Bound by Magic Chapter 8

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CHAPTER 8

Kayla

“AGAIN.” GARRICK’S BREATH WAS WARM against her neck, sending shivers racing down her spine.

Foremages, he was insane if he thought she could actually concentrate on anything but him. Every breath he drew made her lady bits ache.

Especially when his large hands rested against her shoulders, causing tingles and butterflies to thrash around in her gut.

She breathed through it.

He’s all that interested, she reminded herself. She may have been panting like a dog after a bone, but he certainly wasn’t.

Every night, he’d been the perfect gentleman, building a pillow fort between them before they went to sleep; and each morning, he made sure to take quick, tidy showers and change in the bathroom, before giving her the space to do the same. Once they were done getting ready, he immediately insisted they got to work trying to control her magic.

Even his feedings had been a non-starter. He didn’t drink from her neck again; instead, he chose to sink his fangs into her wrist. After a pinch, not much else happened. She didn’t get the waves of pleasure again or feel the euphoria after. Nothing like their first night.

She’d been officially friend-zoned. And that freaking sucked.

“You can do this,” he said encouragingly, pointing to the sock she was supposed to transport from the bed to her hand like she’d seen Marnie do with her phone in the kitchen at her house. “Take a deep breath and try again.”

She steadied her shoulders and focused on the plain white sock. Her magic sparked at her hands, but again, it didn’t budge.

“I don’t know how Marnie was able to do it,” she groaned, throwing her hands up in defeat. “She just summoned a phone out of nowhere.”

“It takes time and practice. We were late to rise this morning, so we’re delayed in our practice, but once you get warmed up, it’ll come easier. Like yesterday.”

Little did he know, he was the one late to rise. Once a sliver of light brightened the room, she eagerly began testing her magic’s capabilities, effectively making it stretch up over their pillow fort and across the bed. By the time it reached the other side, Garrick jolted off the bed, patting himself wildly, saying it felt like he was under a blanket of fire. She told him it was all a dream and popped off the bed to head to the bathroom, too embarrassed to admit what she was trying to do.

“And you need to focus,” he continued, bringing her attention back to him.

“I am focusing! It’s not working. I can’t even make my magic go over to the bed. It’s like if it’s not going to you, it doesn’t want any part of it.”

He paused for a thoughtful breath.

“Cha, maybe we try that. I will hold the sock. Try to send your magic to me and see if you can pick it up.”

She held in a sigh at the loss of contact as he walked to the bed and picked up the sock.

“Now try it.”

Her magic made it to Garrick just fine, but crawling up toward the sock was painfully slow. By the time it got there, a corner of it blackened, then it ignited.

“Shit.” She drew her magic back quickly—a bit too quickly. She walloped herself so hard she staggered backward, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Gasping for breath, she bent over.

The sock was stamped out and Garrick was at her side a second later.

“Are you all right?”

“Fine.” She coughed before using his shoulders to steady herself upright, ignoring the pleasure that erupted under her fingertips every time she touched him. “Are you?”

He didn’t need to answer; she already knew he was. She felt it.

Her magic raced around his hands, checking for wounds, which there weren’t any, before lingering on him a little longer than necessary. His breathing went uneven, his eyes darkened. He cleared his throat before taking a step to the side.

“I think we should take a break.”

And the friendzone strikes again.

“Rations are here anyway.”

On cue, someone knocked.

“Come in.” She leaned to pick up the burned sock from the floor as the door opened. “Morning, Killian.”

Despite her best attempt to get used to seeing Killian bringing them meals, it still gave her the willies to look into a face identical to the Syste.

“Not Killian.”

“No, it’s not,” the voice answered quickly.

She whipped around to Pellan, who stood in her doorway for the first time in days. Dressed in dark jeans and a U-neck shirt, he still looked no older than a teenager skipping school. Although, at second glance, his eyes did. The creases around them were the only show of his age.

“Where’s Killian?”

“He has returned to his normal duties. Your magic has calmed enough. I thought you might like to have breakfast upstairs before we get started.”

“Started with what?”

“Training. Right now, your magic volatility is tied to your vampire—”

“His name is Garrick.”

“My mistake,” Pellan apologized. “We have to get your magic to where you can harness its power on your own. We think it’s in a stable enough place to start training.”

Garrick noticed her head bob as she took in what he said. He grinned. In an instant, she realized why. They were finally letting them out.

She wasn’t sure what to expect when the day came, but a gleeful Garrick wasn’t on the list. Her gaze swept across his angular face.

Of course, he’d be excited. Her controlling her magic was his ticket out of here. Isn’t that what they’ve been working toward this entire time?

It didn’t matter that they’d gotten to know each other over the last few days. Their primary goal was progress. Progress meant he could have his life back.

She turned to Pellan. “Let’s go.”

Pellan walked them through the labyrinth of the basement and through mostly empty halls before they arrived at a set of large double doors.

“Breakfast will be quick,” he explained, opening the doors to a vast empty arena with high arched walls that towered over them. On one side, a set of tiered wooden bleachers lined the wall. In the center sat a large circular mat surrounded by several mages, all at attention like soldiers.

“What is this?” Garrick paused at the door.

“This is our training room,” Pellan explained, keeping his voice casual as he walked into the room. “We also hold miza tournaments in here, although practice doesn’t start for a few hours.”

“Who are they?” Garrick refused to step inside.

“Those are our strongest mages. If Kayla’s magic becomes unstable, they can divert it. They are only here as a precaution.”

A gleam of suspicion flashed in his eyes. He didn’t trust them, not fully, but when she stepped inside, he followed. Just inside the door, Pellan handed them each an egg sandwich from a table scooted up against the wall and led them to the large mat in the center of the floor.

“Where’s my father?”

“He’s in the observation room.” Pellan motioned to a set of tinted windows at the top of the spectator seats. “We asked for the halls to be cleared. Just in case.”

Yeah, just in case her magic threw a hissy fit and went haywire again.

She nodded and followed him down to the center of the room. Once they were on the mat, the lights dimmed down, keeping the mat illuminated. Garrick hissed, then scented the air. His back was stiff as his gaze darted to each corner of the mat, eyeing the mages surrounding it, waiting for an attack that never came.

“Relax. We dim the lights to limit distractions. It allows for us to focus on what we’re doing,” Pellan explained. “Eat, so we can get started.”

She sat cross-legged on the mat and pulled out her sandwich. After another sweep of the circle, Garrick did the same, but the tension in his shoulders hadn’t eased.

“As I understand, you’ve had little training in harnessing your magic,” Pellan said after she took a bite of her sandwich. She chewed it down before responding.

“My dad taught me how to calm it. It’s just… sometimes… it goes wild.” Saying it made her cheeks redden with embarrassment.

“You’re very powerful. Fire mages usually are.”

“I’m a fire mage?” she asked, really having no idea what it meant.

“I believe so. Mages have a vast number of affinities, usually tied to the elements, though some are tied to the body. I’ve come across a mage who could change their appearance at will. Yet it’s the elements where our power stems,” he said casually. “Yours seems to stem from fire.”

“I thought our magic came from emotions.”

“Our emotions help us harness it, yes, but our root power is tied into the earth itself. It’s what makes mages the most powerful beings to walk the planet. We’re also the least plentiful.” He sighed heavily, holding a weight on him that only an ancient could comprehend. “I will warn you that mage training is not easy. We won’t go easy on you because you’ve been without training past the basics. We need to get you up to speed quickly.”

There was an urgency in the way he said it, and just at the edge of his brow, there was that look again. The one that was filled with both hope and sorrow. As soon as she saw it, it was gone.

“Now, please stand up. Let’s see what you can do.”

She polished off the last of her sandwich and stood. Before she could blink, Pellan’s magic pooled from his hands.

“Let’s see how you react.”

A bright red orb formed inches above his hand.

“Draw your magic,” he said.

She looked down at her hands, but nothing formed. She tried to tap into what she carefully cultivated with Garrick in their room; only it didn’t come.

Come on. She couldn’t start having performance anxiety now. She imagined her magic waking up from her hands and making her palms glow. Yet, nothing came out.

“I can’t.”

“Try as we have practiced,” Garrick encouraged from behind her.

Yeah, as if she hadn’t been trying that already.

She sucked in her bottom lip and tried again. Still, her magic hadn’t made a peep. She could think of thousands of instances where her magic raged out of control without provocation, but now when she actually wanted it to come out, it didn’t budge.

Pellan frowned.

“I can do this. I just did it this morning. I can make it come out.” Yet, as hard as she tried, nothing happened. “I don’t understand why it’s not working.”

“I do,” a bored voice said from the top of the bleachers. Lurking in the shadows, Theo raked a hand through a mop of sandy hair as he watched them as if it bored him to tears. “It’s because you’re doing it wrong.”

“Theo.” Pellan’s jaw tightened when he looked at the shorter boy. “Your presence is unexpected.”

Why did she distinctly get the impression he’d meant to say his presence was unwanted?

“I’ve decided to assist in her training. After all, I am the primary trainer.”

“Your thoughts were quite clear on the subject.”

“My thoughts are unchanged. But she is one of our own now and will be treated as such.”

“If you harbor ill,” Garrick interjected, “it will be unwise for you to assist in this task.”

“It may be difficult for you to understand, vampire, but we’ll always take care of our own.”

“Theo. His name is Garrick,” Pellan said firmly.

“So, it is.” He shrugged, then turned the subject back to her training. “Your training methods won’t yield fruit. You’re going too soft on her. Her magic is ruthless and unyielding. It also needs provocation in order to goad a reaction. You sending softballs her way isn’t going to yield anything but bad results. If you want, I can show you how it’s done.”

She snorted. Pellan was the most powerful mage here. Even she could feel that. If Pellan couldn’t, what made him think he could?

“Do you doubt me?”

Without warning, a hazy deep green mist engulfed him on the stairs. In a blink, he was gone.

Then suddenly, she felt him behind her. His presence was overpowering, much like the Syste’s had been, but instead of tearing at her insides, his felt hot like a furnace when he landed an inch behind her. She tried to move away, but his magic coiled around her arms and legs, locking her into place. Her magic instantly responded, pooling from her hands, trying to break her free of his binds.

“See?”

“Let go of me.”

“Make me.”

“Let her go.” Garrick lunged at him, but Theo managed to create an impenetrable barrier in front of them that the vampire couldn’t get through. He tightened his binds around her arms so hard it was painful. She grunted.

“You’ve proved your point,” Pellan said.

“Have I? Look at her magic, Pellan.” The ropes of Theo’s magic squeezed her harder. She fought for air.

“You’re. Hurting. Me.” She squeezed out when he didn’t loosen his hold.

“Then make me stop.”

She gritted her teeth and tried to force her magic to do as he said, but it didn’t. Only darted up around his, weaving in and out, but couldn’t find traction.

“Look at it, Pellan. We’ve seen what her magic can do. It should have blown through my restraints like they were nothing. Even now, look at how weak it is. She won’t even protect herself. But you know who she will protect?”

His eyes cut to Garrick, who’d been held out of reach by the barrier he put in place.

Her magic yanked at his.

“There it is.” Theo smiled smugly, and she wanted nothing more than to wipe the smugness off of his face. “If you really want her to start learning how to control her magic, you need to put her in the line of fire.”

“Theo, whatever you’re thinking, don’t do it.”

“I want you to see the truth of her magic,” Theo said before turning to her. “You have one shot to save him.”

What?

“Theo, no,” Pellan shouted.

Theo didn’t heed him. Her limbs were locked into place. The magic constricting around her torso squeezed so hard she was sure she’d have cracked ribs when this was all done. A fireball erupted from his hands. She struggled against her restraints.

“Save him or he dies.”

In a blur, Theo’s magic flew directly at Garrick, engulfing him in a ball of flames.