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Rhoan watched me. I could feel his gaze on me. I’d shown fear and reluctance up until this point, so I didn’t blame him for doubting me. Touching the scars on my throat, I understood.
But this wasn’t right. I could feel their deaths. I could hear Beryl’s triumphant laughter. She knew that she was winning.
Reaching out, I tried to summon a flower. My arcana had been powerful, almost limitless up until this point. I could feel it waning. The flowers in the room turned in my direction and tried to stretch towards me, but they couldn’t quite reach. My arcana was like the sun behind a wall of clouds.
There was no warmth to it now.
“Something is wrong,” I reiterated.
Rhoan sighed. “How would we even go about fixing a timeline?”
If I knew, I would have done it already.
But I didn’t say that. Arguing wouldn’t fix anything. We needed a plan, and I had an idea of where we could start.
Before that, I rolled over and grabbed my phone. There was a message from Ness. She was planning a cookout later today. It was another Pack bonding experience. I shouldn’t have been invited anymore. I wasn’t really Pack, and Beryl was still hunting me down, but I craved the feeling of belonging somewhere.
Though I had things I should have been doing, my heart yearned to see my Pack family, even if only for a little while.
An hour later, I was showered and dressed. I wove my wet hair into a braid that would tame my curls for the time being. An oversized sweater hung off my shoulders and covered the comfortable yet nearly threadbare leggings that I’d tossed on.
I stepped up to Rhoan and put my hands on my hips. “Teach me how to walk in-between. I want to be able to do it.”
He looked down at me. When he lifted a dubious brow, I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and yanked him close. A smile curled across his lips as determination settled over his brow. The look he gave me would have stolen my breath had it not been for my own desire to learn more about my arcana.
At this point, I was a little worried that I wouldn’t have enough power to pull this off. Beryl had drained me, but not enough that I was completely useless. After my shower, I could feel the heat of the sun inside me again. It was like all I needed was to wash off the nightmares.
I gestured to the doorway between my bedroom and the living room. “Shall we begin?”
Rhoan leaned in a bit closer. “Show me what you’ve got, Princess.”
My cheeks warmed. Before he could notice, I grabbed his shoulders, spun him around, and shoved him towards the door.
He explained how the ability should work. For the fae, all in-betweens are a kind of doorway. Depending on your level of finesse, a fae could access all sorts of in-betweens. He explained how Taliesin had shoved him and used the moment between upright and falling as an in-between.
“So…it works on concept alone?” I cocked my head curiously.
“More or less.” Rhoan backed through the bedroom door and appeared in the bathroom door. “This is the easiest to access. It’s simple. Everyone perceives this as an in-between.”
“So, how do I activate it? Is…is it as simple as believing that I’m entering another room?”
Rhoan rocked and vanished only to appear in front of me. He snatched my hand and pulled me with him when he fell through another portal. I let out a cry and heard it in the distance behind us when he appeared across the room.
Looking up, we stood behind the kitchen island. He’d used the transition from living room to kitchen proper as an in-between. Jealousy that he could do something I couldn’t flared in me before I realized he’d found another reason to hold me. I didn’t want to leave, either.
It was like we couldn’t get enough of these small moments. Only, he had a damned vow of celibacy and an inability to be reliable. I’d been surprised to wake up to him. He should have been with Taliesin or something. The two probably wanted to plan a raid on Beryl’s domain soon.
I pulled away and planted my feet apart. “Show me how to do it.”
Rhoan led me back to the doorway between the living room and my bedroom. He stopped me with his hands on my hips. My heart thumped happily until I grabbed ahold of the thing and told it to behave.
Now wasn’t the time. Eventually, I would make that potion, and I would be free of these feelings.
“Tap into your arcana and think about where you want to be. Believe that it is right on the other side of this door. It might be difficult with the door open. If we close it, you can open it to your destination.”
Nope. I wasn’t going to do this the easy way. I wanted to jump into the deep end and prove that I didn’t need anyone to baby me. I was more than capable all on my own.
“It all boils down to belief. That’s the power of our magic,” Rhoan whispered in my ear when he sidled closer. “If you believe something to be an in-between moment, then you can tap into its power. If you believe something else is on the other side of that moment, then it will be. Are you ready?”
