Real Magic

by Lissa Michaels

  She pointed at the fire. “The meat.”

  He shook his head, taking a deep shuddering breath, pushing the image away. “It’s for you. I felt you a while ago.”

  But it wasn’t what he felt when someone used magic. It was different. It was Jelena. He recognized it for what it was. Gods help him, his Bellarissian blood was saying she was the one.

  “This has been cooking longer than I’ve been here.”

  He nodded. “I knew you’d come.” He also hadn’t wanted the scent of the fresh kill to bring other predators. Cooked meat didn’t seem to attract them as much.

  She sat beside him, not close enough to touch, but close enough that he smelled her flowery scent mixed in with the aromas of the fire, the cooking meat, and the forest surrounding them. His stomach rumbled in response.

  “And if you were wrong?”

  He shrugged. “I would have buried it.”

  “I’m starved, but I don’t think I can eat all that.”

  He grinned. “A wood sprite who eats like a bird.” He grabbed a stick and strode to the fire. As he walked, it lengthened and shifted, transforming into a sharp, wooden blade.

  “Wood sprite? Hah! I hate foraging in the woods. I’m surprised you didn’t hear me grumbling all the way here.”

  He laughed.

  What had he heard? She’d done her best to move silently, though that branch she’d stepped on cracked as loud as thunder—at least to her ears. She’d planned on spending the night watching him from a safe distance. The beautiful fairy’s arrival had changed that. Not that she was jealous. She just wanted to make sure the woman meant no harm. Zanera was enough to contend with.

  Drake cut into the meat. The juices ran clear, dripping into the flames, flaring them toward the sky. Her mouth watered in anticipation. “Need help?”

  “No, I’m all right.” A slab of bark transformed into a platter for the meat he carved off the carcass. He set it on the ground beside him and dug baked tubers and root vegetables from the coals. He blew the ash from them and set the clean, steaming vegetables on the platter with the meat.

  She stared in amazement at the spread he set in front of her. More sticks turned into knives and forks. Rocks changed into stone cups, and water into wine. She had absolutely no idea how he’d managed the vulter. It all smelled so wonderful.

  She bit into a piece of meat. It was tender and so juicy it dribbled down her chin. She moaned with pleasure. “This is heavenly.” She opened her mouth for a second bite and paused just short of her lips. “I don’t want to know what this was, do I?”

  Drake chuckled, shaking his head. “I don’t think so.”

  She lowered her fork. “I came here because I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to defend yourself. I confess, I never dreamed you could learn so much in just a few days.” She gestured toward the food between them. “It took me years to master these things.”

  He shrugged. “Not having to learn spells was an advantage.”

  Or he had more power than the council imagined. “I am so proud of you.”

  He glanced at her and speared a cube of the tuber he’d sliced and smeared with vulter.

  Did her compliment please him? She had no idea.

  He concentrated on his food. That faraway look returned.

  When she’d reached the edge of his camp, she’d felt the same chilling tremor she’d felt when he almost died. Why? What could have hurt him that much? The very thought frightened her.

  “What did you see in the flames?” She reached for his hand, stopping short of touching him.

  He lifted his, twining his fingers through hers. “A woman and child,” he whispered.

  “Who are they?”

  He stared at their clasped hands for a long time then shrugged. “She’s dead, maybe the child too. They wanted me to get her killer.”

  “They?”

  “The Three.”

  Jelena gasped. “What did you do?”

  “I walked.”

  Dear heavens, the gods gave him an assignment and he refused. Were they tormenting him because of it? Was that why the vision hurt him so badly?

  He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. “Tell me about the pendants.”

  The gentle friction of his skin against hers scrambled her thoughts. She had to force herself to concentrate on his request. “They’re part of our marriage rites. When a man wishes to offer for a woman’s hand, he presents her family with a pendant for her. They then present it to her. Her acceptance is acceptance of his suit.”

  “If the parents didn’t approve of him, they could refuse to give it to her?”

  She nodded.

  “Then what?”

  “If she accepts him, the parents plan a great feast. There, he fastens the pendant around her neck, and she presents him with a cuff as a sign of her pledge.”

  “A cuff.”

  Jelena nodded. “Our ways are very specific. Pendants for the women, wrist cuffs for the men. That’s why Mika thought you were choosing a betrothal gift.”

  “You’ve refused Cordan more than once. Why do your parents insist you wed him?”

  “Our mothers have been friends since they were children, and always expected that we’d wed one day. Of course, his social status doesn’t hurt either as far as my mother’s concerned. Guardians rank high on the mountain.” She closed her eyes for a second, enjoying his touch. Would he ask why she didn’t want to wed Cordan?

  He didn’t, but he didn’t stop his gentle stroking either. Should she tell him? “Do Bellarissians have a coming of age ceremony?”

  “No.”

  “We do. The most important part of it is when we are taken into the Guardian temple, the shrine of Anesma, and given a look into our futures. The man I saw wasn’t Cordan.”

  He slowly raised his gaze to hers and stared deep into her eyes. “Why haven’t you told them?”

  “Because they’d want to know who he is.”

  “Who is he?”

  She grinned, shaking her head. “Even the gods make mistakes. Until I’m sure they haven’t, I’m keeping that knowledge close to my heart.”

  He looked away.

  “What was it Master Kedar was anxious to start?”

  Drake released a humorless chuckle. “His idea of magic training is us beating the hell out of each other. He agreed to let me take the abbreviated course and concentrate on the basics, if I agreed to take the long one after this mess with Zanera is straightened out.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “You’ll be staying a while?”

  “Looks like.” He stared at her thoughtfully. Too thoughtfully. “Do you want me to stay?”

  She took too long thinking about it.

  He let go of her hand. “I’d better get this mess cleaned up.”

  “I’ll help you.”

  He shook his head. “I need to do it myself.”

  “All right.” Gods, what was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she give him that much? A simple yes? She did want him to stay. She wanted it very much.

  He tossed the uneaten food, platter and all, into the fire. It flared high, consuming everything with its flames.

  A gust of wind swept in and swirled around on the other side of the fire. It left a pile of leaves in its wake. That pile transformed into a soft bed—a bed only large enough for one.

  He’d said he hadn’t slept and performing all this magic on top of that? “You must be exhausted.”

  He nodded.

  “Sleep. I’ll watch over you.”

  He shook his head. “The bed is for you. I won’t sleep until we return to the city.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “Your dinner’s mate might come looking for him.” Her gasp made his lips curve into a small smile. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve gone much longer on no sleep.”

  “Drake—”

  “Sleep, Jelena. Or tomorrow’s color of the day will be black to match the circles under your eyes.”

  “Flattery will get you
nowhere.” She strode across the camp and plopped on the soft mattress.

  He grinned.

  She lay on her side, watching him, and tucked her hand under her chin. Bathed in the fire’s glow, he was breathtaking. “Did you really mean what you said about wanting more than sex?”

  “Yes.” His wary expression squeezed her heart.

  “What do you want?”

  He shook his head. “I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to lay my heart out so you can cut it up.”

  “Drake?”

  “I don’t want to be just a job. Do you understand now? Go to sleep or go home.” He turned away from her.

  Blast. Questions about his feelings were the wrong tact to take. She needed to cover the safe subjects before she asked the questions that sealed his lips tighter than mortar. But he had given her an answer this time.

  I don’t want to be just a job.

  She thought of the cuff in her chest. If it was nothing more than a charm to keep him safe, why hadn’t she given it to him?

  Gods preserve, she wanted him to be more than a job, too.

  But how could she? How could she want to spend the rest of her life with a man that had killed for money? A man who only just yesterday refused to kill, even for the gods? How indeed.

  He shifted, drawing her gaze across the camp. He sat with his wrists on his bent knees, staring at his hands. Firelight flickered across his expressionless face and on the shiny object dangling from fingers. That image followed her into her dreams.

  Chapter Twelve

  THE SCENT of eggs and tubers frying in vulter teased Jelena awake. Stretching her arms above her head, she inhaled deeply, savoring the delicious aroma, and sat up, rubbing her gritty eyes.

  Drake crouched at the fire, stirring their morning meal with a wooden food turner. He looked clean, freshly dressed, but exhaustion tainted his vibrant eyes. “Sleep well?”

  “Very.” Her dreams had been filled with kisses, caresses, and black-haired, blue-eyed babies. Since he seemed intent on the task of keeping their food from burning, she rose to her feet and headed for the bushes.

  “Over there.”

  She glanced over her shoulder and saw him point to his left. Shrugging, she followed his direction. The narrow footpath led to a curtain of vines in sight of their camp, yet far enough away for privacy—which he’d obviously intended. She pulled the vines aside and her mouth dropped open.

  He’d recreated her bathroom. She passed her hand through the shimmering doorway and the shock of his magic tingled through her clear to her toes. He hadn’t recreated anything. It was her bathroom. He’d opened a portal between here and home.

  “Ali’ra preserve.” She turned her gaze to Drake at the fire.

  “Something wrong?”

  “How?” She swallowed and tried again. “How did you do this?”

  He shrugged, a slight smile lifted the corner of his mouth.

  “If the council had any idea of the power you possess—”

  “You going to tell them?”

  “Are you insane?”

  He chuckled. “Hurry up, or your breakfast will get cold.”

  She returned his smile and stepped through the doorway. She quickly stripped and stepped into the shower. After all the trouble he’d gone through to make her comfortable, she wouldn’t even think about a quick cleansing spell.

  A drying spell, on the other hand, she had no problem with. The moment she left the shower, she twirled in a circle, drying her body and hair. As she finished the rest of her morning ritual, she found herself humming happily.

  What a difference it made, waking to find him near. The only thing better would be waking in his arms. She wanted that so very much. Destiny wanted something permanent between them, so surely her desire for him wasn’t wrong. She felt better about it the more she spoke with him.

  “What’s taking you so long, woman?” Drake called, more than a touch of amusement in his voice.

  “Just one moment more,” Jelena yelled, grabbing her clothing. She quickly cleansed her uniform, changing its color to purple, matching her eyes—a shade she only wore when in the best of moods—and dressed.

  The moment she stepped through the curtain, she heard a quiet pop. She glanced over her shoulder and saw only the forest behind her. The door and the bathroom beyond were gone.

  “Feel better?” he asked when she returned to his side.

  “Much, thank you.” She accepted a plate loaded with scrambled eggs, diced peppras, unyuns, and tubers. Her mouth watered in anticipation. “Where did you learn to cook like this?”

  “Shay, Morgan’s father-in-law. He’s the queen’s captain of the guard. I learned a lot of things from him. Cooking over the fire was one of them.”

  “The man deserves a medal.”

  He grinned, nodding his thanks, and settled against the log with his plate.

  “No meat today?” She sat beside him, with her back against the log, setting her plate on her lap.

  “No. We only had one visitor during the night, and I convinced it to leave peacefully. You’ll have to suffer one meal.”

  Her first bite drew a long groan of pleasure. “If you’re doing the cooking, I’ll gladly suffer every meal for the rest of my life. This is wonderful.”

  He smiled.

  “Tell me something.”

  His expression transformed into its carefully blank mask before he nodded.

  “Why is it you can’t eat meat, yet you have the stomach to kill people?”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  She looked at her plate. “Maybe I want you to be more than a job too,” she whispered. “There’s so much I need to understand.”

  “Understanding is important to you?”

  “More than you possibly know.” She met his gaze. “I know you don’t like to talk about your past, but…”

  “Dwelling on the past does no one any good.”

  “It’s the only way I can separate truth from legend. So much of what I’ve heard just doesn’t feel right.”

  “You want the truth.”

  “Very much.”

  He set his food aside and sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. “Fine, that’s what you’ll get, but don’t blame me if you don’t like what you hear.”

  Jelena’s stomach twisted. What in the world was she doing?

  “How can I kill? When it’s your life or theirs, you find you can do a lot of things you never thought you’d be able to do.” He plucked a blade of grass and rolled it between his fingers. “When it all started, I hated myself. I hated myself so much I couldn’t stand the sight of my own reflection.”

  He still didn’t, she realized. How else would he have missed the magic sparkling in his beautiful eyes?

  “I even thought about letting a job go wrong.”

  “Oh, gods, you didn’t!”

  “Wouldn’t you?” His blank masked slipped, and when he looked at her, she saw pain that went soul deep. This was no cold-hearted monster. This man felt deeply. “Gradually, I became numb. I did what I had to do without thinking about it. Until that last job.”

  The job that led him to challenge Mandek—a challenge he’d barely walked away from.

  “The mark was a child, an unborn child.” He shook his head. “I couldn’t do it.”

  A pregnant woman, dear gods! “What did you do?”

  “I took the woman to a friend, a doctor, for reconstructive surgery. By the time I returned to Trakis, she was on her way to a new life, far away from whoever wanted to harm her child. I never discovered who bought that contract.”

  Jelena sat stunned. She never thought that he would go to such lengths to protect someone he’d been hired to kill. It touched her heart. “Why, after all that, did you continue to kill?”

  “Sometimes there’s no other choice, especially if that death ends the suffering of others.”

  She couldn’t say she believed that, but he clearly did.

  “When a contract came into the Gui
ld, I personally evaluated the mark. If he was innocent, we either tucked him away in a Guild settlement until it was safe to return, or we disguised him and gave him a new life.”

  “Like the contract you refused to carry out.”

  He nodded. “Contracts for the ones who were causing pain and suffering, I gave to my men. Most of them had no love for the Jotnar and were more than willing to take the jobs.”

  “Why did you have to do anything with them at all?”

  “If we hadn’t, those contracts would have been given to independents. By taking them ourselves, we made sure no innocents were hurt, no criminals remained free.”

  She didn’t know what to say. It sounded so noble. Surely the Executioners didn’t go to such lengths to make sure that a mark had been correctly judged. They followed orders, nothing more.

  “A killer with a conscience, amazing, huh?” He stroked the side of his thumb down her cheek. “Thing is, I did what I had to do, and I didn’t care what anyone thought—until you.”

  Her eyes widened. “You care what I think?”

  “Very much.”

  Jelena’s heart pounded against her ribs, threatening to burst free as he leaned toward her. Her breath caught, her lips tingling, anticipating his warm lips on hers and the passion his kiss would unleash.

  She sighed as his lips covered hers. It was the softest, sweetest kiss she’d ever received from him. So tender, so loving, and it was over far too soon.

  “It’s time to go.” He pulled her to her feet.

  “Where?” She didn’t want to go anywhere. She wanted to sit right here and enjoy more of his kisses.

  He shrugged. “I feel the need to move on.”

  “Why? This place seems safe enough. Tomorrow, we can return-”

  Drake shook his head. “Never stay more than a day in the same camp. It makes you harder to track. You can go back. I can do this on my own.”

  “No. I want to stay with you.”

  He nodded, and that was that. In seconds, he erased every sign that they’d been there, and they were on their way.

  DRAKE HAD fallen silent the moment they started off, concentrating on the path he’d chosen for them to take. Jelena quickly lost interest in the scenery. She hated trudging through the woods. Oh, she liked trees and flowers and all that, but she preferred to sit and admire them, not tramp through them.