Please. You are not complete. There is more you are due. Wait for it…
The trembling slowed as I pulled on the strings again. I didn’t want to pop anymore because I had to reverse them.
One more tug and everything settled.
“Don’t let go yet.” Master Dorian whispered in my hair.
“Not yet,” the twins chorused. “Take the power, fix the strings.”
I was shaking, my arms and legs felt like jelly. I used the power flowing through the three of them and spun the strings like wool, back into shape. It took me twice as long to recreate them.
Wouldn’t do that again.
“Beautiful, Kimber.” Master Dorian’s words were next to my ear. “I want to see you really use your magic.”
“Please, let me…”
“No,” Rilen said. “We trust you—”
“—but we do not trust him.”
Master Dorian was in my other ear. “You need power. You will have power.”
I knew the instant he slipped his hands out of the twins’ hands.
I passed out.
* * *
I feared for Elex.
He didn’t come home that night or the next.
Scenarios played through my head of where he was, what was going to happen.
Master Dorian’s scowl followed me through the days. When I saw him, his frowned deepened.
Worse, though, were Rilen’s and Roran’s faces. They were angry. They weren’t interacting with me, either. Once they saw me, they would turn and walk away, whether they were alone or together.
“They’re angry and rightfully so.” Lunella placed the dish of food in front of me.
I studied the plate. Meats, cheese, veggies, and crackers. I sighed. “No one has any right to be as angry as I am, and I am not angry. I’m frightened.”
“Frightened?” Lunella was taken back.
“Yes. Elex is not only a man I could mate with if I chose to, he’s not only the man I sleep with, but he’s one of my oldest and dearest friends. I’m positively petrified that one of those three is going to do something hot-headed, and I shudder to think if the three of them got together.”
Lunella placed her fork next to the plate and folded her hands.
This was going to be bad.
“You should not fear for him. You should be as angry as the rest of us are.”
“I’m not used to having my sex life discussed as a public point of order.”
She leaned forward. “You think we enjoy this? Badgering you about getting some dick? We are not used to having a sex life on display. You know damn well that we prefer to keep our relations behind closed doors.”
“I am afraid they are going to hurt him.”
