Nadia nodded. “Good. I’m going to remove the bracelet now, and I want you to reach out to Giles and try weaving it over him.”
Her gaze moved to the male. “Are you sure?”
He replied, “Yes. If I feel anything, I’ll let you know.”
Nadia spoke again. “Since you have the secondary power of persuasion, today I want you to silently weave your magical net over him. We just want to judge your main power for today, and we can address the persuasion later.” She placed her fingers over the bracelet. “Ready?”
She wanted to scream no, she wasn’t. However, Meadow had been a coward for far too long, out of necessity, and she was determined to be braver about her magic going forward. “Yes.”
“Right, then let’s see what happens.”
Nadia quickly removed her bracelet, and Meadow focused on Giles. In the past, she’d just roughly aimed her magic at the individuals who’d paid her. However, she wanted to try using more skill and finesse this time. So she slowly imagined threadsof her magic flowing over to Giles, laying down over him, bit by bit, in a crosshatch pattern.
However, she’d barely gotten halfway through the task when Giles’s eyes changed, zeroing in on her and then Nadia. He took a step forward before closing his eyes and putting his hands to his head. His voice was strained as he said, “Stop. You must stop, or I’ll do something horrible.”
As he took another step toward them, Nadia slid Meadow’s bracelet on, and Giles dropped to his knees on the floor. Bracing his hands on the carpet, he breathed heavily.
Meadow stared in horror as Nadia rushed to his side and asked, “Are you okay, Giles? What happened?”
But before he said anything, Meadow understood. Her magic had been strong enough to influence one of the most magic-resistant beings on the planet.
She was not merely a fae witch with magic; she held one of the highest tiers—a Wielder.
A Wielder of Lust and Desire.
How could she ever learn to contain it?
Maybe she never would.
Her eyes heated with tears. It’d been foolish to hope she could be normal.
After placing a hand over her training bracelet, she stood. “I’m sorry. So, so sorry.”
And then she rushed out of the room. Because no doubt, Giles and Nadia would look at her differently, say she couldn’t be trained, and that she was a freak.
Just like her father had always said, when she’d hidden away rather than use her magic as he’d asked her to do.
A few tears rolled down her cheeks as she rushed up the stairs to her room. Once inside, she shut and locked the door before sitting on the floor. She placed her head on her knees and cried.
Most fae witches would be ecstatic to have magic strong enough to influence anyone.
But to Meadow, it was her worst nightmare.
Because if she couldn’t control it, she could be locked away. No doubt this time period had similar magical prisons for those with powerful-yet-unrestrained magic.
Yes, a bracelet could contain it. However, it was easy enough to slip off or be stolen.
Maybe this had been her chance, and now Dark Lord Khan would deem her too much work and lock her away.
She played out every worst-case scenario, and even though River and Nora tried to talk to her at some point, she told them to leave her alone.
For now, at least, she wanted to be by herself, wearing the training bracelet, and not worrying that she’d influence anyone to do something they didn’t want to.
Chapter Fourteen
Later that day, Laurie stood with Joseph outside Meadow’s bedroom.
Nora had written to him a few hours ago, explaining what had happened during Meadow’s training session.
