I groaned. “Unbearable too.”
“And yet.” He took another step forward until the space between us evaporated. “You’re still here.”
I felt his nearness in every nerve, the warmth of him, the faint hum of his magic in the air between us.
Pherin’s mind brushed mine again, bright with fierce affection, plus a subtle little push of something that might’ve been approval.
I blinked. “Are you… Did you…”
Trew’s eyes lit with amusement. “What?”
“Nothing.” But I was pretty sure my minxpip had just given her opinion on my choice of company. And…I didn’t mind that one bit.
The change was instant.
One moment, my magic was the usual sluggish ember, warm enough to exist but not enough to matter. The next, it roared up my spine like a flame on oil, hot and startling, racing to my fingertips before I had a chance to aim it.
The weighted ball on the mat didn’t only wobble this time. Itshot sideways and hit the wall with a sharpthump, nearly toppling the rack of practice staves above it.
I stumbled with the force of it, but Trew’s hand shot out, gripping my elbow. His magic brushed mine in the contact, a steadying heat, like a palm pressed to the small of my back.
“Easy,” he whispered. I felt it more than heard it.
I exhaled, my pulse pounding.What the hell was that?
Pherin’s mental voice drifted through me in a warm hum of satisfaction, holding a thread of something that felt suspiciously likefinally.
Trew stepped back, but he didn’t take his eyes off me. “Again.”
This time, I managed to pull the magic up without it exploding out of me. The ball lifted, shaky, uneven, but it rose into the air. I set my jaw and tried to steer it toward the far wall and promptly dropped it with a heavy thunk.
Gavelle released another crackling sound.
“Don’t,” I muttered up at him.
Trew was grinning again. “Progress, if you can call it that.”
I narrowed my eyes and tried again. And again. By the fourth attempt, the ball skimmed across the mat and nudged the wall before plopping down.
That earned me a small nod. From him, it was basically applause.
“Not bad, Minx,” he said, retrieving the ball and taking a second from the cabinet. “Let’s see what happens when you have to divide your focus.” The balls hit the mat with muffled thuds. “Move them both.”
I inhaled, pulled at my magic, and the two balls jerked in opposite directions like they were trying to escape me. I wrangled them halfway to the wall before one smacked into the other and both rolled away.
Trew chuckled. “Coordination. We’ll work on it.”
Pherin gave a little chirp in my ear that somehow translated tokeep going.
It wasn’t just my magic that was faster now. When Trewswitched us to a sparring drill, my reflexes felt sharper, my dodges cleaner. Twice, I caught the flicker of his movement out of the corner of my eye and was already shifting before his strike landed.
“Amazing.” He circled me, a wooden practice staff in his hands. “You’re definitely faster. It could be Pherin’s influence.”
She peeped.
“Or maybe I’m better than you thought,” I said.
He smirked. “Maybe.”
