“Adventure?”Cadmus looked from Aerolus to me.“What’s he talking about now?”
Unwilling to discuss Samantha with my brothers, I tried to shrug off the question.“He’s talking nonsense, as usual.Just like a certain sorcerer we know.”I turned to Aerolus.“You and Arim are way too much alike.Annoying and riddled with questions.”
Cadmus chuckled.“He’s got a point.Aerolus, you’re as closemouthed as a flatfish and full of sorcerer innuendo.”
I relaxed.The attention had shifted.
“Maybe so,” Aerolus conceded with a smile that immediately set me on the defensive.“But that still doesn’t explain Darius’s encounter with a certain woman last night, does it?”
Cadmus immediately switched focus.“So it’s a woman that has you breathing fire.”He shot me a sly look, overly curious.“Tell us about her.What does she look like?How does shefeel?”
I swallowed the rest of my coffee and poured another cup, doing my best to sound casual.“I had a run-in with an attractive woman last night, that’s all.And I have no idea how shefeels.”
She’d felt like fire, a combustible combination of honey and warmth that went much deeper than her sensual beauty.But seeing the curiosity on my brothers’ faces, I had no qualms about keeping Samantha to myself for a while.
Glaring at Aerolus, I snarled.“She’s a woman like any other.Keep out of my business.”
“Just curious.”
“How the hell did you know about her anyway?”
He flushed.“Arim mentioned her.”
His obvious discomfort made me more interested.I normally never sensed anything from my brother that Aerolus didn’t want me to see.
“Really?”I shot him a hard look.“Funny how much he shares with you and not the rest of us.”I paused.“Are you sure you aren’t experiencing more of Mother’s gifts than you’ve mentioned?”
“No, just the teleportation.”Aerolus glanced away, clearly uneasy.
As much as my brother annoyed me, I could sympathize.The more time I spent in this world, the more strange power seemed to course through me.
I’d always been able to channel heat and fire.But now I found myself possessed by an astonishing and not altogether welcome gift, one no doubt inherited from our mother’s and Arim’s side of the family.
“We’ve all experienced some odd bursts of power since coming here.”Cadmus ran a hand through his hair.“It was my ability to foretell those numbers that allows us to live here comfortably.Who knew six numbers could grant such prosperity?”He grimaced.“Imagine Tanselm having a lottery.A waste of wealth on the lucky.”
“And yet without that wealth, we’d still be living in the woods.”Aerolus took a long swallow of coffee.“Not the best place to find a mate.”He paused.“Remember what Arim said before we left.‘And there you will also find that the blood of your mother runs strong in you.’Now that we know Mother and Arim are related, it’s clear where her abilities come from.She’s a sorceress, just as powerful as Father was a Storm Lord, I’d imagine,” he said more to himself than the rest of us.
“Tell us something we don’t know.”I really should have waited another hour before rising.Cadmus could be a pain in the ass, but when Aerolus grew introspective, it gave me a headache.
“Think about it,” Aerolus continued, making me groan.“Cadmus foretold the winning lottery numbers.I can teleport in growing distances.And Marcus has been moving objects with his mind.”
“He has?”I hadn’t known that.
“I’ve seen him practicing when he didn’t know I was watching.”Aerolus and Cadmus turned as one to me.“Which brings us to you.What more can you do than control fire?”
Despite being born a full minute after me and Marcus, and scant seconds before Cadmus, Aerolus tended to take charge in a subtle way that reminded me of our father.
“I’m not sure, exactly,” I hedged, not comfortable with the amount of change I’d experienced since Father’s death last year.Most of the changes had occurred externally—our kin’s murders, learning of our relation to Arim, the Netharat attack.
But this new ability resided withinme.
“We’re waiting.”Aerolus waited with patience.
Throwing him a scowl, I muttered, “I think I can sense another’s thoughts.”
Cadmus stared.“You’re kidding.”He blanked his face.“What am I thinking now?”
“I really can’t take much more of this.”I rubbed my eyes, needing more coffee.“I can’t read you, Cadmus.Or Aerolus or Marcus.Not that I’ve tried very hard.”When I saw neither brother losing interest, I uttered a low curse of defeat.“Sometimes at the bar I hear things.”
