“That’s what I want to try and do today.” Eira shifted, crossing her legs and resting her hands on her knees. “I wouldn’t risk trying to close your channel.”
“Thanks for that.” He grinned slightly, looking far too handsome for Eira’s own good. Attraction was in the little things. More than grand gestures, or well-tailored clothes, it was the way he smiled or how he situated his hands in his lap that would do her in.
“It’d make the competition difficult if we were down a man.” Meru already was; she didn’t want to be as well. “I think the best way to test this is if you do something sustained with your magic. Then I can feel out your power—your channel—and hopefully widen it, making it easier to do whatever that sustained thing is.”
“What should I do?”
“Something you think you could do for a long time. I doubt I’m going to get this right the first try, or ten.”
Cullen undid the laces on his boot, pulling it off. He held it out and uncurled his fingers. The boot levitated in the air.
“Will this work?”
“It should.” Eira focused on his hand. “Just hold it there for as long as you can. Try not to change its height or distance from your hand.”
“Will do.”
She reached out with her magic, much like she did when looking for echoes. It had been a few days since she last tried to feel the subtle shifts in the magical currents that the whole world was made up of and it showed. She couldn’t seem to find those threads of power.
Eira cursed under her breath after about an hour of trying.
“You’re doing great,” Cullen encouraged. The boot was hovering, albeit a little lower than it had been initially. He must be getting tired.
“I am not.” She shifted, adjusting her feet. One had fallen asleep and now prickled painfully. Eira massaged it, trying to work out her frustrations at the same time. “What if whatever power I uncovered is gone? Or what if it was never there and I onlythoughtit was out of desperation?”
“I doubt either is true. You know yourself and your magic better than most sorcerers.” Cullen relaxed his magic, catching the boot and leaning back. “That’s how you can hear all those echoes. You’re more in tune with small changes in magic than any other sorcerer I’ve ever known. If anyone can manipulate channels, for better or worse, it’ll be you.”
“You have so much faith in me.” And that confidence was like a blanket enveloping her in warmth and safety.
“Of course I do.” He beamed, his whole face lighting up as bright as a sunrise. “I lov—” That light dimmed, slowly and completely. His expression sank like her heart. “I love having the opportunity to see you grow.”
I love you. That’s what he was originally going to say. Eira smiled faintly, hoping that with a single expression she couldconvey her gratitude to him that he was also trying. Slowly, they would figure things out between them. They would force their love to die, but maybe it could enrich the soil for something new to bloom.
Hopefully something less painful.
“Thank you.” She tucked some hair behind her ear. “Let’s try again.”
Cullen uncurled his fingers from the sole of the boot and it levitated once more. “Ready when you are.”
Eira resumed, this time slower, calmer. If she wanted to feel the currents of others’ magic then she had to be placid. To find the currents, she had to have none herself.
She closed her eyes and tried to banish all thought. Perhaps the best thing to do to find something was to stop looking for it. Once she was focused on nothing, then she should feel the ripples of his magic, right?
“Don’t go to sleep on me.”
“I’m not.” She opened one eye.
Cullen laughed. “You sure this isn’t your way of sneaking in a nap while everyone else is working on their magic?”
“Ha.Ha. Very funny.” Eira stuck out her tongue. Just before she closed her eye again she saw him smile. It was one of the most easy and genuine smiles she’d seen from him in a long time. Her heart skipped a beat. This was her favorite version of Cullen, the quiet and confident man she knew from stolen moments and solitary hours spent together. “Now stop talking. I’m trying to focus.”
“I’ll be quiet,” he said, then added with a mumble, “so you can take your nap.”
“I can still hear you, you know.”
He snickered.
“Actually…” Eira shifted slightly closer to him. His eyes were locked on her in an instant. Confused. Eager. She reached outwith trembling fingers, cupping her hands and holding them just under his, grasping the boot. “May I?”
