“And me.” Jax butted in as he came into the room.
“Quite a court you’ve formed, Chubby Cheeks.”
Maggie tried to turn to look at me. “Chubby Cheeks?That’s better than Rat Faced Pickle Pants. I’ll have to remember that one.”
“I leaned out as a teenager.” I huffed out a breath. “Thanks, Yaya.”
“Anytime.” She smiled at me with more affection than I had been given in many months and took ahold of Maggie’s wrist.
Yaya pulled slowly, testing me to see if I would let her go. Of course I could. I would loosen–I looked down–my claws, and Maggie would stand right next to me. Thankthe Godds she did when Yaya drew her loose, an evil grin on the old woman’s face.
The smile turned downright motherly for Maggie. “Go ahead. Wipe his mind of the past day.”
Yaya loved tests. She used the same innocent tone with me during our hours of lessons together. She told me it made the bitter work go down easier.
“I only remember half of the ‘forget-me-not’ sigil.” Maggie looked uncertain and I wanted to snatch her back to me.
“This one?” Yaya drew something in the air.
How did she know witch magic? Granted, she had been alive for a very, very long time, but she never told me that. She winked at me so I must have had my mouth open.
“That’s it,” Maggie said. “But I don’t have enough power for that.”
“Don’t you?” Yaya asked.
I resisted the urge to pour all mine through the bond. Maggie had to do this herself. Pumpkin pulled a smoky quartz out of that pouch of hers and I felt my body tingle with awakening magic.
“This can’t do it on its own.”
Yaya nodded. “You’re right,” she said with warmth.
Maggie opened her stance in a way she never had for me. And I was so attuned to every way she held herself, I noticed.
“But maybe I can channel my power throughit?”
I almost screamedGOOD GIRLand ruined the moment. Maggie’s power licked the air. The inkiness of her fingertips pulsed darker.
“Try it out,” Yaya said.
Maggie clutched the smoky quartz like it insulted her and drew the sigil across the man’s chest with it. Magic flared across the Elf’s body and I had to shadow shield the rest of us from being consumed by Maggie’s spell.
“Excellent.” Yaya clapped her hands. “Clumsy, but you did it correctly. You just need some practice.” She turned to Jax. “Strapping young fellow. Would you be so kind as to dump poor Aimon about two miles down the road? He can make his way back to the palace from there.”
Jax grumbled before Maggie slipped him some gold talons. I squinted. Were those mine? Maggie’s innocent face said ‘yes’. Jax did as he was told and I warmed to someone who actually followed orders, even if it was for gold.
“Thank you, youngling.” Yaya drew us into the kitchen. “Let’s have a bite and we can chat while he deals with that.”
We sat at the large, scarred kitchen table. The one piece completely at odds with the rest of the mansion. She claimed it was from her first house. So I wasn’t sure how the thing hadn’t rotted to dust, but Yaya had her ways.
“So what have you been up to, Chubby Cheeks?” She assessed my face as she placed some dainty dishes infront of us. “Noth. Sorry. I know you’re not my little one anymore.”
“This one,” I pointed to Maggie, “has kept me busy with her assassination attempts.”
Yaya looked at her with more fondness than was reasonable for just having met her. “That’s adorable.”
“You’re all crazy,” Maggie grumbled.
“Wait, you’re serious?” Her concerned look was more for Maggie than for me as she returned to the counter. “Let me just warm this up. It’s better warm.”
