Dyna blushed from the praise. “It won’t do me much good during a fight. I don’t have true magic. I can’t perform spells.”
Lucenna smirked, shaking her head. “Essence Healingisa spell and a complex one at that. You’re Azeran’s descendant. Of course, you have magic. You’re a sorceress, Dyna.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that. Never had she identified as a sorceress. Her human genealogy had washed out the magic from her bloodline. Essence was all she had left, and it was minimal. That made her human, didn’t it?
“And you have wielded nothing else?”
Dyna glanced at the feather gleaming on the desk. “Only once. A wave of green fire that somehow burst out of me.”
“Essence Blast,” Lucenna said and motioned at the feather. “With that?”
“Yes.”
Lucenna leaned over to pick up the black plume, and it lit up with golden light at her touch. “You know, like crystals, Celestial feathers heighten power.” The sorceress tapped the feather on the back of Dyna’s hand, and the hum of her power rose to the surface, reacting to the powerful charge.
Even if the feather had multiplied her power enough to cause that spell, she wouldn’t experience it again without another one. It’s not as if she could ask Cassiel to supply them after his kind had been hunted and brutalized for their blood and feathers.
“Essence Healing is difficult for me,” she admitted. “I struggle to wield the little power I have. I feel a barrier that keeps it from growing.”
Lucenna searched her over. “I don’t see a barrier. Do you?”
Dyna made a face. She didn’t mean a literal one.
“Spells vary in complication by how much Essence and concentration is needed,” Lucenna said. “Essence Healing is one of the most complicated spells there is. If you can do that, then surely you can do more.”
Lucenna plucked one of the many books on her bedside table. It was a thin book with a leather blue covering. “Here. It’s a book of preliminary spells.”
An unexpected gift, one Dyna wasn’t sure she should accept. “Oh no, I couldn’t, possibly.”
“Don’t be silly. It’s rude to refuse.”
She hesitantly took it. “Thank you.”
“Start with levitation. That was the first spell I learned.”
“Levitation?” Dyna gaped. “That sounds too grand for me.”
“Nonsense. It’s easy.” Lucenna went to her desk and rummaged through the missives, returning with a wooden ball the size of an egg, and put it in Dyna’s hand. “Practice with this. I’ll teach you.”
The moon sigil of the Lunar Guild was engraved on the polished surface. Dyna traced the groove with her thumb, a ball of emotion swelling in her chest. She, at last, had someone to train her.
She swallowed, blinking away her tears. “You’re far too kind. I don’t know what to say.”
Lucenna nodded, her expression softening. “There are many like us who don’t know how to fight, but the power to do so is inside. You only need to find it.” She stood and gathered some clothing from a trunk at the foot of her bed. “May as well begin now.”
“Now? But wouldn’t we attract more Enforcers?”
Lucenna shook her head as she slipped behind the privacy screen. “I will cast a veil over the camp. It’s much more proficient than a cloaking spell and it will hide our presence in the mortal world. Though I don’t think we will have a problem. If you were a full-blooded sorceress, training this late in age would be dangerous. But your Essence is minimal, so it should be fine.”
Dyna curled her hands. If she didn’t have enough power to be dangerous, then any spell she cast wouldn’t amount to much.
“Mage children need to learn control of their Essence early, or it erupts with every tantrum. I, unfortunately, learned later than I was able.” Lucenna stepped out in a flowing black dress with transparent sleeves. “For what you’ve done for me, this is my debt repaid. Until the day we part, I’ll be sure that you learn more than one spell.”
Dyna grinned, excitement stirring in her. She caressed the embossed floral designs decorating the frame of the book. There must have been hundreds piled around the tent. Sorceresses weren’t allowed to read or write, let alone learn magic. It must have cost Lucenna a great deal to get these books. She was brave to go against the laws of her kingdom. Dyna wanted that, too. The bravery to defend herself and the strength to protect others.
In a year’s time, she would face the inevitable. The Shadow was coming, and she had to be ready.
Chapter 11
