The force that pushed me, the sensation coursing through every cell of my being, throbbing and awakening every inch of me was my Devenish magic. A living, breathing, pulsing force inside me. I finally understood. I felt it guiding me forwards.
“Yes!” Raithian shouted from the ground. “That is it, Braxton. Do not stop!” Elation captured him and he continued firing ball after ball of energy my way.
As the stairs of light continued to take me farther, I whirled in the air, using the momentum to send a few flaming balls of my own his way.
“Granddaddy used to call it setting an intention…”
Mom’s words swept through me then, stirring recognition. It was an intention. A plea for help. Finally set free, my magic transformed into what it anticipated I wanted, needed, required. It was indeed my ally, not a thing I could wield, but a force deciding how to best aid me.
I’d needed to go higher so that is where it took me. I’d wished to blow the daggers out of my way and that was exactly what it gave me. I wanted to obliterate Raithian’s blasts of energy…
The green and golden spheres crashed against each other in the air, exploding into a thousand sparks that rained onto the lake, fizzling when they touched the water. Its shimmering sight almost reminded me of fireworks.
“Keep going!” Raithian encouraged from below. “You can do this!”
Pure exhilaration rushed through my being, and careless laughter burst out of me. For a moment, even if only a split second, it wasn’t the Dragon Master against the Warlock King. Not me against my enemy. It was just me, Braxton, learning from my teacher… and everything else faded away.
Pumping with adrenaline, I jumped down from the light-steps, dropping and rolling onto the sand.
“Not bad for your first time,” he praised, a certain pride exuding from his voice as he extended a hand to me. His eyes gleamed with the same excitement coursing through my veins, and a sincere smile tilted his mouth.
“Thanks.” I took his hand, letting him help me to my feet, and the energy sizzled between us. Startled, I tried to pull away, but Raithian grasped me firmly.
Blinking, he watched our magic dance together along our skin, recognizing each other, and then glanced up at me. “Why do you feel so familiar?”
Unable to answer—for so many reasons—I just looked at him, finding a troubled expression taking over his features. For a moment, his eyes fell closed, and he held my hand much tighter,feelingme.
I yanked it away. “I don’t know.”
Letting out a deep sigh, he nodded, though a certain longing seemed to slither through his eyes, like he’d sensed something just now that he hadn’t sensed in a long time.
“What now?” I asked, trying to pull his attention to something else.
The tip of his staff unexpectedly touched my chest, and a blast of energy went through me, propelling me back until I crashed on my ass on the shore’s edge. Cold water seeped into my pants, and into areas that should never be this wet or cold.
“What the hell was that for?!” I demanded, standing, and glancing at my chest. “You could have kill—” A severe frown stopped my words. I half expected to find a hole with blood and gross things hanging out that my healing magic would desperately be trying to heal, but my chest was perfectly smooth. Not even a scratch could be seen on my skin. “What the hell?”
“You hit me, I hit you,” he explained, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“But why didn’t that—?”
“Incinerate you?”
“Well, yeah.”
Carefree laughter burst out of him. “As long as you are my apprentice, I cannot harm you. ‘I vow not to harm, hinder, use…’”he repeated the beginning of our vow, waving a finger with each recited word.“We have a magical contract, Braxton. My attacks can reach you but they—”
“Can’t injure me,” I finished for him, and he nodded.
“Neither can yours hurt me…WhileI’m training you,” he emphasized, reminding me that the second this pact between us was over, he would use every ounce of power he had to burn me into a crisp,andhe would enjoy it.
“You should have told me that before we started sparring,” I protested, squeezing the water out of my trousers.
Waving a lazy finger towards my pants the Warlock dried them instantly, leaving me good as new.
“Without the fear of danger, you would not have accomplished any of this.” He gestured to the aftermath, and my gut constricted at the sight of the half-destroyed lake. “You were trapped in your own mind. Restrained by the idea of what you thought magic should be, and how youshouldcontrol it. Wizard magic is not to be wielded; it must—”
“Be felt,” I finished the statement, and he arched a brow at me, pleased by my answer.
