He ignored her question. “What are you?”
“A low-level mage just trying to survive.” A tiny thread of power ignited inside the stone.Please work, please work, please work...
“No, not a mage. I would be able to sense your wild magic.”
Wynn didn’t have to pretend her annoyance at the mention of her inability to create her own spells.
“I already admitted I was low level. Yeesh. Want a little salt to rub into the wound?”
“I didn’t say you aren’t blessed with magic. But it doesn’t flow in your veins. And you don’t have the scent of a mage.”
Wynn focused on the thread connecting the stone in her hand to the one she’d placed several blocks away.
“Then what is my scent?”
His nostrils flared, as if he were absorbing her very essence. “Old. And...” The misty smoke in the strange eyes swirled, as if he’d been caught off guard. “What have you done?”
Wynn licked her lips, continuing to tug on the thread of magic even as she studied the dangerously addictive male.
“Do you recognize it?”
“That has yet to be determined.”
“What do you mean?”
“Where do you come from?”
Wynn hissed in frustration. “I asked you a question. Do you recognize the magic?”
His lips pulled into a taunting smile, the flames coating his fingers suddenly charring the shield in a silent warning.
“Let’s get one thing straight, Wynn. I’m the one asking the questions, and you’re the one answering them. Now tell me where you come from.”
Wynn rolled her eyes. Okay, so much for her brief hope he could give her the answers she so desperately wanted. Gorgeous or not, he was just another male spewing out orders like he ruled the world. Time to bounce.
“You want my life story? Fine. I was born on a small island in the South Pacific.” She launched into one of her well-rehearsed stories, focusing her concentration on connecting the thread of magic from one stone to the other. “My mother was the local medicine woman.”
“Medicine woman?”
“Yes, she was a great healer who was adored by our entire village, but we were forced to flee after a volcano destroyed our home. Since then I’ve been doing whatever necessary to provide for my family.”
His jaw tightened. “Have you always had this power?”
“Not when I was a child. It only emerged after the eruption of the volcano. You see, we were surrounded by lava and I had to lead my family into a nearby cave to survive. When I woke up we’d been miraculously protected.”
“Protected by what?”
“I don’t know. I think there was magic in the cave and it followed me when I fled the island.”
“What does it do?”
“Nothing. I know it’s there, but it doesn’t help.”
His dark, heavy brows furrowed. He didn’t like her answers. Tough luck.
“When did this supposed volcano erupt?”
“A few years ago.”
