Book Read Free

Unexpected Magic

Page 16

by Ann Macela


  “Billy was extremely competitive, even with me, even though it made no sense, because I’d always be a higher level than he was. You could be right about his jealous feelings, though. Especially in light of what he said in the arena about proving himself to me.”

  Johanna told Saxt the events of that horrible day, how wonderful she’d felt at the beginning, how it all had gone to pieces after she arrived at the small arena in the Defender Building and found Billy with an evil item, how devastated she was at the end.

  “I knew he was discouraged and frustrated because he wasn’t progressing with the Sword spells as fast as he wanted to. Engineering—and almost everything—came easy to him. Sword spells didn’t. I thought he understood the difficult work, the hard practice involved in being one of us. He was making excellent progress. Why he believed he had to ‘prove’ his abilities to me and himself, I never understood. I’ve never known where he even got that idea.”

  “Proving yourself must be a part of young male Sword culture here,” Saxt suggested. “Harlen Grimstead told me that Chuck gave the idea as one of his reasons for going to Bellman. Didn’t Phil say he wanted a duel to ‘prove’ himself?”

  “Oh, God,” Johanna groaned. “Another problem to address in training.”

  “I assume Billy stole the item from the vault. How did he manage it?”

  “Nobody ever discovered that. The vault keepers don’t teach their specialized unlocking spells to anyone outside their circle, so Billy had no access to the spells to open it. He hadn’t progressed far enough in his Sword training to learn even the simpler unlocking spells we use when we’re searching for evil items.

  “The keepers ran an inventory afterward, of course. Several items were missing—mostly in the level-one-to-two range, but a couple of level fives and a level ten also. The worst, and the one everybody assumed Billy had, was catalogued as a level twelve.” She shuddered as she remembered its awful stench. “Knowing what I do now, it could have been even higher than that. When I was on the balcony, I could feel the evil looking for a victim, coming right through Billy’s pentagon. He said he couldn’t feel it at all.”

  The memory sent a cold chill through her body. Saxt must have felt it because he took both her hands and rubbed them between his. The effects of his warmth flowed throughout her body.

  “The item could have been masking itself from him. I’ve read that can happen with the powerful ones,” he said.

  Johanna held tight to his hands. Here came the worst part. She looked into his eyes and made herself continue. “When Billy faced off against it and drew his sword, I yelled at him to stop, and I climbed over the balcony railings. Twisted my ankle when I let myself fall to the arena floor. It hurt like crazy when I hobbled toward him. Before I could get close to him, he attacked with only a blue beam. He wasn’t paying attention to me or what he’d been taught about the need to have extra power so the beam would flash to white when it hit. That awful item shot a black beam straight at his sword. Billy’s pentagon exploded.”

  In her mind, Johanna again saw the flash and heard the blast. She felt her eyes tear up. Retelling the story was much harder than she anticipated. Saxt had asked for it, however. She could do this. Only a few more words would finish the tale.

  “The shockwave threw me to the wall. When I finally reached Billy, he was barely conscious, only able to tell me he loved me.” Even though she hadn’t be able to return the words. She’d carry that regret forever.

  Johanna blinked rapidly, but it was impossible to stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks when she choked out, “He died in my arms.”

  “Oh, honey, come here.” Saxt pulled her into his arms.

  She didn’t start bawling, thank goodness, although she sniffled for a couple of minutes. He didn’t say a word, simply held her and rubbed her back. She finally managed to relax in the comfort and reassurance of his strong embrace.

  After she had better control of herself, and without raising her head from his shoulder, she told the last of it. “Billy had massive internal injuries. In addition, his hands were so horribly burned that they would probably have been lost even if he could have been saved. The masters thought the beam from the item ran right up his sword, burned his hands, then battered its way through his body, and finally exploded when it hit his fortress walls.”

  She sat up, and Saxt, smiling gently, soothed her hair from her face.

  “And you became a Sword master to make sure nobody else ever made Billy’s mistakes,” he said.

  “Something like that.” She took a deep breath and gave him a wobbly smile.

  “What happened to the item?”

  “That vile thing? I guess it exploded, too. I only remember somebody prying my hands off Billy—I didn’t want to let him go—and I collapsed with a couple of people holding me … and that’s all. The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital.”

  “All that evil had to go somewhere,” Saxt said and shrugged. “It’s probably no big deal. I was just curious. If the item’s still around, it might be a good candidate for your team to destroy—retribution, as it were.”

  “I never thought about doing that. We’ll have to ask the vault keepers. They might know.”

  Saxt kissed her lightly, a comforting brush of his lips on hers. “Are you okay?”

  Johanna sighed, a breath she felt to her toes. “Yes, I am, although I didn’t expect to be so emotional. I haven’t really thought about that day in such a long time. Thank you for listening. I feel much lighter now. Somehow telling you lifted a big load off my mind.”

  “Whenever I can help, say the word.”

  “Same goes for me.”

  Saxt gazed into her big blue and serious eyes. She wanted and needed to hear his story. He, however, really didn’t want to delve into his own tale of death and destruction. Johanna’s had worn him out, probably almost as much as it had her. On top of that, he hadn’t yet decided how much to tell her. She wasn’t to blame for Billy’s idiocy. He, on the other hand …

  No, definitely not tonight. It was time to change the subject. Lighten the mood. Enjoy each other.

  “I’d like nothing better than to spend the night in each other’s arms on this couch. The problem is, we’d end up horizontal instead of vertical, and probably with no clothes on.” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

  Puzzlement showed in her eyes until she realized his implication. She stiffened and drew back in the circle of his arms. “Oh.”

  He leaned in and kissed that “O.”

  Johanna squinted her eyes at him in one of those suspicious, what-do-you-think-you’re-doing, teacher looks that he’d seen her aim at students. “You’re trying to distract me, aren’t you? Get both our minds off our losses.”

  “Is it working?” He tried to look sheepish while his center liked the idea very much. “I don’t know if the imperative is behind what I’m thinking …”

  “And what is that, exactly?”

  “… or if it’s simply the result of having you close.” His hands were on her waist, and he slid them around her, which had the effect of pulling her nearer.

  She rolled her eyes and relaxed. She must have been ready for a change of subject, too, because she smiled and batted her eyelashes innocently, but the twinkle in her eyes proclaimed the opposite. “So, you’re thinking …”

  “About not thinking.” He brushed her lips with hers.

  “About not dwelling on the past.” He gave her another light kiss.

  “About enjoying the present and looking forward to the future.” This time he kissed her a little more deeply. Rejoiced when her tongue began to play with his. Exulted when she kissed him back.

  No all-consuming instant conflagration ignited with this kiss. Instead, a steady desire grew while he tasted and played—a comfortable delight that heated his blood, his center, and his cock.

  When she wound her arms around his neck, and her soft breasts pressed against his chest, he took the kiss deeper. Until all
that existed were the two of them, together.

  She made a little yearning sound that vibrated through him and resonated in his heart.

  Once again he knew absolutely they were soul mates. He was hers, and she was his. He held her tight and kissed her as if she and their kiss were the only things on earth.

  And right here, right now, they were.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Later, in bed—a lonely one at the HeatherRidge—Saxt didn’t know how he managed to leave Johanna’s house without taking her upstairs to her own big bed where neither of them would be lonely. His magic center, his body, his mind, all were pushing him to seal the soul-mate bond then and there.

  For now, Johanna seemed content with a few kisses and some cuddling. Probably too exhausted after telling him about Billy to do more than that. Still, she had a hesitancy about taking the bonding step that he couldn’t quite figure out. What could it come from?

  She’d given him one clue. He’d been teasing her again and told her, “A little green monster is whispering in my ear about men you might have dated over the years. Not that I have the right to ask, of course.”

  He wasn’t sure if she was angry he’d brought up the subject, or resigned, or embarrassed. She was certainly sly when she answered, “Of course you don’t. Have the right, I mean. I will, however, tell you this much. You have no rivals.”

  “Good.” He anticipated her next question by adding, “You don’t, either.”

  “What about all those society reports of ‘Sexy Saxton?’ Pictures of you with a different woman at each event? I didn’t imagine those.”

  “Ah, you’ve been checking up on me. A good sign. They were business or charitable occasions, that’s all. Far in the past. None of those women gave me the pleasure I have simply being with you. Or excited me as much when I …” He kissed her, a light teasing kiss in which he felt her smile.

  They didn’t return to that subject, but it raised questions in his mind. What had she been doing for sex in the years since Billy?

  According to his quick research, widows were not under the same constraints as virgin female practitioners who had not had a soul mate. The imperative left widows alone—unless a new mate appeared. Some widows turned to non-practitioners for sex. Some dated solely within the practitioner fold, although that could bring a double sort of loneliness if their lovers found their true mates later. Others abstained from sex altogether.

  The latter had to be the case with Johanna. After Billy’s death, she’d focused on becoming a teaching master, specializing in Defender and Sword education. Lord, how she must have concentrated and worked, to the exclusion of all else, to become one by the age of thirty. When he thought about the strenuous, complicated requirements and testing, he was surprised she found time to paint, even after she became a master.

  To be honest, Saxt didn’t think much of her soul mate—no, make that her previous mate. Billy was lucky only he had been killed and not Johanna, too. What a foolhardy stunt to take on an item by yourself as a novice.

  Of course, when Saxt was nineteen, he’d taken part in some idiotic adventures and escapades, made some bad decisions, usually involving cars, women, and liquor. Not magic. Never magic. His Sword father drilled into him the dangers, glories, and most of all the responsibilities of having such powers even before Saxt discovered his talent. He had a lot to thank his old man for teaching him—from finesse with a magic blade to respect for a woman.

  Billy had not had such a mentor, one who understood Swords. Or even anyone except her who could offer experienced advice, from what Johanna said. Or, if he had, he certainly hadn’t listened to any of them.

  Had she gotten over him? It had been seventeen years. Of course she had. Johanna had too much integrity and honesty to be making out with Saxt, especially taking part in those totally arousing kisses, if she was attached in any way to her former mate. No, something else was holding her back from bonding. He’d simply have to be patient. One day she’d be his. Two Swords together.

  Thinking of Swords in the family, what would it be like having one for a mate? Because of his position on the Committee On Swords, he knew no Sword-Sword soul mates existed anywhere in the world at the present time. What was it like for the non-Sword in a family, dealing with the demands such a talent made? He’d have to find out, talk to some.

  True, his father had been a Sword. His mother possessed no Defender talents. Saxt had no recollection of her expressing a problem with his father’s Sword activities—or with his own. Would she have showed any anxiety, to either of them? Probably not. After all, she understood the demands of duty. He was afraid, however, he wasn’t going to be able to emulate her calmness when his mate fought against evil.

  “Sword-dom” wasn’t his only problem, Saxt realized. He’d have to get used to living with a woman again—like that would be difficult. Not with all the benefits.

  Except … What would it be like having a wife who was extremely active outside the home? Who was herself accustomed to a life alone?

  Maddy had been a homemaker above all else. Her magic talents revolved around making a home, having and raising children, and helping him with his social chores. Everyone loved to come to their parties and dinners because of the welcome they received in the Falkner house. When Robby was born, she told him her life was complete. Oh, they both wanted and expected more children, of course. They had been actively “working on it.” Then the car crash.

  His old life had ended in that instant. Now, after years of his own solitude, the soul-mate phenomenon had seen fit to give him another mate. Another wife, the possibility of children. A new life.

  He was definitely looking forward to all of it.

  He’d make certain Johanna did, too. He had to be patient, though, no matter how long it took. No need to worry, not with the imperative on his side. She’d be his soon.

  On that note, Saxt punched the pillow and went to sleep.

  He woke at some weird hour of the morning, the shock of the crash rocketing through his bones, the sound of his scream echoing in the room. He found himself standing by the side of the bed in a fighting pose, his hands almost together to draw his blade. Carefully he lowered his arms to his side and straightened up. Sat down on the bed and rubbed his face, hoping to scrub the nightmare remnants out of his head.

  That would teach him to think about such subjects before he slept. He hadn’t had one of those dreams in years. He should know better.

  He stalked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face and chest. Avoided glancing in the mirror. Drank a glass of water and marched back to bed.

  “Johanna,” Saxt muttered as he closed his eyes again. “Think of Johanna.”

  His later dream, where Johanna made a prominent appearance, was much more pleasant—while frustrating in the extreme.

  ***

  Wednesday was one big mess, Saxt decided while he gazed around the conference room that afternoon. Oh, sure, he and Johanna had a few moments together at breakfast before they drove to the HeatherRidge, and he was anticipating to taking her home tonight.

  Between breakfast and now? One meeting after another. First with Jake, who was even more harried than Saxt was. They decided to take control of the “new method” circus together—no matter who they pissed off.

  Their planning success almost evaporated in a puff of magic smoke when Miriam Chandler, president of the Defender Council, and Barnaby Higginbotham, president of the Teaching Master Council, walked in the door. What a pair! Miriam, six feet of physical and magic power with abilities of both command and persuasion, and Barnaby, short and skinny with sharp eyes and an even keener mind behind his wire-rimmed spectacles.

  They each thought their council should be in control of the new method training. Saxt reminded himself that working out the problems and rivalries of practitioner politics was no different from coming to a win-win conclusion in a business transaction. He and Jake had come up with a plan that morning and were in agreement.

&n
bsp; Saxt knew how to use preparation, organization, persuasion, and perseverance to triumph over chaos. He rolled up his sleeves, set his mind in negotiation mode, and got to work. By the end of the day, he and Jake had agreement to their program.

  The two of them were definitely in charge. They would create a schedule, and those wanting training had to sign up. No matter whether the trainees were Defenders and Swords or teachers learning how to train their students. None of this “show up and expect to be accommodated” crap from anybody. The testing and power calibration experiment would pick up again when teams were comfortable with their spinning rings, and Herb and Gary had recalibrated their instruments for the higher levels.

  As chair of the Committee on Swords, Saxt would represent the Defender Council. Barnaby appointed Jake an ad hoc member of the Teaching Master Council. Everybody was happy. Saxt was exhausted. Why did he ever agree to be on the damn committee?

  When he asked the question of his partner in the endeavor after everybody else had left, Jake grinned. “If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have met Johanna.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Hell, man. I’ve got eyes. Clyde does, too. We both know soul mates when we see them. Johanna is practically glowing.”

  Saxt almost groaned. That’s all he and Johanna would need. Rumors flying, then all the congratulations. Other people liked to gossip about celebrities. Practitioners loved to speculate about new soul-mate couples. “Do me a favor and keep it quiet, would you?”

  “No problem. I doubt anybody else has recognized it. We did because we know her so well. Clyde and I are both overjoyed for Johanna. She deserves a soul mate. By the way, I have to tell you that if you do the slightest thing to hurt that woman, we’re both coming after you.” Jake scowled and gave Saxt a “teacher stare.”

  “Yes, sir,” Saxt said, trying hard to keep a very straight face. The “expressions” must come with the teaching degree, he decided. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

 

‹ Prev