Flicker and Flame: Magic Bound Book One

by Willow Hayes

  “If you make a weapon does it always have to return to the Aether?”

  “No, when I create a weapon it can either be stored in the Aether, or in physical form.” My eyes widen at the thought of all he could create. He smiles at my reaction but then walks me back to the first part of the huge wall of weapons. “Today we are going to identify the weapon that will be yours then we will begin weapons training. While you are choosing your weapon today we will train with practice weapons until you are ready, so don’t be frightened.” Yeah that still doesn’t help.

  Some are gruesome and intimidating while others are surprisingly elegant. “Not including the weapons I indicated as ours, I want you to hold your hand an inch or so above each weapon, and if nothing happens move on. If you feel something let me know.”

  I nod and make my way down the wall. Hoping I don’t bond with a few I hover my hand over, and I feel grateful when I sense nothing. As I move on, a pair of short swords stun me with their beauty. The blades are etched with flames dancing along their length, and the hilt almost appears to be made of wood, as if the fire is rising from the wood. I hover my hand above the swords and hope I feel something. My magic leaps inside of me with a cry of recognition, and I know these are mine. I look at Nakoa and say, “My magic chooses these. What do I do?” What started as a scary idea, choosing a weapon, has turned into something so much more. I feel an odd ache to be connected to these beautiful swords.

  He nods his approval and gestures to the swords, “You simply need to grasp the hilt, your magic will do the rest.”

  I reach out with both hands and wrap them around the hilts reverently. A jolt runs through me straight into the swords. The flames etched in the pummel flair red, and I feel my magic connecting with something inside the swords. “Holy shit, that was amazing!” I excitedly turn to Nakoa but stop short at the stunned look on his face. “Well damn, what now?”

  He finally manages to speak, “I have never seen an external display of the magic binding with the weapon. These swords appear to have been made for you.” He asks if he can see one, and I hand the sword to him. He examines it carefully, as though he’s never seen it before, despite the fact they hung on his wall. “It seems whoever designed these forged them for someone with both Earth and Fire affinities. The hilt that looks like wood, that is Earth, and it feeds into the blades which represent your Fire. No one but you could have claimed these weapons.”

  I look at the short swords in awe. Nakoa shows me how to care for them and has me place them back on the wall then hands me two practice swords. “We will start with your basic ready stance,” and he shows me where to put my feet and how to drop my center, similar to my fighting stance making it easy to pick up, “and then some basic strokes.” He walks me over to a post that looks quite beat up. “This is where you will practice your strokes.” He shows me a basic stroke and walks me through what I need to do. Though the amount of dirty thoughts racing around at his continual usage of the word strokes that I manage to keep to myself is outrageous. “Now get into your stance as you watch me, and then you’ll try the stroke.”

  After watching Nakoa carefully I swing at the post. The shock of the hit vibrates up my arms. “Holy shit, that will take some getting used to.” I shake out my arms and try again and again. He demonstrates how to correct the stroke, but something isn’t connecting. “I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. I understand what you’re saying, just not how to make the adjustment.”

  Then Nakoa steps up behind me, flush against my back. My breathing hitches even though I know this is only training, but I can’t help the reaction my body has to him. He leans over me and wraps his arms around, so he can place his hands over mine. “You need to adjust a little, like this,” he guides me through the stroke. “Did that help?”

  “I’ve gotta be honest, Boss Man…I was slightly distracted, and I’m…gonna need you to show me that again.” I flush because he obviously knows why I was distracted, and now he either thinks I only want him to touch me again, or I was too focused on him touching me last time. Either way he knows, and if that doesn’t give it away the way my sex clenches absolutely will.

  He smirks, the bastard, and steps up again to show me. I give myself a pep talk and tell my libido to shut the fuck up, so I can focus. This time I understand what he means and when he steps back I definitely can’t look at him, but I execute the stroke perfectly. He goes on to show me two more, sadly with no personal demonstrations, and gives me yet another thing to work on.

  Twenty-Five

  Teo

  I’m sliding into bed when I hear her scream across the hall. I pull on my sweats and am out the door. I know instantly she’s having another nightmare. I slowly open the door to ensure she is clothed and there’s no glitchy magic happening before I make my way to her bed. Akito has half his body laying over her, offering her silent comfort. I make eye contact asking for permission to come closer, and he dips his head in acquiescence. I move to sit on the side of the bed as she thrashes back and forth groaning.

  I hear the guys all stop at the door after hearing her scream as well. I don’t give them my attention though, instead I brush her hair back and sing softly to her. I’m glad when I hear the guys leave because Kenna was embarrassed by the attention she received due to her nightmare last time.

  Her thrashing starts to lesson and instead of jolting awake, which I imagine she does quite a lot, she wakes upset but not screaming. Heart rate crazy and eyes dilated from fear her eyes roam the room wildly until they land on me. I see the panic subside as I continue to brush her hair and sing softly, and her heart rate soon calms. When she is finally taking normal breaths I brush a finger down her flushed cheek and quietly ask, “Do you want to talk about it?” I don’t want her to feel any pressure, so I add, “It always helped when I talked through mine.”

  Her eyes widen and bounce back and forth between mine as though trying to figure out if I’m throwing her a bunch rubbish. She must like what she sees because she croaks out, “You have nightmares?”

  I nod and pause before going to grab a glass of water for her. I hand her the glass and sit back down. “I don’t have them as often anymore, but it used to be pretty brutal.”

  She hesitantly asks, “Will you tell me about it?”

  Inwardly I smile because I’m hoping she will be more willing to talk once she feels understood. “When I was a young pup, likely around your age now, my entire village was slaughtered during the caster-shifter war.” She gasps and reaches out to take my hand. Our sweet spitfire. I don’t think she realizes how kind she is. She acts tough, and she is tough, but that isn’t all there is to her. She stays quiet, allowing me to continue on in my story, “I had been a cocky pup, and I thought I knew everything. I’d gotten in an argument with my father and had taken off into the forest. I was so angry with him, honestly I can’t even remember what the fight was about, but I needed to get as far away as I could. After a few hours I had calmed down enough to go back home.

  “I knew something was wrong before I even got to the village. The woods were unnaturally quiet, and Earth’s magic felt off kilter. I began to move slowly into town, wanting to be ready for an attack. What I found will haunt me for the rest of my long days.” She squeezes my hand in silent support. “When I finally walked into the center of town I saw them.” She gasps again, and her hand flies to her mouth. “My entire village was piled like trash in the middle of the town square, all of them dead.” Her eyes fill with tears, but I haven’t quite finished the story yet.

  “My revenge was swift and merciless, but it didn’t make me feel much better. When all was said and done I think what haunted me the most is the guilt I felt at not being there to protect them. I know now, years later, there was nothing I could have done, and I would have only been thrown in with the rest of my friends and family, but the feelings ate away at me. When your mother, Queen Rayna, brokered the treaty it took me a long time to find it in myself to get past what was done to shifters aroun
d the country, but when it looked like the treaty was going to stick I joined the Royal Guard.

  “I was plagued with nightmares from the first night after finding them, but it wasn’t until I was in the Guard that I realized the intensity of my nightmares was not normal. One of my fellow guards helped me by letting me talk it out, saying he had gone through the same kind of thing. It wasn’t until I let go of the hate I still carried around and the guilt that I could have done something more that the nightmares began to fade.” Tears stream down her face, and she leans up to throw her arms about my neck. I return her hug and gently rub her back.

  She sits back and takes a deep breath, “Teo, there are no words that can touch on the feeling you are describing, so I’ll simply leave it at, I am so sorry.” Her words hint at a shared experience of grief I’ve suspected she has but hasn’t confirmed. I wait to see if she will say any more. I can see the debate in her eyes, and I’m hoping she’ll share, but I don’t push.

  She takes another deep breath, a decision made. “I’ve had the same nightmare since I was a teenager. Some nights are better than others, but it’s essentially the same dream on repeat. Until recently, anyway. The hallway with the blood didn’t start until the night my magic was unbound. I get the sense it isn’t only a dream but fragmented memories. It’s disorienting because the dream will pick up at different parts and include certain things one night and not include other things another, so I can’t make sense of what’s up and what’s down. It’s scary, but it’s not the same terror I feel with the nightmare I’ve had for years.”

  She takes an unsteady breath and sinks her hands into Akito’s fur. “Teo, I’m so grateful you shared your very personal story with me. I feel honored to hold this part of you. I don’t know if I can share mine yet. You felt guilt you did not deserve, but I deserve mine. I just found you guys, and I can’t lose you. I am so sorry.”

  Her words sucker punch me, not because she refused to share, but because she has convinced herself she did something so wrong that she believes we would leave her if we knew. I put my finger under her chin and slowly draw her eyes toward mine. As soon as we make eye contact I do my best to show in my eyes my understanding and grace. “Spitfire, you never have to apologize for not sharing your truth, as long as what you share is the truth. That’s all we can ask of each other. As to us leaving you, I realize you haven’t known us long, and you don’t know us well yet, and I know my words will mean little right now, but I’m going to say them anyway. We. Will. Never. Leave. You,” I say each word with deliberate slowness and gentleness. “I know trusting is hard for you,” she looks away, and I wait patiently until she finally looks back, “but earning your trust is worth every single trial.”

  Her eyes fill with tears again, and she swallows hard, unable to speak. Akito nudges her hand and licks it as if to say, see I told you so, and I realize that I like this kitsune quite a lot. When she is finally able to speak she looks away again and asks in a voice so quiet I almost don’t catch it, “Will you stay with me?”

  My heart squeezes painfully in my chest, and I try to speak past the lump in my throat at the offer of trust she’s given me, “Absolutely I’ll stay with you.”

  Her watery eyes swing back to me shining with gratitude, and she simply says, “Thank you.” I have never wanted to hold someone as much I want to hold my little spitfire right now.

  Twenty-Six

  Kenna

  Luka left a note that said he has pulled a couple of books he thinks will be helpful in learning more about being the princess. I wander into his office, but he hasn’t arrived yet, so I start browsing the shelves. I’ve been in here many times over the past few weeks, though never without Luka, so I take the opportunity to snoop a little. I grin to myself at the idea of getting away with something, given they always seem to know what I’m doing before I even do it.

  I move to the desk and sit in his chair. The surface of his desk is organized and tidy and on it he has two picture frames. One of him and a woman who looks so much like him that she could only be his mother, the other a picture of the four guys. I pick up the one of the guys and study each face. They are standing in front of a tropical scene, all smiling and carefree. “That was taken a few years after I joined the company.”

  His voice makes me jump with a squeak. My face flushes at being caught snooping, I turn around still holding the picture. “You all seem so relaxed and happy.” Luka grins at catching me, and I take in his lean build and standard attire of blue t-shirt and dark jeans.

  “Yeah, it was a good day. We had taken a rare vacation, still a rare occurrence actually, and decided a warm beach was a good place to go. We drank a lot, and we uh…swam a lot.”

  “Swam a lot huh?” my eyebrow raised in question, a grin tugging at my lips.

  He chuckles nervously, his eyes flitting adorably around the room. “Uh, yeah. Swimming. We did lots of swimming.”

  “And by swim a lot you mean you fucked a lot right?” My grin is huge while I watch him squirm. I feel a stab of jealousy at the idea of Luka with another woman but brush it off.

  He shrugs and gives me a small bashful smile. “Yeah, that.” He clears his throat and turns to a stack of books on the small table between the two arm chairs. “I found these two that you might find useful.”

  “Nice subject change, Romeo.” I wink at him and let him change the subject, taking the books. One is about the palace and the other about royal protocol. “The palace, huh?” I can’t imagine finding anything about the palace particularly fascinating or protocol for that matter.

  Luka grins and says, “It’s actually pretty interesting. The castle is sentient, the magic within its walls was born directly from the Aether when it was built. It responds to the magic and needs of the royal family. There is a section in the book about different ways the castle has responded and gives an account of the responses, both funny and helpful.” Luka leans forward, eyes sparkling with mischief and says, “One time a member of the Chosen, not your mother’s Chosen though, had decided he wanted a midnight snack. Wearing his nightclothes he sets out for the kitchen. He’s half asleep and not truly paying attention, so it takes him a good thirty minutes to discover that the castle had been sending him circles.” He laughs, his face lighting up the way it always does when we talk about new knowledge. When he smiles like that he makes me want to learn more about whatever it is that caught his attention. I smile at him and hold out my hand for the book. He places it in my hand, and I settle cross legged on the floor, the book resting in my lap, and I read about the place where I was born.

  My body has not been this sore since I started training at the gym, and my brain is just as fried. You would think that after training for a few weeks my body would have adapted, but nope, I’m sore all the freaking time. The training kicked up in intensity when we found out about my new title and the dangers that accompany it. Although, I think knowing I’m the princess freaks the guys out even more than it does me, which is saying a lot.

  I finish my shower after the last training session of the day and head to the kitchen to make a huge bowl of popcorn. As the popcorn cooks on the stove I think through my last session with Teo. I try to walk through the different attacks I attempted to see if I can pinpoint where I’m going wrong. I think of throwing a right hook and attempt to stay loose before I punch. Gah, I don’t know! I shake my head and pour butter over the popcorn before walking it, and five bowls, over to the living room.

  I shout out to the house at large because I know they can all hear me, “It’s movie night! Get your asses out here and come be lazy with me!” If the smell of popcorn doesn’t bring them in, my shouted command should do the trick. I grab a couple of movies I want to watch, no sappy romances for me thank you very much, and put them on Nakoa’s beautiful coffee table for them to pick from then let my tired body plop on the charcoal gray couch.

  Luka is the first to walk in and says, “Alright Princess, we are here on your command.” He bows at me with a flourish.
I throw a piece of popcorn at him and stick my tongue out. He of course catches the popcorn and pops it into his mouth with a wink, making my center clench. Gods, that wink. He smirks because of course my body betrays me. The others filter in with various snarky comments about my command.

  “I picked a couple of movies and put them on the table there. You all need to choose which one.” I shrug with my own smirk. I’ve been ordered around in lessons for the past week, and I need some control over something, damn it! They decide on which movie and dim the lights.

  I’m sitting with Nakoa on one side and Teo on the other. A sexy man sandwich. I tuck my leg up under me and lean back. Nakoa’s muscled arm rests on the back of the couch, and he smells of cedar wood and beeswax, so freaking good. The movie is a few scenes in when I feel someone playing with my hair. Nakoa has started to twist sections of my hair on his finger. I don’t know if he realizes he’s doing it because when I glance back he’s completely focused on the movie, but who knows with him sneaky is his middle name after all. The tugging on my hair sends shivers down my spine, and I struggle to keep my focus on the movie when all I want to do is lose myself in the sensation.

  The movie ends and Luka asks if anyone wants to watch another, but Callum decides to call it a night. I go to the restroom, and when I come back Nakoa has shifted slightly to lean against the armrest with his leg tucked under the other, so when I sit down I brush up against his knee. This just got interesting. Again, because it’s Nakoa, I have no idea if these brushes are intentional or not. I cross my legs under me and sit facing the movie with Nakoa at my back. Gods, what I wouldn’t give to simply lean back and watch the movie laying against his chest. This man is distracting. He picks up playing with my hair again, and now I’m fairly sure this is all intentional, and I am flooded with need. The hand playing with my hair pauses then resumes.