Page 18 of Raven in Midwinter

“Of course,” I answered softly. “James and Cass are my family.”

“Maybe send the flame to check,” Lorne offered. “You look a bit worn out yourself.”

I shook my head. “I’m fine.”

“You had a curse on you that you were fighting with, and then you performed a banishing, touching a ghost in the process, so maybe you take my suggestion this once?”

I squinted at him. “When don’t I follow your suggestions?”

He got up, crossed the floor to where I was, relieved me of my plate, passing it to James, then took my hands in his. Instantly, warmth and calm rolled through me. “Do me a favor this time, will ya?” His dark eyes made my heart flutter.

“Okay.”

He bent and kissed me, and it was so light, merely a brush of his lips, but still, I felt the craving in me to be alone with him.

When he stepped back, I held out my hand, palm up, and it was immediately filled with flame.

“Incredible,” Stafford whispered.

I then spoke to the elemental magic that always flowed through me. “Find any threat that dwells here,” I bid the flame.

Balls of fire left my hand one after another, and when I glanced around the room, everyone was focused on me. I also noticed that Brett had his phone pointed at me. I waved for good measure, and after a moment, he scowled.

“You can’t record Xan’s magic,” Cass explained to him. “You should have asked me. I would have told you nothing shows up.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “Because it’s magic.”

“The door is closed upstairs,” Willa said. “Will that stop the flame?”

“No,” I assured her as the fire balls returned to my hand, one by one.

“See? Nothing else amiss,” Lorne stated.

But they hadn’t all returned, and I was certain not because I counted them, but because I could feel the absence. And the one I was missing wasn’t far. It wasn’t up on the second floor; it was closer than that.

Walking out into the hall, I saw one flame hovering in front of the large hall mirror. It was a beautiful piece James used to have hanging over the fireplace in the living room but had moved not too long ago to make room for an enormous wagon wheel. The latter wasn’t my thing, but neither was I an arbiter of good taste. Everything I liked was decidedly ancient.

But now, one of my flames was hovering in front of the mirror. Moving quickly, once I looked from the flame to the reflection, I immediately saw the problem. There was none.

“Huh,” I muttered, not pleased in the least.

“What the hell, Xan?” Lorne rasped, right there at my shoulder.

“Not…sure,” I answered haltingly, walking over and not seeing myself at all. “Keep everyone in the living room. This will freak them out.”

“I’m thinking after seeing a ghost, this will be pretty tame.”

“I dunno about that.”

“Why’re you not freaking out?”

“Because these are things to be investigated, right? There must be a why, so figuring that out is the most important thing at the moment.”

“I love that magic never scares you.”

“But I was raised in this, so I’m used to it.”