The temple master inclined her head. “Are you truly all right?”
“I am. I would not have been able to stop that tremor if Jallina and Drez hadn’t been there.” I gasped and slapped a hand on my mouth. I hadn’t meant to say his name. I didn’t want to give him away.
A small laugh escaped Lunella. “Don’t worry, Kimber. No one is going to find out who they are from me. They are good people, and you are smart for asking them to report to you. Most of us here have long lost contact with loved ones and friends. We shouldn’t have, but—”
“Drez and Jallina are two of my and Elex’s oldest friends. I don’t feel right asking them for this, but at the same time, I don’t know how else to remain a part of the city.”
“You’re a smart woman, Kimber.” Lunella sat at the end of the infirmary bed. “Now. What in the name of the God’s green garden happened? Jallina kept saying you didn’t have enough power to use your magic.”
“I didn’t…” My forehead wrinkled. “It was the strangest thing. I could feel the magic, and I could feel what I needed to do, but the strength just wasn’t there. As soon as both Drez and Jallina connected with me, it was all there. I mean, do I need a booster or something? But how would I have been able to stop the other one early this week without help?”
Lunella cocked her head. “Jallina said you felt like you didn’t have power when she touched you.”
After I tossed the covers back, I swung my feet over the side of the bed. “I know that power and magic are different, but why wouldn’t I have enough power to use the magic? That doesn’t make sense—”
“After a massive expenditure of power, you have to restore your strength.” She handed me a robe and pair of slippers.
I put the slippers on the floor and slid my feet in. “No, I get that. And I’ve been taking care of myself. Healthy meals, plenty of rest, lots of fresh air—”
She twisted her head to look at me. “Sex.”
“What? Jallina said something about that too…”
“You can be starving and exhausted and suffocating, but if you’ve had sex recently, your power is strong.” Lunella’s eyes went wide. “Wait. You mean you don’t know your power in magic is fueled by sex?”
I stared at her, blank but confused. “What do you mean?”
Lunella scrubbed a hand down her face. “Your parents did you no favors by having you signed out of your defensive magic classes. You really don’t know the power and sex connection?”
“Apparently not…”
Looking around, Lunella shook her head. “Not here. Oh, gods, not here. We don’t need anyone to know you don’t know this. Let’s… let’s talk on the roof garden.”
She offered her hand, and I took it, pulling myself off the bed. I tugged the robe around me, and Lunella led me out of the infirmary through the dorms to a stairwell in the backmost corner of the building.
The roof garden still had morning dew on the plants. It was a glistening sight in the newly risen sun.
But Lunella led me away from the door. She aimed for a bench as far away from the entrance as we could get and finally sat down with me.
A quiet moment passed before she started to speak.
“Our ability to see magic is independent of our strength to use it. How much of the magic’s intrusion into our world you can see determines how strong youcanbe with the magic. From what Vitas has told me, you see everything painted with it, dripping and contoured with the colors. That you had to work to keep it away.”
I simply nodded.
With a pinch of the bridge of her nose, Lunella let out a sigh. “Your parents should never have pulled you from classes. There were things in there you needed to know. It’s the first place we gauge power and ability. Everyone in S’Kir has magic. It’s only to what degree that we need to know. Once you advance out of the placement classes, you are taught according to your potential ability. Your strength.
“Kimber, do you know why the advanced defense class is taught the last half of the last year of your secondary schooling?”
This time, I shook my head in the negative.
“Because we don’t want a bunch of undisciplined, untaught, untried, horny, hormonal teenagers fucking each other’s brains out through secondary school.”
I coughed. “Excuse me?”
“Your magic is inherent; your power comes from sex.” She drew her hand across the roof. “Why do you think we all pair up? Why do you think Elex was allowed to move in with you? Did you think Villea and Asterioth were Neves’ servants? Sex, Kimber. Without it, all we can do is little local things.”
A wave of dizziness swept over me. How had I never known this? No one had said a thing to me about having sex to increase my power in the magic.
