The Terrible Gift (Empath Found Book 1)

by Colette Rhodes

“Fi! You made that look so easy!” Aderyn accused as if I’d been holding out on her this whole time.

  “I just thought I’d try something different. I’m going to see if I can make it grow now,” I replied, relighting the wick with a match.

  Once it was burning, I cupped my hands around the flame again and let small amounts of air magic trickle out in tiny gusts, imagining a teeny set of fireplace bellows. Surely enough, the flame grew bigger and hotter, shooting up toward the ceiling.

  “An impressive display of control, Miss Smith,” the master commented curiously, wandering over to my desk. “This is your first successful attempt in this class, correct?”

  Sensing his suspicion, I answered honestly, “I’m using air magic to manipulate the oxygen in the fire. I just wanted to see if it would work.”

  His eyebrows raised into his hairline. “Experienced air affinities can successfully manipulate flames using air, but no first-year student knows how to use magic that way.”

  “What do you mean? Fire needs oxygen. Take the oxygen away, the flame dies. Add more, it grows.” I frowned at his accusatory glare.

  “How did you know that?”

  “From school…? Human school?” I replied, puzzled.

  “We don’t learn that kind of thing here, Fi,” Aderyn interjected softly. “Our knowledge of the elements is based on their relationship to magic, not…”

  “Science?” I supplied helpfully. Maybe my human education wouldn’t be so useless here after all.

  “I’ll be telling Master Gwyneira about this,” the master said with a final indignant huff, before storming back to his desk. I didn’t care. I don’t think I’d actually broken any rules by using air magic in this class and even if I had, I wasn’t really bothered about it. If anything, I was excited to get back to my cabin and get a roaring fire going in my potbelly stove tonight. I could practically imagine my toasty toes now. That thought kept me warm — pun intended — for the rest of the day.

  Fi

  Marlen stayed with me again that night. The idea of him not staying me sent a panicky feeling through my chest. I was beginning to see why Briallen and Leigh had claimed each other within six weeks of meeting. Even though it was a huge, permanent step, the mating pull’s urging grew more insistent every time I was around Marlen.

  I woke up to the bells chiming, with Marlen spooning me, his arms wrapped tightly around my waist, his leg pinning mine to the mattress.

  “Good morning, my little foxglove,” Marlen murmured, pulling me back tightly, his erection rubbing temptingly against my ass. I wiggled a little before groaning.

  “As much as I’d like a repeat of yesterday morning, I need to get up and shower,” I said, sighing in disappointment.

  “Is that so?” Marlen said in a low voice, right next to my ear. He rolled me forward so I was laying on my front, running his hands over the top of my arms until he reached my hands and tangling our fingers together. His hips pressed me into the bed as he worked slow, languid kisses down the side of my neck.

  I moaned softly, ready to say screw it and forgo the shower when Marlen leaped over me off the bed and raced down the ladder.

  “You snooze you lose, foxglove!” Marlen called over his shoulder as he raced into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. I sat up in bed, stunned, as I heard Marlen turn the shower on.

  A giggle escaped me. Did that seriously just happen? Marlen had always been playful but there was a new lightness to him now we progressed our relationship. I had noticed fewer flashes of insecurity from him too in the last two days.

  I made my way down the ladder at a more leisurely pace than Marlen had, stripped, then wandered confidently into the bathroom without knocking. It definitely had the desired effect, Marlen paused, drinking me in from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. His eyes were filled with heat and his cock was standing fully at attention. I gave him a smug grin.

  “On second thought, let’s share,” Marlen purred, reaching out a hand to pull me under the tepid water with him. I didn’t think I’d ever get enough of him.

  After a longer shower than I had planned — and learning a lot about the fun ways Marlen could tease me with his water magic in the shower — I pulled out a collared navy, linen dress that fell to mid-thigh and had buttons all the way down it.

  The dress had been a gift from Briallen. She claimed she didn’t like dark-colored clothes but I think she was just sick of seeing me wearing Academy-issued clothing. This is the first thing I’d worn in the weeks I’d been here that was actually similar to my size and had buttons. Everything else had been a sort of generic, baggy size that could be wrapped tight and secured with ties or ribbons. One of these days, we’d take a shopping trip to a market town so I could pick some things out for myself.

  The sleeves of the dress came to just past my elbows and I threw on my chunkiest, black knit cardigan over the top and a thick grey scarf. Today was the first day of winter and it certainly felt colder, though not nearly as cold as it got in London. Did it snow here? I was already on the fence about the whole no-shoes thing. There was no way I’d be forgoing shoes in the snow.

  We stopped by Marlen’s cabin so he could change into clean clothes. Fortunately, Creepy Kelvyn had already left for the day. Marlen emerged wearing his usual linen tunic-style top in dark green and dark grey loose trousers but he’d also added a thick light grey woolen jumper and dark grey beanie. I eyed it enviously, I really needed to go shopping.

  As we approached the commons for breakfast, a large crowd was starting to form outside the entrance. Their emotions were a heightened jumble of confusion, apprehension, some amusement, and a few spots of malicious glee.

  Marlen’s grip tightened slightly on my hand as he led us through the crowd to see what had caught everyone’s attention. My heart plummeted when I saw the words that had been burned into the grass:

  GO HOME FFION

  Shit, this was not good. Whoever was trying to get rid of me was clearly upping their game.

  The people around me noticed my presence and whispers spread throughout the crowd. They turned the focus of their pity, amusement, and apprehension directly to me and a tidal wave of feeling crashed over me, threatening to drown me in the weight of their emotions. My head spun and black spots started dancing across my vision.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” Marlen cursed softly, wrapping an arm around my waist to keep me upright. “We need to get you out of here.”

  We struggled through the crowd pressing in on us, volleying questions at me, for a few steps before I felt a second powerful mating pull yanking at my chest.

  “Move!” Bryn barked at anyone blocking our path, flicking little fireballs at them that harmlessly fizzled out in front of their faces if they were too slow.

  The pressure and dizziness eased as we got further away from the crowd. By the time the three of us reached my cabin, my head felt like I’d been on a three-day bender. The pain had eased, but everything still felt a bit fuzzy.

  I fished out my key, and Marlen let us in. Bryn stormed in behind us, slamming the door loud enough to make me wince. Inconsiderate bastard. Though I suppose it was nice of him to have helped us back there.

  I collapsed into an armchair while Marlen filled a glass with water, using his magic to freeze ice cubes. I couldn’t even get a decent read on Marlen’s emotions. The force of Bryn’s rage was so potent it sucked the rest of the feeling out of the room. It coursed through my aching veins, still recovering from the overload of a few minutes ago.

  Bryn stalked over to me with a dangerous glint in his eye, leaning down with his hands on each arm of the chair, caging me in.

  “You don’t seem all that surprised to hear from your mysterious messenger again, considering it’s been weeks since that message on your wardrobe. Why is that, scout?” he asked, his voice deceptively calm.

  I attempted to blink away some of the fog in my brain and lifted my head to meet his gaze. He was closer than I expected, our noses were practically
touching, and his warm breath fanned across my lips. His proximity made it incredibly hard to focus. Bryn and I had never been this close to each other.

  After a few seconds of intense eye contact, I realized Bryn was still waiting for my answer. I hesitated, not knowing how much to reveal. I don’t understand why Bryn would have helped me if he was the one behind the messages, but I also never sensed concern from him about me. It was just anger, resentment, frustration, and more anger. With an occasional dash of lust, followed quickly by even more anger.

  “It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with, Bryn.” I meant for it to sound stern and confident, but it came out as a breathy whisper, and I felt Bryn’s lust before his fury doubled.

  “Is that so?” he asked dangerously. “It seems like something I should very much concern myself with since Gwyneira herself asked me to track the messenger’s magic. So, let me be very specific, Ffion. Have you received any other threatening messages between the one on the wardrobe and the one on the grass today?”

  Shit, that was a difficult question to get around.

  “I don’t want to discuss it with you, Bryn,” my voice broke slightly on his name. Bryn and I weren’t friends or anywhere close to it, but I knew this conversation was going to end painfully for one or both of us and I didn’t relish that thought.

  His eyes narrowed. “And why is that, Ffion?”

  “I’m protecting myself,” I whispered.

  “You think I had something to do with this?” His tone was flat, but his eyes flashed with hurt. It was nothing to the sharp stab of pain I felt emanate him. Those three words had caused an anguish in Bryn that was so acute it took my breath away.

  Without another word, he turned on his heel and left. I felt a hot prickle of shame run down my spine, and I knew without a doubt that the emotion was all my own.

  “Rest up, foxglove,” Marlen murmured, pulling me to my feet and tugging me towards the ladder leading up to the bed we’d left only an hour earlier. “Whatever else is going on can wait until you’re feeling better. It has to.”

  Usually, I appreciated Marlen’s sweetness and patience with me, but today it only exacerbated my self-loathing. Why should I deserve his kindness when I’d made Bryn feel so wretched?

  ◆◆◆

  Bryn

  I made my way to the edge of campus in a haze of anger, barely remembering the walk from Ffion’s cabin to the base of the rocky mountain area that bordered the Academy on one side. I aggressively scaled the rocky incline, relishing the burn in my lungs and ache of my muscles. The physical pain was a good distraction from the mating pull that was twisting like a knife in my chest. There were caves scattered throughout that were often used for practicing fire magic, and I was the only one who used the highest one. Maybe I could quite literally burn off my anger.

  What the fuck was that girl’s problem? Was attacking my honor her way of punishing me for not pursuing the mating bond with her? Was this her twisted way of letting me know she wasn’t interested in me either?

  What the fuck did it even matter? I was losing my mind.

  Not since my parents had died 15 years ago had I felt so conflicted. From the moment Briallen's family had taken me in, I vowed to never lose control like I had in the wake of what had happened with my parents.

  That vow had been easy to keep until Ffion had shown up in Avalon and shattered the calm I had worked so hard to create in my life. The night I brought the little scout to Avalon, I spent hours in the caves, blasting my fire magic at anything and everything until I couldn't sustain it anymore.

  It had helped until I got to my cabin and found Briallen waiting outside for me, looking at me like I was a moron. I'd tried ignoring her while she yapped on about Ffion's positive attributes and sang the praises of a strong mating pull. I'd always found her mate, Leigh, to be a bit of a fool, but Briallen would never see that. She was a pretty rational person most of the time, but the mating pull made people stupid.

  It was pure instinct, an intense mating pull encouraged feelings of protectiveness and devotion, but I was determined to be stronger than my instincts. The stronger the pull, the worse it was. It was one of the many reasons why I would never pursue the pull with Ffion. She'd already done more damage to my self-control than anyone or anything else in 15 years.

  Trusting the mating pull blinded you to a person’s flaws. My fathers let the strong mating pull to my mother dictate their choices, overlooking her mania and instability. I doubt they truly realized the extent of her issues until they woke up bound in the middle of the night with flames surrounding the bed and my mother laughing like she didn’t have a care in the world.

  I was four years old when I discovered my fire affinity. I pushed the wall of flames back as the house burned around me and barely escaped out the window, the sound of my mother’s laughter ringing in my ears. It haunts my nightmares to this day.

  I wouldn’t make the same mistake my fathers did. When I claimed my mate, it would be someone I could get to know objectively. Someone I could be sure was a suitable life partner. My magic wouldn’t dictate my decision.

  If Marlen Ferris was stupid enough to follow her around like a lost puppy while she scouted his emotions, that was his problem.

  A healer. What good was a healing gift to Ffion? I knew he had a substantial water affinity too, but Ffion needed mates with offensive magic, not defensive. She was forever at risk with her rare empath abilities.

  What was wrong with me? What did I care if she chose a weak mating circle? She thinks you’re the one threatening her, idiot.

  Marlen appeared to know about her ability now, he hadn’t looked surprised when Ffion had been on the verge of fainting in the crowd, just concerned. It was on him if he wanted to put himself in danger by being with her. I doubt this was the last threat she’d receive.

  I threw increasingly large blasts of fire at the boulders along the mountain path. What a fucking nightmare. I’d never asked to have a strong mating pull to Ffion, I never wanted it. It felt like the gods were punishing me for something.

  I should have just claimed Saffir before Ffion showed up, I wouldn’t be experiencing the pull to Ffion if I was already mated. Except that idea didn’t sit well with me either.

  Before Ffion had arrived, I had been considering pursuing Saffir, regardless of our almost non-existent mating pull. She was from an influential family — her mother and one of her fathers were councilors. As an orphaned kid from a disgraced family, I could certainly do worse than Saffir as a mate.

  But now, the mating pull to Saffir paled in comparison to what I felt with Ffion. Any other female would have immediately noticed my disinterest, but I doubt Saffir particularly cared whether there was a connection or not. She wanted magically powerful mates; whether or not she or her magic were suitable for them was something of an afterthought.

  Then there was the other issue. No matter what tricks Saffir pulled, my cock was totally unmoved by the icy blonde, only coming to life when a mass of dark curls and luscious curves walked through the door. The godsdamned mating pull was screwing with my both my heads.

  I slid down the rock wall in the cave, feeling a bit spent and slightly less enraged. But not less hurt. I’d known Ffion’s secret for weeks and never said a thing to anyone. The gods knew I was a grumpy bastard most of the time, but I wasn’t without honor. My honor was about all I had left after my mother destroyed our family’s name. I wasn’t about to sell this girl, or any girl, out to the dark fae who would keep her captive and drain her magic. The thought made me feel ill.

  While there were many reasons I wouldn’t pursue things with Ffion, I inherently knew that if the roles were reversed, I would be able to trust her with my secret. We were kindred souls after all, if she didn’t have integrity that matched my own, we wouldn’t have such a strong connection. It stung that she didn’t trust me.

  Did I really come across as that much of an asshole? The mating pull was so distracting that, for the most part, I avoided
Ffion. But I’d helped her whenever Gwyneira had asked me to, I’d pushed Marlen back toward her when he needed encouragement, I kept an eye on her from afar to make sure she hadn’t done anything idiotic or gotten herself kidnapped. Just once or twice a day, to check. If anything she should trust me more than Marlen, I doubt he’d done half as much to help her.

  For a brief second, as we moved the crowd, we’d been on the same side, the three of us. It had felt easy to be around Ffion. Effortless in a way that it never was between me and Saffir. When Ffion had sat on that chair and I’d got up in her face, it had been 50/50 whether or not I interrogated her or finally gave in and kissed her.

  But then she all but told me she had to protect herself from me and I remembered all the reasons why we were a bad idea.

  For fuck’s sake, she was nothing to do with me. She was nothing to me. Why did I care about this?

  Telling myself that this anger stemmed from my integrity being questioned, I made my way back down the mountain to find Saffir with a new plan in mind. My cock still wasn’t cooperating, but I could at least focus on getting her off. Maybe Saffir’s screams would drown out the persistent tug in my chest that was telling me I was with the wrong girl.

  Step 1: Get Ffion out of my head for good.

  Step 2: Show her that she meant as little to me as I clearly meant to her.

  Fi

  Today was a shitshow. I’d missed my morning classes to sleep off the hangover from the torrent of other people’s emotions, pulled myself together enough to attend my afternoon classes, only to now feel terrible all over again. I wished I could hide out for a few weeks until everyone forgot about this morning’s incident. I’d never had so much emotion directed at me at once; it was agony.

  Marlen offered to bring food to my cabin so I didn’t need to go down to the commons for dinner, but I decided it would be better to get it over with rather than putting it off and letting myself get freaked out about it. If it was too much, we could always sneak out.