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Aric chuckled and lifted his head to the sky as if he were living an old memory. “I was a brash teenager with more power than I could comprehend and a drive to prove myself,” he said. “That day … someone important to me was in danger, but even running at magically enhanced speeds wouldn’t have been enough.” He lowered his stare back to hers, his expression somber. “I was lucky my recklessness didn’t kill me, or everyone in the surrounding area. So if I’m going to teach you this technique, you’re going to learn it the smart way.”
Rochelle smiled even as a part of her thrilled. This was the closest they’d ever come to talking about the year of his life she had possibly seen in animated form. It was stupidly exciting to hear that the story she was familiar with had some truth to it, despite the questions she had no way of asking. “Then I guess I’ll get to meditating.”
His lips twitched. “I’ll be right here, so don’t worry about anything else.”
It was ridiculous the way that put her at ease.
Rochelle drew a breath and let her eyes close as she sought her proverbial, maybe semi-literal, center. The first couple of times she’d tried meditating had been a complete, clichéd, disaster. She’d gotten immediately bored, twitchy, and even fallen asleep at least twice. Finding a way to quiet her active thoughts, or even just focus them in silence, was incredibly difficult. Moreso, in a lot of ways, than learning to summon her magic had been. Once she’d figured it out, though, she’d discovered a calm and an inner balance she’d never known before.
Only once she was calm and her errant thoughts had settled did Rochelle direct her energy into focusing on her presence awareness.Catch every detail.
Her toes were pressed into her socks, inside her boots, as she stood perfectly still in the meadow. A chilly breeze danced around her, teasing her skin and ruffling her loose hair. Her arms hung loose at her sides, brushing partly against the cotton of her pants even as the breeze threaded between her fingers. It chilled her skin where she wasn’t covered.
Rochelle exhaled in steady breaths and expanded her focus a bit more, following the slide of warmer air as it escaped her, quickly cooling and mixing with the natural air around her. The intake of her next breath raised her shoulders and chest by a fraction, disturbing more air than just what spun in front of her. Her hair continued moving, keeping the surrounding air from steadying. Beyond that, the grass beneath her booted feet bent and broke. She bore her weight a little more on the balls of her feet than the heel, as if she had a tendency to dig in. The cuffs of her pants and sleeves of her shirt fluttered with the breeze, just a little.
She sucked in a larger breath and felt the swirling, almost panicking, sensation in the air as it churned around her in response. She followed the way her shoulders adjusted, the way her hair shifted, and even the way her weight altered with the simple movement. Then she exhaled and tracked all those things again.
“Very good,” Aric said. “Take a break.”
Rochelle blinked open her eyes and let her magic fade. “I never visualized my presence in another location,” she said.
“First you need to be able to do what you just did, faster.” Aric extended one arm and pointed out, beyond her, toward the pool of water at the base of the accumulated waterfalls. “Do you see that rock in front of the largest waterfall?”
Rochelle easily spotted the boulder, which appeared to be at least mostly flat and possibly even polished, judging from the way it gleamed in the sunlight. It was large enough to sit on, cross-legged. “I do.”
“When you’re ready, that’s the spot you’ll aim for.”
She stared at the rock for a moment, and then it clicked. The elements she’d missed. She felt like an idiot. “Water and energy,” she said, turning a proud smile to him.
He matched her smile with a breath-stealing grin of his own. “Correct.” He stepped into her space again, curled a finger under her chin, and tugged her close until the subtle scent of him was all she could smell. “If you can successfully learn this spell, I might just have to reward you.”
Butterflies took flight in her belly at his quiet words. Her skin heated from his touch, and her body ached. Rochelle didn’t think she’d ever fought so hard not to lick her lips. He didn’t mean itthatway, no matter how it sounded. “What sort of reward are you offering?” She kept her voice equally hushed but had little control over the heated tone it had taken.
His eyes flashed. “That will be entirely up to you this time, I think.”
Never in her life had she more wanted to throw herself at a man. She’d never understood the idea—not even enough to read a romance novel—until this moment. And he was only touching herchin. The question was, what would she ask for? A night of passion that she didn’t doubt for a moment he could deliver? Tempting.Sotempting. However, there was something ultimately more pressing. No matter how much she would enjoy spending a night with him, her feelings ran deeper than that. What she wanted most was his forgiveness.
Rochelle smiled and scooped up his hand, removing it from her chin in order to press a kiss to the back of it without breaking eye-contact. “I’ll master the spell by the time you’re done with this invasion mission, and when we get home, I’ll ask for my reward.”
Aric curled his fingers around hers but didn’t pull her any closer, despite the flare of what looked like heat in his eyes. “I look forward to it.”
Chapter Eight
Aric hadn’t thought it was truly possible for him to become so all-consumed by another person. He’d seen people fall so head-over-heels that the entire world seemed to disappear around them, compelling even smart and capable individuals to do amusingly ridiculous things. But he’d believed, earnestly, that his best chance at such a feeling had died in a tragic accident well over a decade before.
Fleeting lust? Situational attraction? Seasonal relationships? He was familiar with those things. He’d never been tempted to extend the concept of whatever emotional contract he’d entered. He’d rarely even felt more than a flicker of discomfort, far from what he’d call jealousy, as he watched two of his closest friends finally stop ignoring their obvious affection for each other. Whenever Tinsley or Viveca, or Mitzi, expressed concern that he would never find love, he'd dismissed them—with varying degrees of politeness—because he wasn’t concerned. He didn’t care.
Then he’d watched a woman who looked more like the invaders he’d come to crush than the citizens he was meant to save planting her feet against those same invaders, weaponless, with nothing but unstable magic churning beneath her skin. She’d captivated him. He’d have burned that entire village to ash without a thought if she’d shed a single drop of blood, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind. It was why he’d decided to take her with them, and volunteered to train her, and why he had neglected to tell her she had already met the King’s standard.
She had mastered enough of her magic to be safe among the populace. As far as King Jensen was concerned, she had earned her citizenship. She could leave Aric’s estate and never look back without retribution. But he couldn’t let her go.
Aric watched her thread her magic through the air around her, tightening it closer with each round of meditation, and he knew if she did succeed in mastering this technique, he wouldn’t have a choice. He would have to tell her she was no longer obligated to stay with him. She wasn’t a fool. If she hadn’t remembered the King’s stipulation yet, she would eventually. When their friends found out how far she’d really come,theywould tell her. And they’d question his silence.
The only question he truly cared about in that instant, however, was whether or not Rochelle would stay close. Would she find somewhere in Emyr to settle or prefer to see more of Yafae? With her magical skill and a certification bearing his signature, she could do nearly anything.
Aric exhaled and dipped a hand into his pocket. Even if she mastered the technique that afternoon, she herself had made it clear she would stay for at least the duration of the mission. It seemed she already knew what she wanted of him. Which also piqued his interest, but he couldn’t let himself focus on it just yet. He’d given his word to Harald, and it was time to follow through.
“You’re doing well,” he said as his fingers closed on the Connector Stone in his pocket. “Take a short break. I need to make a call.” And just in case she was thinking of getting ambitious, he needed to not be distracted.
