Map of Ember and Moonlight

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"If you push me in, I'm taking you in with me."

"As tempting as it might be, I would never do that to a princess. Now, do you want to try or not?"

"Never said I wasn't going to try."

"Then quit talking and do it."

"Are you two finished?" Gideon called from where he and Jett were lounging on an outcropping of rocks.

"Shut it, Gideon," Lyv told him with a wave of her hand.

Amory started chuckling. Again. It was the most she'd heard him laugh...well, since she met him. "It's something little. Nothing huge like making waves or pushing back the water itself. Just form an orb like you do with the light."

With her toes curled in the sand at the water's edge, Lyv held out a hand palm down to the it. Her magic began to hum, almost purr, at the action she was taking in trying to release it, control it.

You do not control me, she told it. I control you.

Her palm began to tingle as her magic obliged, spiraling from her as she closed her eyes in concentration. Lyv shut off everything from around her, but somewhere off in the distance she heard Gideon shift from where he was, cursing under his breath. Amory's hand pressed to the small of her back as she felt him step up beside her. He was saying something, but she couldn't hear him. Not with her magic roaring in her ears.

It felt phenomenal to finally let herself go, magic pulsing through every part of her. And when she opened her eyes, she knew exactly why the two men had shifted themselves closer.

The water had more than just formed an orb in her hand. It had parted at the shoreline, waves held back, higher than either of their heads, and waited for her command to rejoin. She pushed harder, shaping the water and making it do everything she wanted it to.

Lyv could feel when she was about to tire out. Slowly, she pulled back on her magic, letting the water settle back to where it was naturally. Breathing hard, she looked back at Amory, still with his hand on the small of her back, his gaze settled over the water.

When his eyes finally met hers, he stepped back as if only then he'd realized where he'd been touching her. "So that happened. Are you sure you've never tested yourself before?"

"Not to that extent, no," she told him. "Pretty good for the first time, huh?"

"You could say that again," Gideon interjected. "It takes Asturian Fae years to do what you just did."

"Seriously?" she asked, looking over at Amory again. "Years?"

"You do realize how much magic it takes to control the elements, especially when the elements control themselves. Each of the lands of Dalcaine rule over the elements, but only those powerful enough can control them. Sometimes they can lend some magic to others should they require it..."

"Was that what you were doing when you touched me?"

Amory's eyes dropped to his hand for a moment as he shook his head. "No, that was more so for support. You looked like you needed it."

"Then how do you explain how I can do what it takes years for Fae to in just a little bit of time?"

Amory seemed to pause to think about his answer before he spoke it. "From the moment I saw you in the woods by the cottage, I knew you had powerful magic, even if you didn't know how to really use it yet."