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I hold out my hand to stop him from using any of his battle magic on me and hoping he’ll recognize my voice, gasp out, “it’s me. Please don’t light me on fire. I’m already freaking out. And I don’t need to add burning to death to that.”
His hands drop, the flames extinguish. Hardin’s by my side in an instant, gripping my shoulders while I rub at the scar between my breasts and try to calm my frantic heart. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”
I catch sight of myself in the mirror and double up again, my heart still racing. “You gotta talk to me, love. Please, tell me what’s wrong.”
Gideon appears out of nowhere, one of his big hands smoothing over my spine. “I think she’s panicking because she just turned herself into Gany.”
I nod and tap my finger on my nose.
Hardin lets out a laugh of surprise. I glare at him. “It’s not fucking funny, you ass!”
He laughs again and shakes his head before booping me on the tip of Gany’s nose. “No, it’s not, you’re right. It’s bloodyamazing.”
Gideon’s nodding, a grin on his face, pride practically beaming from him. “Fuck, yeah, Ro. It’s amazing. Look at what you did!”
I do look, my eyes flying to the mirror and sort of getting stuck there, seeing Gany looking back at me after only a few minutes of work. They aren’t wrong. It is amazing, but I’m still freaking out a little, because how is this even possible? How?
Gideon steps in front of me, blocking my view until all I can see is him. “Take a deep breath, sweetheart. A real deep breath and hold.” I do as he requested. “Good, now let it out.”
When I’ve blown all the air out of my lungs, I feel better. I straighten up and carefully avoid looking at the mirror again.
Gideon’s looking down at me with a bit of fire in his eyes as he takes in my new appearance. He leans down and gives me a brief kiss that takes me totally by surprise, and Hardin lets out a quiet sound of distress in his throat. “That is fucking weird to see you kiss a girl who isn’t Ro.”
I feel Gideon’s lips curl into a smile against mine, and he murmurs, “but it is her, Hardin. Just a different side we don’t get to see that often.” He deepens that kiss and I let him. By the time he’s pulled back, my breathing is heavy for a different reason than panic and my lips feel swollen.
Gideon moves until his mouth presses to my ear. “I love the way you look normally, Ro,” he whispers. “But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that fucking Gany has been a fantasy of mine since the first video you posted. I always thought it was her, but now I know it was you.”
My breath hitches and I swallow hard before leaning up on my toes and running my tongue over his ear. “I think we can make that happen.” What the heck has gotten into me this morning? I’m like a horny teenager who didn’t already come once this morning.
He growls. “Get the fuck out, Hardin.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “I didn’t mean right now, Brightwater. Right now, I want to make sure I can reverse this.” I motion at my face with a fair amount of trepidation. What if I can’t undo it? I’ll be stuck like this.
I really don’t want to be stuck like this.
He scowls at me, all angry and lustful at the same time, and I clench low in my belly. I almost tell Hardin to get lost, but then the Brit is pulling me out of Gideon’s arms and taking me over to the mirror again. He stands behind me with his hands on my shoulders. “Just take a moment to appreciate the beauty of this, love. Look at what you did.”
I look. And the panic that I had been feeling fades in the wake of awe at what I’ve accomplished.I changed the way I look.With magic.I move closer to the mirror, bending over to bring my face as close to the glass as I can. My fingers run over the planes of my face. It’s weird, but it doesn’t feel different from my normal face. My chin still feels more rounded than the point in the mirror would indicate. I can still feel the mole I have on my left cheekbone, but I can’t see it.
When I turn my head this way and that, I can feel my long hair brushing against the skin of my back, shoulders and chest, even though the reflection in the mirror is telling me I have a wavy lob that hits just above my shoulders.
“That is so weird.”
Hardin bends over me, pressing his lips into my bare shoulder. “Can you feel my hair?” I ask, reaching toward the invisible ends.
Hardin does the same and his brows raise. “I can.”
Gideon steps up on my other side. “So, it’s really an illusion? Not an actual change in what you look like.” His fingers brush the air just above my collarbone, and I feel my hair move in response.
“It seems so. Can Julie actually change the way she looks?” If she can, I will not stop until I can, too.
Hardin shakes his head. “Nope.”
“We weren’t lying about you being so much stronger than her. The most she can do is create some pretty pictures.”
I frown. “Pretty pictures?”
“Try releasing the illusion, Rosalind,” Gideon urges me, before answering my question. “She can create images out of thin air. Like a rose in her palm, but it doesn’t have any weight to it, its just an image made of magic until she releases it.”
