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The smile Darwin gives me is almost shy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more endearing expression on his face.
“What Teddy said,” Gabe echoes. “But you should definitely bring snacks.”
I elbow him and we break apart, laughing, just as Professor Merriam pokes his gray head around the broken edge of my Earth barrier to tell us the practice dome is closing for the night in ten minutes.
Chapter28
The Fire-Bird’s Secret
Walking back to Ouroboros, we tell each other our strengths and weaknesses.
It’s a conversation I’ve never had with another mage. Never thought I would have. With Necromancy outlawed in England, I’ve had to keep a lot of the things Auntie Jill taught me under wraps. I feel freer here at Bevington to show what I can do than I did back home, but even in Madame Serpa’s class, I haven’t been intentionally flash. School’s for learning. Not showing off.
Except, of course, if you’re Princely.
“So we know you can summon and control Fire Elementals,” I say after Darwin admits that he has trouble with the fine control it takes to do things like enchant Flame-stones, which can store a Fire-mage’s magic for long periods of time. To be fair, Charlie hasn’t mastered that yet, either.
Darwin’s silent.
I elbow him. “I’m not mad at you about it anymore. Is it only the phoenix?”
“It’s not a phoenix,” he mumbles.
Gabe and I trade looks. What we saw, both in the practice tube and when he tried to kill us with it, sure as fuck looked like a phoenix.
“What is it, mate?” Charlie asks.
Darwin blows out a breath, a white plume in the winter night. “It’s my Empyrean spirit.”
“Your what?”
Darwin wraps his arm around my neck and pulls me close. “I know you shoot your mouth off when you’re angry. You can’t tell anyone this. Ever. No matter what. My father would kill me. Literally.”
Bloody Hells.
“Okay, mate. I get it. Not a word.”
“I’m only half fae,” he tells us. We’ve stopped under an oak tree and it occurs to me that any Air or Earth mage could overhear us. I throw up a quick ward and feel Gabe’s shape around mine, hiding our words from any ears but ours.
“My mother was a Black Empyrean,” Darwin continues. “That’s why my father didn’t marry her. That’s why my full sisters and I aren’t accepted at court. We’re tainted by my mother’s blood, even after we chose our fae side.”
“That’s straight-up bullshite,” I protest.
“Sh, Teddy.” Gabe presses in at my back and slides his gloved fingers over my lips. “Dar, if you picked your fae side—”
Darwin nods. “My Empyrean spirit should have left me. My sisters’ did. Mine didn’t. I don’t know why not. I’m ... flawed. I can keep it under control as long as I let it out occasionally but when I’m threatened—”
“It breaks free to protect you,” I say against Gabe’s fingers. “That’s why your glamor is so strong. It’s not just glamor.”
Darwin nods again. “The celestial energy boosts my glamor. It shouldn’t. My Empyrean side and my fae side should war with each other. That’s why half-fae choose at puberty. I did the ritual. I know I did it right, but it didn’t work for me. I’ve hidden it ever since. I shape it to look like a phoenix to hide what it truly is.”
“Fuck me,” Charlie whispers.
“Does anyone know?” I ask.
Darwin shakes his head. “I don’t think so. My mother’s side of the family, well, her half-brother in particular, I think he figured it out. He was half Black Empyrean. I think he felt something, a kinship. But he was killed in the war between the Black and Gold Empyreans when I was thirteen. I’ve stayed away from my mother’s family ever since, just in case.”
“And your father?” Gabe asks.
