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“Why are you sorry? I am not.” Farrendel lifted his gaze to hers, a hint of a smile tipping up his mouth. “But, yes, it is possible that I am not at my full magical strength yet. I started to come into my magic only twenty years ago, after all.”
More magic. Essie could hardly imagine it. He couldn’t fully control the magic he currently had. “Who trained you? Back when you came into your magic?”
“My father, as much as he could.” Farrendel gave a small shrug. “Normally, elven parents teach their children the basics even before they come into magic of their own. Once they do, elves are apprenticed to someone with the same magic. But, there was no one to teach me. I mostly figured out how to use my magic on my own during battle.”
A flash of something hot filled her chest. Sure, the elves had been desperate. But it still seemed foolhardy to send an untrained boy with Farrendel’s level of power into battle. He would have had his magic for less than five years at that point.
No surprise that he had been captured. Of course, he hadn’t had the magical strength to rescue himself or save his father during the rescue. And no wonder he always seemed scared of his magic, when he'd had no one to teach him how to properly use it.
“But do not worry. You have me to teach you.” Farrendel tugged his fingers from hers. Tiny bursts of sparks formed above his palms, the same ones he formed for the nephews. “Hold out your hands.”
Essie did so, hoping he couldn’t see how much her fingers were trembling.
Farrendel gently slid his hands under hers, his palms warm against the backs of her hands and the magic a gentle tickle. As he did, she could feel him push the magic toward the heart bond, as if asking her to take control of it.
With a deep breath, Essie mentally reached for the magic and took it from him. Her sense of the magic sharpened, and she concentrated on keeping it at its contained sparkle.
“I am going to add more magic to the heart bond.” As soon as he finished speaking, Farrendel handed over yet more magic.
Essie held her breath, but the sparks on her hands didn’t leap out of control. The magic in the heart bond stayed there, as if waiting for her command.
“Now try to increase the sparks into full bolts of magic curling around our hands.” Farrendel’s voice remained as soft as the fizzling sparks in her hand.
As soon as she tugged on the magic, it leapt to her, as if eager to burst out. The sparks in her hand exploded in a blue-white flare before she cut the magic off. “Sorry. Sorry. That didn’t work right.”
“I would consider it a success that it only mildly exploded rather than blew up with so much force we were knocked off our feet.” Farrendel shrugged, a grin now tugging at his mouth. “Try again.”
Essie tugged on the magic again, and this time she was able to get more controlled bolts to twine around their hands and up her arms.
Farrendel talked her through more practice, making bigger and more controlled bolts of magic, creating a shield of the crackling magic, and shooting it out in a specific direction. Essie found it easier than she was expecting, but that could have been because Farrendel was talking her through each step and only giving her a portion of magic each time so that she never had to work with unmanageable amounts.
After an hour, Farrendel halted them, studying Essie. “Would you like a break?”
“No, I’m fine. It was such a hassle to get this set up, and a long train ride out here. We need to make the most of the time the army is giving us.” Essie straightened her shoulders, though she probably wasn’t fooling him. He could sense through the heart bond the way her eyes were going dry and a throbbing starting at her temple from how hard she was concentrating.
His silver-blue eyes searched her face for another moment, before he pulled a piece of paper from a pocket. “When I talked over how I accidentally melded my magic to the heart bond with Lance, he gave me a list of questions and things to try to figure out some of the limits. Now that you are more comfortable with my magic, we could go through this list. It should be less taxing.”
“That sounds better than more practice. And probably more useful.” Essie plopped down onto the patch of ground that had been cleared of snow thanks to all the magical practice incinerating it.
Even after all the magic, the ground was damp and quickly started soaking through her trousers. But, they didn’t have much of a choice since they still needed to stay far away from civilization—and thus chairs—that could be destroyed.
Farrendel’s nose wrinkled as he grimaced down at the ground for a moment before he also sat. Then he held up the paper and read off the first item. “Can Essie use your magic directly or does it have to be put in the heart bond first?”
“That is a good question.” Essie closed her eyes and mentally reached out to the heart bond, then through it toward Farrendel. The distant crackle of his magic was less distinct than when he placed magic in the heart bond. With a deep breath, she gave a tug on the magic, trying to draw on it. “I’m tugging on your magic, like I’ve been doing to wake you from your nightmares. But I can’t seem to actually use the magic directly.”
“Let me try something.” Farrendel’s voice was absentminded, as if he too had his eyes closed as he concentrated.
A moment later, Essie mentally fell backwards as Farrendel’s magic suddenly released, flooding through the heart bond into her. A crackle burst around her, more and more magic gushing through her.
She scrambled to try to control it or stop it, but it felt like she was trying to plug a running faucet with her fingers. “Farrendel!”
The magic cut off as abruptly as it started.
“That answers a few of Lance’s questions.” Farrendel’s voice was level, almost satisfied, rather than panicked as Essie felt.
She opened her eyes, cocking her head. “Really? What did you make of that? I was mostly just freaking out.”
Farrendel smoothed the paper, his mouth pressed into a thin, thoughtful line. “You can use my magic directly from me, but I need to...give you permission, I guess? I think I have been subconsciously releasing the magic to you when I have been putting it in the heart bond.”
