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I laughed. “I’m sure you’ve picked up on it, but Oren is a bit tight-laced.”
Her tone was dry as a desert. “You don’t say.”
“That tends to lead into some perfectionist tendencies coupled with anxiety. From what I understand, he was just perpetually afraid of saying something that’d ruin everything with you. Last I talked to him, he was pretty sure his impromptu kiss did just that.”
“Huh.”
Darla’s tone was non-committal, so I decided to just go for it.
“He thinks you’re out of his league.”
Both of her eyebrows shot up, but she didn’t say anything, or at least she didn’t for a long moment. When she finally did, however, a small grin graced her pleasant face.
“You’re not a half-bad wingman, Prince Nikolai.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Please don’t call me that.”
“Right. Sorry. Thank you for the perspective, Captain. I’ll talk to Oren. Maybe we can have a conversation for once.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I was happy I’d done a solid for my best friend, but I still didn’t know where my mate was. “By the way, where exactly—”
“She’s in the library closest to us,” Darla said with a chuckle. “We were supposed to go shopping for clothes together, but after our little conversation in the study, she just wasn’t up for it.”
“Nothing bad happened after I left, did it?” I said, a dozen and one awful possibilities rapidly dashing through my head.
“No, no. Believe it or not, her usual frosty demeanor is working wonders here. Way more effective than it was back at Canid.”
Well, at least there was that.
“All right, thanks, Darla.”
“No problem, Captain. For what it’s worth, I’m rooting for the both of you.”
I smiled softly at the psychic. She wasn’t quite my friend, as we hadn’t associated much outside of our journey to get Ayla’s relic, but I could see us getting there. More importantly, she cared deeply about my mate. “Thanks, Darla.”
We shared a look of camaraderie, then I pushed myself away from her doorframe in search of Ayla.
Chapter 11
Ayla
“Magical Theories of the Western Tropics,” I read, pulling an interesting looking tome off the shelf. It didn’t send a cloud of dust in my face, but there was enough detritus in the air that I erupted in a sneeze. “All right, we’ll try one.”
I’d been in the library ever since I’d rain checked Darla, and I was having a lot more fun than I’d ever expected to. Most of the books about magic were based on the druid schools of thought, and it was all still incredibly fascinating.
Despite the issues I’d had with my coven, I always enjoyed how no one tried to keep any knowledge from me. If I had questions, they’d answer them, and when they weren’t familiar with the particular school of magic, they’d answer honestly if they didn’t know and could find out.
I missed working at the fort. No one was withholding information from me there. I could always speak with the other magic users stationed there, ask to borrow any of their books, and considering how much I had to avoid interacting with anyone, those conversations were few and far between.
As I settled into my chair, I cracked open the book. I’d been wanting to broaden my horizons anyway, so what better time to sit around and read? I felt like I’d focused so much on healingto atone for all the damage my curse did that I’d pigeonholed myself, as if my own magic resented me for channeling it in such a specific way… like the potential wassmothered.
That was the funny thing about witch magic. It wasn’t elemental, like dryads or nymphs. It wasn’t based in the blessings of deities or spirits, like some druids, shamans, or other spiritual magic users. It wasn’t celestial. It wasn’t based in death. It justwas.
Tabit best explained it to me was when I was just a little thing before she truly hated me. She’d said witch magic was the closest thing to pure energy. The wielder decided how it was channeled, and its only limit was the mind behind it and their ability to withstand the raw power.
When it came down to facing off against the Shrouded Shriek again, I didn’t think my healing would take me that far. I’d caught him by surprise last time, allowing Kai and me to get away, but I didn’t count on it happening again.
We also had no idea where he disappeared to after the fight at Fort Canid. As far as anyone could tell, he’d vanished as soon as I’d gotten the relic to accept the new trifold of spells. It made me nervous, especially since I was on his magical radar, and I wished I could just sink back into the anonymity of my earlier life, but that door had long since closed.
