Page 37 of Hunted

“You’re not hurt,” I said, gently caressing his cheek. “How are you not hurt?”

He blinked again, and I saw his pupils expand and contract. “I’ve always been told I have a hard head,” he said, with a little grin. “But I am incredibly sore. What hit me?”

I let my forehead rest against his, relieved that he wasn’t hurt. “It was an accident. I’m so sorry.”

“That was some accident,” Evie said. “Were you using magic?”

I looked up at her. “Trying to,” I said. “I made a mess.”

Evie shook her head. “We’d better get this cleaned up before my sisters get back,” she paused. “And I’m going to have to teach you a thing or two if we want to keep that from happening again.”

“Teach me?” I asked, eyes widening.

“I don’t see another choice. Can’t have you putting people through walls, now, can we?”

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

My grandmothers didn’t return for a few hours, by which point Evie and I had managed to patch up the damage I had caused. Valerian, luckily, hadn’t been badly hurt, but the impact left him feeling sore for an hour or two after. I still couldn’t believe I had done it. Tallin was simply relieved that it was Valerian who had taken the hit instead of him.

I felt bad about what I had done. I hadn’t meant to hurt anyone, but it was clear to me—and now to Evie—that I needed training. I had already opened the box, I had used magic, I knew it was there, and I wasn’t about to stop.

Evie understood that better than my other grandmothers did, or at least, she was more willing to realize that the best way to protect me and others from myself was to teach me. So, she did. We spent a little while going over what I had done wrong earlier, how I had managed to hurl Valerian into a wall, and how to stop from doing it again.

It turns out, human magic wasn’t all flourishes, flicks of the wrist, and sigils. Emotions, intent, and desire, these all played a part in human spellcasting. I had gotten at least one of those wrong earlier, and someone had gotten hurt because of it.

If I wanted to tap into this font of power that lived inside of me, I wasn’t going to be able to do it without first learning how to control it. Strangely, this was the first time in my adult life I had ever been excited about the prospect of learning.

She taught me the meaning of magic, how to summon it, how to tell it what to do. She showed me how to draw the most basic of sigils, what they meant, and how to use them. It only took an hour or so, and we didn’t do any actual magic, but I already felt like I had a solid foundation to work with.

Even if I wasn’t going to be able to work on it while Pepper and Helen were in the house.

Our lesson ended when my other grandmothers returned to the house. Neither of them seemed aware of what I had done, or about the magic lesson Evie had sat me down for. Tallin and Valerian were good sports about keeping quiet, but I had a suspicion that Grandmother Helen probably saw through our little charade.

She was way more perceptive than most, and I doubted if a single thing went on in this house that she didn’t know about, even when she wasn’t around. If she did know, she didn’t mention it, and neither did Pepper, who instead began preparing a big meal for the six of us.

Pepper had planned to make us Toad-in-the-hole, which from what I gathered, were sausages cooked into a Yorkshire Pudding; a dish my mother was incredibly fond of and had made a few times before. I was excited to eat, and happy to take a break from all that had gone on today.

The day wasn’t done with me, though.

Valerian had come looking for me before dinner and asked if I could speak with him alone for a few minutes before we all sat down to eat. I felt bad about having hurt him earlier, I also felt bad about having avoided him for the past few days… and for running out on him.

Twice.

I’m the worst.

I decided to go and find him in his room shortly before dinner. The heady aromas coming out of the kitchen were already making my mouth water and my stomach rumble, but my insides twisted themselves into a knot as soon as I arrived at the door to Valerian’s room. I waited for a long moment at his door before knocking, breathing deeply to steel myself against whatever waited for me on the other side of it.

He must have known I was there because he gently opened the door before I could knock, catching me slightly off guard. I put on my best, most practiced smile. “Hello,” I said.

He had one hand rested on the doorframe, and another on the door itself. Though he looked a little pale, likely from the bash to the head he had taken earlier and the little bit of blood loss he had experienced, he still held himself confidently.

For a moment, I thought of that kiss we shared. Deep. Passionate. Primal, and full of emotion. Then I remembered the moment that led up to the kiss, what he had said about me, and how we had gotten to that point. I realized, suddenly, that looking at him brought up feelings of annoyance, but that annoyance was dragging with it a powerful attraction.

“Come in,” he said.

“Is that a good idea?” I asked.

“I’m… not sure,” he said, frowning. “Why would it be a bad idea?”