“Then how did you know my name meant guardian’s gift?” I asked.
Brenton chuckled. “It’s part of a song each youngling must learn. The song speaks of a female chosen by fate who would be a gift from the Guardians.”
“Like a prophecy?” I asked but held up a hand before hecould reply. “We’re going with yes, because obviously I’m the chosen one from this prophecy.”
“I think you should do something about your mate,” Brenton mock-whispered. “She’s gone insane.”
I pushed him.
“She’s your sister,” Elias said. “You do something.”
I pulled his hair.
“So magical names for the boys,” I said.
Elias crawled to the table at the side of the couch and handed me the living book. With his arm around me, he sat on the couch on my other side.
“Ask your book and see if it gives us anything,” Elias said.
With the book closed on my lap, I rested a hand on the cover. Power radiated from it, warming my palm and sending goosebumps across my flesh.
Can you give me boy names that have a magical meaning?I thought.Good magic.
That same power sizzled, spreading from my palm to my arms and then chest. Eager anticipation filled me, and after grabbing Elias’s hand, I opened it.
He jolted, his eyes wide on our joined hand. “I think”—he laughed—“I can feel the magic from the book. It’s warm, right?”
I bit my bottom lip. “Yeah.”
He rubbed his chest. “Incredible.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
When words started to appear on the empty pages, both Elias and Brenton leaned closer to look.
Elias tapped a name. “Alastor. It means defender.”
It suited my cousin. I wondered if he knew the meaning of his name.
“Caspian.” Elias pointed out another name, which meant white magic.
“I like that one,” I said.
“We can call him Cas for short,” Brenton said. “Look, Easton. It means magical healer.”
“I like that one, too.”
I laughed when I readLoki.When Elias and Brenton both looked at me confused, I shook my head. “You’ve never heard of the Norse god of mischief? There’s a whole series of movies with him in it. He was everyone’s favorite villain.”
“Sorry, Ted, you’re alone on that one.”
“Get us the internet, and we can spend an entire weekend binge-watching all the movies,” I said.
“Did you understand anything she just said?” Brenton asked Elias.
“Not a word,” Elias replied.
Jerks. They were both jerks.
