Excerpt
My regular lessons
quickly took a back burner to everything Theo was teaching me. I wanted to know
how he knew so much about fighting and magic, but he would never give me a
straight answer.
But thanks to
having classes all day and then working with Theo in the evenings, I was always
exhausted and fell asleep before my head even hit the pillow.
I dropped my bag on
the library table and turned to Theo, crossing my arms over my chest.
“What are we doing
today?”
He grinned, even
his eyes crinkled at the corners. “I think you’ll be happy.”
My face lit up.
“You mean—”
He nodded. “Magic.”
I resisted the urge
to jump around and clap my hands in a demented happy dance.
“Spells are
complicated, and they’re only as strong as the enchanter behind them.”
“So, the more
powerful you are, the more powerful your spells are?” I asked.
“Exactly.” He
smiled, pleased I’d gotten it right. After a pause, he chuckled and ran a hand
through his wavy dark hair. “I’m actually a bit scared of what you might be
capable of.”
“Afraid I might
blow something up?”
“No.” His gray eyes
sparkled. “I’m more afraid you might be better than me.”
I threw my head
back and laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”
He quirked a brow.
“You’re a Chosen One, Mara.”
“Yeah, except the
whole Chosen One thing seems more like a pain in the butt than actually
helpful. Everyone seems to want me dead.”
His smiled
faltered. “I won’t ever let them get you. I promise.”
“Don’t make
promises you might not be able to keep.” I smiled sadly.
I knew Theo wanted
to believe he could always keep me safe but the reality was he couldn’t.
I didn’t know much about this world, and barely anything about The Iniquitous
and what they were capable of, but I wasn’t dumb, either. Enchanters were
afraid of them and that told me all I needed to know.
In three smooth
strides, he was in front of me. He cupped my cheeks and leaned in close. His
breath tickled my face making the tiny hairs there stand up straight. He stared
fiercely into my eyes. Even if I had wanted to move I couldn’t have. “I will
protect you with every last breath in my body.”
My breath came out
raggedly at his words.
He rubbed his thumb
over my cheek and leaned closer. I held my breath and his eyes flickered to my
lips.
Suddenly, his
muscles tightened and he clenched his jaw before pulling away. “You will be my
downfall,” he whispered. He gave me a shy look. “No one has ever had the effect
on me that you do.”
I didn’t know what
to say so instead I tugged on my shirt and asked, “Magic? What do you want to
teach me?”
He seemed relieved
at my change in subject. “Some spells need to be said out loud while others can
be uttered in your mind.”
“How do you know
the difference?”
“Smaller spells can
be said in your head … Like say you want one of the books—” He stared at the
shelves and they began to shake. Suddenly, one of the books shot out straight
at Theo. I ducked and he caught the book in his hand. “Now you try.”
I sighed. “Do I
just think to myself, ‘hey, that book there, yeah you, come here?’ there’s not
some spell or special something?”
“Just think of the
book you want. It’s that simple.”
“Okay,” I said and
turned to one of the walls of books. I picked one with a purple spine and gold
lettering. I stared at it, narrowing my eyes. I held out my hand. Come
here.
The shelf shook.
Theo grinned like a
proud coach. “That’s it,” he encouraged.
Come here.
The book raised a
little off the shelf.
Come here! The whole
wall was now shaking and suddenly all the books along the wall shot straight
toward me.
Theo crashed into
me and rolled us under one of the tables.
I could hear the
various loud thunks as the books hit the table and floor surrounding us.
Finally, they stopped.
I looked at Theo
and let out a breathless laugh. “Death by raining books.”
He laughed too.
“Ah, doll face, you always make things so interesting.”
“I try.”
We climbed out from
underneath the desk to assess the destruction.
“Geez, remind me to
never make you mad.” He scratched at the back of his head as he looked at the
mess.
Hundreds of books
littered the ground leaving no room to even walk. Thankfully, only the one wall
had been affected. If I had knocked all of them off we
would’ve been swimming in books and picking them up for days.
Theo put his hands
on his hips and let out a gust of air. It sent the dark hair covering his
forehead swirling like it was caught in the wind.
“We have to clean
this up.”
“I think that’s
pretty obvious.” I was already bent down stacking books.
“We won’t have time
to do anything else today—” he bent down beside me “—and this is going to
taking forever.”
“Why don’t you just
magic them on up?” I swished my hand.
“I can magic them
all up but then they won’t be in alphabetical order.”
I stopped what I
was doing, a large book in my hand, and said, “You have to be kidding me.”
“This is a
library,” he gasped, scandalized.
“But … but … We’re the
only ones who use it.”
“They have to
be in alphabetical order. If they’re not, how do you ever expect me to find
something to read?”
I snorted and went
back to making another stack. “You? Reading?”
He seemed
affronted. “I like to read.”
“What do you read?”
I challenged.
“Anything and
everything. I even have a blog.”
“You’re so full of
it.”
“You know how you
girls have loads of book boyfriends? Well, I have my book girlfriends.”
I snorted.
“Laugh all you want
but a real man likes to read.”
An image of Theo
relaxing in a leather chair in front of a fireplace with a book in hand
assaulted my mind. I could picture him with dark-framed glasses and a small
smile playing on his lips as he read a particularly interesting part. His hand
would flick up and push his dark hair from—
What the hell was I
thinking?
I shook my head and
turned to find Theo staring at me.
“Having a fantasy,
Mara?”
I blushed scarlet,
pretty sure somehow he had known exactly what I was thinking thanks to his
freaky protector powers.
