“Really? You might want to think about those words again before you accost your apprentice in front ofan open portal!” Clovicus snarled. “You’re lucky Lazare is as blind as a bat, and Lovelana was preoccupied with testing the crystals’magic!”
“I’m more affectionate with her than I should be,” Evariste said. “But with everything she’s gone through, she deserves it. Yes, she’s quite important to me. But it’s notlove.”
Clovicus snorted and elbowedhim.
“Or at the very least, I’m not going to act on it for a while,” Evaristeadmitted.
Really, he wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about Angelique, but he knew he wanted more, just as he was aware that it wasn’t the proper time.She’s also not ready, which is the true wall in this…relationship.
“There’s the honest admission,” Clovicus grunted. “And good—you’d be adogif you wooed this girl while she is under your tutelage, no matter how small the age difference is between youtwo.”
“She needs time to come into her own power,” Evariste said. “Luckily, as I am an enchanter and she an enchantress, we’ll havecenturies.”
Clovicus grunted. “You take it for granted she’ll love youback?”
Evariste raised an eyebrow at his teacher. “You doubtmyability to wooher?”
“Yes,” Clovicus said. “Because she seems as interested in romance as a cactusis.”
Evariste slowed from the almost-jog to a walk, so he could look back atAngelique.
His student stood in the middle of the circle, her arms clasped behind her back as she peered into thegorge.
“She may be,” Evariste admitted. “But that’s a problem for after she makesEnchantress.”
“Sure,” Clovicus said. “But you had best get moving again. Lovelana stopped Lazare, but if we don’t catch up, he’ll start walking again. And you can bet if his heart gives out and he croaks, someone will find a way to paint it as a badomen.”
Evariste rolled his eyes. “He’s not going to die,” he said. All the same, he resumed jogging and slowly spedup.
We need to get this evaluation going—before Angelique is given too much time to ponderit.
* * *
Angelique was faintlyaware of the twinge of magic that registered when Evariste opened aportal.
She glanced up the nearest mountain and scanned its rockyslopes.
There.
Faintly—halfway up the mountain—Angelique could see the blue glow of the portal where Evariste and the other enchanters wouldexit.
Angelique closed her eyes as the portal was snuffed out—closed by Evariste. She tried to calm her frantically beating heart and ignored the siren call of hermagic.
Her magic had surfaced from the deep recesses she shoved it in. Whether it was the crystals or her wild emotions that brought it up, Angelique was not thrilled to feel the cold and sharp sensation it brought as it wound aroundher.
(Of course, if Evariste was with her, he’d be telling her this is how it wassupposedto be all thetime!)
She clenched her teeth, and her fists shook as she kept herself from shoving it back down.I’m better off not wasting my energy when I’ll have to let it outshortly.
Abruptly, the rock beneath Angelique’s feet began to glowgreen.
It took her a moment to realize that the green light—the same shade as the jade rocks—traced out a crest. She had expected it to be that of the Veneno Conclave, but instead it was the image of two dragons fighting with the sun betweenthem.
I guess even this testing practice must predate theConclave.
Angelique swallowed, squared her shoulders, then reluctantly extended her hand to hermagic.
It slammed into her with enough enthusiasm to make her grimace. Nervous, she eased off on the amount she channeled from deep within her. Once she was happy with the speed and amount, she let her power flow through her and start to fill the gorge with streams of raw, silver-coloredmagic.
