Chapter 23 #3
He said it so begrudgingly that Anna narrowed her eyes at him, thinking of his refusal to fight the way Cathaire wanted, his insistence that she teach him about Morgan, his single-minded focus in the library. The man was stubborn to his core, wasn’t he?
“You fought it, didn’t you? The pain?”
He remained silent. As she released a small laugh, the edge of his mouth tipped up. “I don’t like being told what to do,” he finally said.
And yet that was his entire life.
Gazing into his eyes, a darker green around the edges than in the center, she felt her heart pinch again.
Something swooped low in her belly.
Almost like…a fall. Like she’d missed a step and no one was near to catch her.
Mere seconds passed, but a shift echoed through the chambers of her emotional core, rearranging them to make room for something new.
What was this?
What was happening?
“As I’m sure you’ve realized,” Elenya said, cutting into Anna’s spiral, “this magic is quite notorious. The empathic abilities and foresight are benign, though you may learn to alter emotions at some point. It’s the coercion that people distrust. Coercion is the crux of this magic.
It’s the part you must master. You must resist the temptation to thread the magic into your words.
As you grow more powerful, the magic becomes a part of you. You can’t let it take control.”
Anna stared at her lap. Hadn’t David said the same thing? It’s better to control it than let it control you.
She had never been good at impulse control. The impetuous, daredevil pixie traits were strong in her. Subduing that would take a lot of practice.
In Anna and David’s silence, Elenya continued, “You don’t want to reach a point where every word you speak is laced with magic.
You’ll drive people away. No one trusts those with Morgan’s magic.
It’s a burden all three of us will bear our whole lives.
But if you can moderate it, you’ll at least keep from becoming like Morgan herself. ”
“Like Galadaine, you mean,” David said, voice hard.
Anna glanced his way. The apathetic mask was fixed in place. Inside, his ice was trembling, threatening to crack, but outside, he was utterly composed.
Elenya’s soft gaze moved to his. “No. That isn’t what I meant. Galadaine was a tool used by Morgan. This realm may not believe it, but I maintain that Galadaine had little choice in his actions.”
“Convenient opinion,” David said, “given you only stand to benefit from it.”
Her mouth curved in a half smile uncannily similar to her son’s. “You’re the one with his memories. Do you think he was in control of his actions?”
David’s jaw hardened, but he said nothing, choosing instead to lean back in his chair like he didn’t care, like none of this affected him.
“Do you know any more of us with this magic?”
Elenya hesitated. “That is perhaps a conversation for another time.”
“Secrets?” David asked. “Really?”
“There is much knowledge which is not mine to impart.”
His ensuing laugh was bitter. “Then why are we here?”
Elenya blew out a slow breath. “I’m not trying to impose myself on you, David. I understand you need space. But you appear to care for this girl, and being a child of Morgan places her in a great deal of danger. I’d thought you might be interested in helping her avoid that.”
Though David didn’t move, Anna sensed a sudden tension vibrating from his direction. She ignored it and clasped her shaking hands tight in her lap. “How much danger?”
“There is a reason those with this magic do not come forward.” Elenya eyed her shrewdly. “We are often persecuted. And I suspect you knew that, or else you would not have hidden your abilities for so long.”
Anna nodded. The stories of days past haunted her nightmares, when Morgan’s children were slaughtered in their sleep by fearful mobs brimming with hate.
“What do I do?” she whispered, and even she could hear the terror in her voice.
A bright pulse of concern flared and died somewhere in David’s vicinity. She ignored that, too.
“First, you understand the importance of control. Your voice is what people will fear the most about you. The magic can creep in when you don’t realize it. If you’re tired. Irritable. Emotional. The magic cocoons your voice as a protective mechanism, a way to get you what you need quickly.”
Anna fidgeted in her seat, sparing a swift glance for the unmoving statue of David to her right. “I’m only just learning that I can do this. How am I supposed to control it?”
“I will help you.”
Relief settled over her, allowing her muscles to relax.
Learning this magic from David had been an unnerving prospect.
The man made her go hot and cold at the same time, and she could only imagine how repeatedly making herself vulnerable to him would exacerbate such a phenomenon beyond tolerance.
She’d never met anyone who ate at her this way, who fascinated her so thoroughly.
Elenya, on the other hand, was intimidating in a far more bearable way, almost like Cathaire when she’d first begun training. A teacher Anna wanted to impress. A mentor to please.
“How do we start?” she asked.
“You’re kidding, right?” David asked, his tone and expression hard but blank.
Anna paused, tried for two full seconds to penetrate his icy feelings, then gave up. “No, I—”
“You just told me you’re fine, that you don’t need to learn this.”
Anna floundered. “But you said I did need it, and she offered to teach me.”
Somehow he retreated further into the icy cage. “So did I.”
She had no idea how to explain her earlier trepidation. She couldn’t even define what was happening in her chest every time she looked at him. Something dangerous.
“Maybe I want you both,” Anna said, pushing against his cage.
A razor-sharp smile cut across his face. “You get me or you get her. You don’t get both.”
Anna pursed her lips. She was probably overestimating her value to him but decided to press her luck anyway. “If you don’t want to come, I’m happy to sacrifice my afternoons in the library to learn this.”
His distant emotional portrait split into two dominant forces: anger and fear. “Do you think I care? I already got what I wanted from you. You’re useless to me now.”
Ouch. She winced at the tweak of pain that caused.
Words. His offensive weaponry.
Anna shored up her defense. “Alright, then. Good to know where I stand.” She looked at Elenya. “Would you like to meet tomorrow afternoon?”
Elenya dipped her head. “I look forward to it.”