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Ayda nodded, already a little lost in her head, dreaming of more innovative ways to set the magical boundaries around the property. Emmett and his brothers expressed their desire to make it a center for all magical activities outside of Edinburgh. Emmett, in particular, wanted to bring in additional researchers to help him catalog the O'Neil library. Ayda didn't care what he did with his ancestral home as long as she kept getting to work outside. She couldn't imagine spending the long hours Emmett did inside a building, but that was why she was an earth witch.
After spending copious amounts of time with Ayda, Lachlan knew when she was drifting off and thinking about magic. Ayda's ‘magic face,’ as it had been playfully coined, occurred every time she started to stare off into space and tune out everyone around.
She had always used magic as an escape. Whenever the world around her became too overwhelming or overstimulating, it was easy for her to retreat inside her mind. There was always an equation to sort out or magical properties to catalog in her mental Rolodex. Ayda was accustomed to simply dropping out of conversations and journeying into her mind whenever she saw fit.
She didn't even realize she was sipping on an empty americano until Lachlan got her attention by gently snapping his fingers in front of her face.
“Hey, Ayda? Your magic face is back.” Lachlan teased her gently. Ayda shook herself back to the present moment and blushed with embarrassment. The O'Neils were her oldest clients and more like family than customers, but it was still no good to be tuning out paying customers while eating their food.
“Oh, shit, sorry,” Ayda stood up quickly and put her dirty dishes in the sink. “Are we waiting for Darragh, or do you want to get started?”
“I’m ready if you are,” Lachlan grinned. He held the door open for her, and Ayda and Lachlan stepped into the back garden. They started walking towards the perimeter of the property. Ayda was mainly focused on a tricky set of wards where the old game cottage used to be. It'd been blown up in their pursuit of their uncle and had left quite a magical signature in its place for them to clean up. She walked back towards the far corner of the property, tucked behind several trees, and dropped to her knees.
Ayda hummed a few incantations under her breath, and immediately, the forest came to life around them. The magical webbing surrounding them lit up as though it was covered in fairy lights, making all the wards visible to the naked eye. They glowed with a deep, pulsing emerald magic, mimicking Ayda’s magic’s color. Although it was more accurate to say that her magic looked like the forest's.
“I’ll never get tired of that.” Lachlan whistled in approval, looking up at the magical signatures covering the property and hanging from the trees. “Do you want me to start over there?” Lachlan pointed to a gap in the grid, an apparent weak spot where some of the wards were failing.
Ayda nodded. “You do that. I'll work on testing this quadrant's structure as a whole.”
Lachlan and Darragh could use their connection to their ancestral homelands to help repair the obvious gaps, but Ayda’s specific mastery in earth magic was required to repair the rest of the wards.
Lachlan said something in agreement as he headed off to fix the holes, but Ayda had already stopped listening. She chewed on her lip, running her fingers delicately through the grass and the dirt. The forest came alive underneath her fingertips, small mushrooms and tiny wildflowers appearing wherever her hands ghosted over the earth’s surface. She smiled, feeling the pleasant buzz of the forest coming alive around her. The ground always responded to Ayda, and she was always careful to respect it in return.
Ayda lost herself to the process, dutifully reviewing each magical ward and spell baked into the earth for centuries. She tweaked some, left others alone, and spun her fingers together like she was playing an advanced game of cat's cradle. A pleasant hum took over her whole body when she was this in tune with her magic, a sense of synchronicity that she never found anywhere else.
She loved her friends and family, but Ayda found people loud and overwhelming; they didn't understand her when she spoke about the things she loved and were confused when she didn't share their passions. Magic was more accessible than people, and she'd spend every day lost in the magical wardings of the O'Neil property if she could.
Ayda was plucking and braiding her way through the magical roots of a particularly ancient oak tree, being careful not to disturb it, wholly disassociated from everything else happening around her.
“Ayda?” A warm voice next to her ear startled Ayda. It shattered her concentration, and she screamed, a bright green flame erupting from her fingertips. Ayda cursed and snapped her fingers, quickly putting out the blaze before turning around and scowling at whoever disrupted her.
“Didn't your mother ever teach you not to disturb a magic... Oh.” Ayda's face flushed crimson. “Calum, er, Your Majesty. What has drawn you out of Edinburgh?” Ayda slowly stood to her feet, her blush intensifying. She wiped some of the dirt off her hands on her jeans and shoved one hand forward in an awkward offering of a handshake.
Calum stood before her. Ayda had only met him once when they were working together to defeat the O'Neil's uncle. Even though I know it's bad manners to snap at a prince, Ayda chastised herself.
Calum smiled, the easygoing grin of a man in charge. He was dressed casually—or more so than the last time she saw him—in a dark pair of jeans and a herringbone hunting vest. He looked like he’d stepped out of a Brooks Brothers catalog. It was the kind of casual outfit that you would still purchase at Saville Row.
“Ayda,” Calum's smile widened. “I’m glad the O’Neils have the best of the best helping out with the property. Is it going well?”
Ayda breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes!” She looked around and indicated the fading magical webbing around them, strung all through the treetops. “It's labor intensive but very gratifying. It's wonderful what you can discover when you start going through all the patterns…”
“You'll have to come tell me about it sometime,” Calum interrupted her gently. “A couple of graduate classes on warding and earth magic would benefit from your tutelage.”
“Ha!” Ayda pointed a playful finger at the prince. “You won't get me inside of a classroom. You can't help but try to get everyone under your roof, can you?” She teased him good-heartedly, relieved that he didn't take offense at her shouting at him.
Calum shrugged. “I wouldn't be a good administrator if I didn't try to recruit top talent.”
Ayda cringed slightly at hearing the words ‘top talent.’ She shifted her weight between her feet and looked away.
“I don't know about that…”
“Well,” Calum clapped his hands together, “are the boys here? I’m actually here today to discuss your talents.”
Ayda's stomach dropped. She wasn't prepared to see the prince this morning or for him to show up at the O'Neil estate looking for her.
“Um, yes,” Ayda's brow furrowed, “they should both be around. What exactly do you need me for?” Ayda pushed, her curiosity starting to boil over. It was Calum's turn to fidget, only the slightest tick in his jaw exposing his nerves.
“I’m only here as a messenger.” Calum held up his hands in mock surrender. “Why don't we go back up to the house and discuss it there?” Ayda studied Calum briefly and then shrugged, motioning towards the massive manor house.
