helped myself to the food.
As I chewed on rib meat, which was cold but tasty, I stared out the window at the Firegate Bridge.
I should have already been across it and halfway to Turain by now, but I had a feeling I wasn’t going to have time to make the trip tonight. I would have to do it in the morning.
Once I polished off the food, I stood up and crossed to the other side of the room, perusing the books that lined the shelves.
Many of the titles were in foreign languages, some of them even written in strange runes rather than letters, and I wondered just how many languages Iannis knew.
I’d never asked his age, but I always assumed he’d lived several centuries already, which was plenty of time to amass quite a few languages.
It made me wonder just how much knowledge I would have when I got that old.
If I got that old.
The door opened behind me, and I turned around to see Iannis clutching two gold chains in one of his fists. Small, white tanzarite stones swung from the ends of the chains, their fire catching the light, and I blinked, curious.
“What are those for?” I asked as Iannis closed the door behind him.
“Come sit down and you’ll see.”
I joined him on the couch, sitting as close to the armrest as possible. Even so, our knees nearly touched, and my pulse jumped as his masculine scent invaded my space.
“Tonight,” Iannis said, holding out one of the necklaces to me, “you are going to learn how to make a charm.”
“A charm?” I echoed, taking the piece of jewelry from him.
I was careful not to let his fingers touch mine, but even so, my cheeks warmed at the idea of accepting something so beautiful from him.
White tanzarite was one of my favorite gemstones; they were pure and full of fire.
If I’d been the type of girl to buy myself jewelry I would have a whole collection of them.
But I doubted Iannis knew that, or that he’d chosen the stones based off what he thought my preference would be.
“Yes. Usually apprentices already know the basics of charm-casting; mage children are taught from an early age how to make simple ones.” Iannis looked wryly down at the stone in my hand. “The ones we are going to make tonight are not simple, but with my help I’m certain you’ll do fine.”
“Cool.” I glanced down at the chain in my hand, and noticed that it was more masculine, the links thicker and larger, than the one the Chief Mage had. “Umm, so what are we making, exactly?”
“We’re making a set of serapha charms.” Iannis paused for a moment, and he seemed to be watching my face for a reaction.
When I only stared at him blankly, he continued.
“These are worn by two different people, and can be used to locate the other at any given time. I thought it would be a good alternative to the tracking spell I placed on you, as you can take this off whenever you feel you must have privacy – though nobody else can take it off for you. And you can also use it to track me down, should you have need of me.”
“Oh.” Touched, I stroked the tiny round stone, which was about the size of my pinky nail. “You don’t need to go through all this trouble. I’d already forgotten about the tracking spell.”
Iannis shrugged. “Fenris suggested it. I think it’s a good idea, and also an excellent opportunity to teach you about charm-casting.”
“Okay.” I wasn’t about to argue, especially since this would allow me to locate the Chief Mage whenever I wanted, eliminating the need to rely on others to tell me where he was. “So what do we do?”
Iannis unclasped the necklace, then fastened it around his own neck. He positioned the stone so that it sat directly over his heart, then placed his hand over it and held it there.
“Serapha charms require you to imbue them with a small piece of your life force… your soul, if you will. You simply place the necklace over your head like I have done, and then repeat the incantation I’m about to use.”
“Alright.” A little shiver rippled down my spine at the idea of giving up a piece of my soul for this, but as I looked down at the tiny stone I figured it was probably a very small piece. Mimicking Iannis, I fastened the chain around my neck, then placed the stone over my heart.
Iannis closed his eyes, then spoke the Words.
I watched his brow furrow, as if in pain or discomfort, and the scent of magic thickened in the air.
Blue-white spilled out through the cracks between his fingers, and I flinched at the brightness, but it faded quickly, as did the burnt-sugar scent in the air.
When Iannis lifted his hand from the stone, I noticed it was glowing brightly, but the brilliance was self-contained.
“It will fade after a little while,” Iannis explained, correctly interpreting my gaze. “Once the spell settles, it will only activate again when you have need of the charm. Now, you try it.”
I took a deep breath in through my nostrils to steady my nerves, then repeated the incantation.
I felt a pinch deep inside me, in a place I’d never even felt before, followed by a burning sensation, and I stifled a yelp of surprise.
But it was over before I knew it, and when I opened my eyes I could see my own stone glowing.
It felt hot beneath my fingers, as if there wasn’t just light, but fire in its depths.
“Very good.” Iannis nodded, a pleased expression on his face, and then he ducked his head so he could remove the necklace. “And now we exchange necklaces.”
I did as he asked, trading my necklace for his, and it occurred to me that this was rather intimate, the idea of trading a piece of one’s soul for a piece of someone else’s.
But I supposed since we were master and apprentice that wasn’t so strange – Roanas and I had shared a very close bond.
I wondered if Iannis and I would ever become close in that way, if the sexual tension between us would ever fade, or if it would always keep us from truly relaxing around each other so we could bond the way a mentor and his student should.
As I placed Iannis’s necklace around my neck, the stone’s glow gradually faded until it appeared nothing more than an ordinary gemstone. But I could still feel a faint warmth emanating from the stone as it rested against my chest.
“Excellent.” Iannis’s eyes were surprisingly soft as he regarded me. “Now we’re properly linked.”
“Seems so.” I looked down at the pendant again. “So how exactly do I use this thing?”
“It’s a simple enough charm. You speak my name while holding the pendant, and you’ll get an instant sense of where I am. Go on, try it.”
“Okay.” I curled my fingers around the necklace, making sure that the pendant was touching my palm. “Iannis ar’Sannin.”
Instantly, a sense of intuition activated inside me, and it was as if a map unfolded in my mind’s eye, revealing a pulsing dot where Solantha Palace was.
I couldn’t actually see the map though, nor the pulsing dot; it was more like I could sense it, and I had the idea that if I wasn’t actually at the Palace, something inside me would tug me towards Iannis’s location, even though I wouldn’t actually know that’s the location I was headed.
I let go of the pendant, and the feeling faded away. “Whoa. That was weird.”
Iannis cracked a smile. “But it works, does it not?”
“It sure does.” I grinned. “Does this mean you’re going to remove the tracking spell now?”
“It does.”
He scooted closer, and I jumped a little as he took my hands in his. Warmth flowed through me from his hands to mine, pooling in my lower belly, and suddenly I was filled with want. Our gazes locked, and his iridescent violet eyes burned into mine for just a moment.
“This will only take a second.”
He spoke another short incantation, and a wave of magical energy rushed across my skin, sending tingles from my head to my toes. And then he dropped my hands, and it was over.
“Unfortunately I’ve no time left to teach you more since we started so late,” he said, his tone tinged with regret. “You should be on your way now.”
“Wait!” The word burst from my lips as Iannis began to stand.
I had a feeling there was something I was supposed to be telling him, something important, but my brain was too overwhelmed to tell me what.
Instinctively I reached out and grabbed his wrist, then bit back a gasp as heat lightning arced between us.
“Yes?” Iannis’s eyes flared, but not with anger, and I knew that he felt it too.
This strange connection we had, whatever it was, it was real.
And as he stood above me, I had a feeling that we were both standing on opposite ends of a canyon, and that Iannis was just waiting for the right word from me to jump across it to the other side.
But the words, whatever they had been, dried on my tongue, and I swallowed. “Thank you,” I said quietly, looking away. I jumped to my feet, releasing his hand as I did so. “I have to go now. Goodnight.”
And I fled the room, leaving my pride somewhere between the Chief Mage’s couch cushions.