The Last Hope

25 - Wolf

SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER - Running with the Wolves, Aurora. Linked above! If you enjoy the chapter please vote, it means a lot. Also, I actively encourage commenting and am trying my best to reply to any as quickly as I can. Want a chat? Don't be shy!

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"Concentrate!"

"I am concentrating!"

"No, you're not, you're wondering about your friends - if they're worried about you."

"I've been asleep for two days! Of course I'm worried about them!" Mercy threw her hands up in the air. After she'd stuffed her face with sugary pop tarts, Sebastian had shoved the sofa against the back wall with barely a nudge - the whole, heavy-looking sofa - and set up a candle on the floor. He had gestured for her to sit, and she did, folding her legs beneath her and sinking to the cold floor, but not without an eye roll first. Sebastian had looked at her blandly.

She cocked her head to one side, "hang on - can you read my mind?" Mercy asked pointedly, eyeing him across the room. He had elected to sit as far away as he possibly could, his back resting against the wooden wall with the family photos, besides the fireplace. Mercy had backed up too until she'd been resting against the couch. Even though he'd offered to help, she didn't trust him. She wanted as much physical distance between them as possible.

"All of your emotions flit across your face - that's not a good trait for a Queen." He sat with one knee pulled up to his chest, his elbow dangling atop it. His other leg stretched out before him. Even in his strange clothes - he was wearing an old-fashioned black tunic that laced up at the neck - he looked like he could be in some trendy ad. Mercy narrowed her eyes at him, she hadn't missed that he'd avoided the question. "Yeah well, at least I don't hide them all behind that infuriating smirk."

At that, the smirk reappeared. He shifted forward, ever so slightly, "infuriating?"

Mercy clenched her jaw, feeling her teeth grind together, "Yes. It's really annoying."

His eyes glittered like gems, "you want to wipe it off my face?"

"More than anything." Mercy narrowed her eyes at him.

"Then concentrate."

"Ugh!" She glared unflinchingly. He looked unbothered and tipped his chin toward the candle, and then rested his head back against the wall. He peered at her through lowered lashes, the picture of boredom. "Put it out and light it again."

"I don't know how," she sat back against the base of the sofa, already feeling numb from sitting on the cold floor for so long. When she'd objected, Sebastian had pointed out that if she set fire to the sofa, it was likely to go up in flames much quicker than the floor. "Concentrate." He said again.

"Oh, you're just as bad as the rest of them." Mercy huffed and traced the inky pattern on her arm, which remained despite the removal of the rune. She'd wanted to ask Sebastian why, but she was scared of the answer. And besides, he might elect not to tell her anyway, he certainly wasn't being helpful right now, "concentrate on what?"

With her magic returned, Mercy's skin buzzed with power. Like static electricity, everything she touched tore a spark from her fingers. It happened again as she wiped her sweaty palms on her newly acquired sweats and tugged her long curtain of hair over one shoulder. It was still a little damp from the shower, and the moisture sent the electricity into a frenzy as she desperately patted them down.

"That static you can feel is your magic fighting to get out," Sebastian quirked one brow, producing a dagger from thin air. Mercy tensed, but he either didn't notice or ignored her movement and began to file his nails with it in a dismissive gesture. "It's been on a ten-year hiatus - it's desperate to show you what it can do."