Dragon's Gift: The Protector 02 Trial by Magic

by Linsey Hall

  The answering heat in my blood just annoyed me.

  “Did you take my towel off?” I asked.

  “Technically, yes. But I didn’t see anything. I put you under the covers, first.”

  Huh. Okay. That was very gentlemanly. And decent.

  Though it shouldn’t be a surprise. Ares might look at me with heat in his gaze, but he also had a hell of a lot of honor. And not peeping at unconscious women ticked the honor box.

  I’d have to retract my perv statement.

  “Why are you here? Afraid I’m gonna run for it?” I asked.

  “I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He shrugged. “As for running for it—that’s the whole point of letting you come home between challenges. We want you to choose to complete the trials and become an ally. And anyway—if you ran, I’d find you.”

  Ugh. Didn’t I know it. “I’m going to get something to eat. You hungry?”

  “Yeah.” He stood, scrubbing a hand through his hair as if to flatten it. It didn’t work. But I liked the result anyway.

  I turned away, heading toward the kitchen. As I neared it, I realized that Ares looked different. Back to his normal, earthly self. No more blade-sharp cheekbones and cold eyes.

  Since I couldn’t handle the bright light in the kitchen, I ignored the switch and went straight to the fridge. I grabbed two sports drinks and a big bowl of leftover macaroni and cheese from the other day.

  It only took a few minutes to heat in the microwave, then I divided it into two bowls and carried my loot out to the living room. It was awkward, with the sports drinks tucked under my arms and the bowls in my hands, but I managed.

  Ares stood at the window, peering out at the night as if looking for predators.

  “See anything good?” I asked as I clumsily set the bowls on the table. The bottles dropped out from under my arms and plopped on the rug. I fished them out from under the coffee table, then sat.

  “No. Quiet night.” He turned to face me.

  “I’d say that’s good.”

  “Given your situation, I’d agree.” He joined me on the couch, sitting on the far end.

  “So my situation is that bad, huh?”

  “You’re getting ill frequently, so I’d say yes.”

  Shit. I thought he’d meant my situation with the Vampire Court. But no. He was cleverer than that. And he was fishing.

  I pointed to the bowl of mac and cheese closest to him. “That’s yours.”

  “Thanks.” He picked it up and began eating.

  I followed suit, chowing down. As long as I was chewing, I wasn’t answering questions. And I was famished, anyway.

  I barely came up for air. By the time the bowl was empty, I felt a lot better. The red sports drink was cool and quenching, tasting like sweet chemicals. Delightful. Only then did I realize how dehydrated I’d been. No wonder I had a headache.

  I wanted to get up and get a painkiller, but I was just too damned tired. So I slumped back against the couch. Every inch of my body felt like it’d been poured onto the sofa.

  “There’s a lot you’re not telling me, Nix.”

  I tilted my head on the cushion, gazing at him through tired eyes. “Back at you, champ.”

  But he didn’t look like a champ—not like the little kid version or even the MVP ballplayer kind. He looked big and strong and dangerous. And he was here in my living room, with all kinds of power over me and my future.

  It made me antsy.

  “Why do you get ill?” he asked. “Just randomly, you’ll stumble and look like you’re going to be sick.”

  I shrugged. “I eat crap I shouldn’t.”

  “Don’t hide things from me, Nix.” He turned to me, gaze intent. “I can help you. I want to help you.”

  Thing was, I kinda believed him. He still made me nervous, and I had no idea what his true end goal was, but he seemed sincere about trying to help me. I couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t do things I despised—like kidnapping the Kevins of the world—but he’d made it clear he wanted to help me as much as he could.

  “There’s stuff I don’t know about you, too,” I said. “Kinda scary stuff.”

  “We’ll trade,” he said.

  “Like, you show me yours and I show you mine?”

  “Basically.” His voice roughened. “I’m always interested in seeing yours.”

  I scowled, but only to hide the flush. Because I could feel his attraction to me. Not in the normal way, either. But deeper. Like there was something connecting us.

  “You said there’d be no side effects of sharing your blood,” I said. “But I feel a connection to you. A weird one.”

  His brow furrowed. “That’s not normal.”

  “Well, it’s there. I thought I felt it after you healed me in London. But now I definitely do.”

  He propped his strong arms on his knees, staring at his steepled hands. It looked like he was really trying to figure this out. And coming up short.

  “You really have no idea.” And that scared me.

  He turned, his gaze hot on me. “I know that you’re special, Nix. You can walk in the Shadowlands. Now you’re telling me that my blood has given you some kind of connection to me.”

  Shit. I’d thought I was accusing him of withholding some kind of secret vampire mojo from me.

  What if I’d been revealing more of my mysterious weirdness?

  Not good.

  “Why do you look so scary in the vampire realm? And your eyes are colder.” The words spilled from my lips. I wanted to know, but I also wanted to distract him from dwelling on my weirdness.

  Of course it didn’t work.

  “You’ve already had your question,” he said. “Now you have to show me yours.”

  “Then you get two questions in a row. Just answer this one.”

  He nodded. “Fine. That place brings out the vampiric nature. I become…more… there.”

  “And that’s why you prefer it in the human realm.”

  His mouth kicked up at the corner. “I see what you did there. You phrased it as a statement, but it’s actually a question.”

  I shrugged.

  “Fine,” he said. “But you’ll owe me. You’re right, though. I prefer earth. Unlike the rest of the vampires in the realm, I have a halfbreed side. That side makes me prefer earth. My humanity is smothered in the vampire realm, and I don’t like it.”

  “I kinda noticed that.” I preferred this Ares. The more human one.

  “Does your sickness have to do with the fact that you stole powers from Aleric, the man who killed Marin?” Ares asked.

  Shock raced through me, chilling my skin. I hadn’t told Ares I’d done that. As usual, I’d only told my deirfiúr. And I’d made sure that no one saw me take those powers.

  “Don’t try to deny it, Nix. It’s obvious what happened. He fell and sustained a mortal wound. Taking his power was the only smart thing to do.”

  “Smart?”

  “Yes. You’re smart. And I’m not an idiot.”

  I rolled my neck so that I stared at the ceiling. “Fine. I took his Destroyer power. But I haven’t had time to practice controlling it, so it makes me ill.”

  “Then you need to practice.”

  “I know that.”

  “Soon. As in, tomorrow. Or now. With the sickness hitting you at unknown times, you may not survive the next challenge.”

  I swallowed hard. “I know. I know. Tomorrow I will.”

  “Good. Now, what’s the Triumvirate?”

  My head whipped toward him. Or tried to. The exhaustion was creeping back on me, despite the importance of his question.

  “I heard Laima mention the Triumvirate, and that you’re part of it. And that you have a great task to accomplish.”

  “Eavesdrop much?”

  “It’s how I get the best information. So what is it?”

  I yawned, exhaustion tugging at me. My eyelids weighed a thousand pounds. “Haven’t we talked enough?”

  “Are you trying to avoid t
he question or are you tired?”

  I shrugged, my eyelids finally losing the battle. “Why not both?”

  Ares chuckled low.

  It was the last thing I heard.

  The second time I woke, my face was pressed into one of my couch pillows. Groggily, I scrubbed a hand over my eyes and sat up.

  Dawn sunlight cut through the blinds, striping across the rug. My eyes flared wide.

  What time was it?

  Laima’s warning about the beaker flashed in my mind. Now that I was recovered and well-rested, my responsibilities were battering their way into my mind.

  If Ares were still in my apartment, he wasn’t in the living room with me. He must have stretched me out on the couch last night after I’d fallen asleep as a defense mechanism—like a fainting goat.

  I dragged myself off the couch, then hurried into the kitchen, shutting the door and leaning against it. I pressed my fingertips to the comms charm around my neck.

  “Cass? Del?”

  “Hey!” Cass’s voice sounded bright and chipper.

  “How are you?” Del asked.

  “Pass the vamp test with flying colors?” Cass added.

  “I passed, at least. Have you discovered anything about the beaker?”

  “Yeah, a bit,” Cass said. “Want to meet in an hour at P&P? Go over some things?”

  I glanced at the clock over the stove. 8 a.m. right now. “Yeah. Nine would be perfect.”

  “Great, see you then,” Cass said.

  “Later!” Del added.

  I cut the connection with the comms charm and grabbed an energy drink out of the fridge, chugging the first half of the sweet stuff.

  The apartment was quiet as I crept through the living room toward the bathroom and bedroom. I held my breath as I peered into the bedroom.

  Ares was sprawled over my bed, shirt off and hair tousled.

  Gulp.

  He looked too damned good. And this was too damned intimate. Seeing him in my bed made warmth flush through me. Warmth that I definitely wasn’t prepared to think about.

  “Hey!” I shouted.

  Ares popped up, eyes alert.

  “Comfy?” I asked.

  “Very.” His voice was sleep roughened. “You look better. Feel all right?”

  “One hundred percent. But you need to scram.” I hiked a thumb toward the living room. “I need to change and meet my friends in an hour.”

  Ares glanced at the bedside clock. “You can use that hour to practice your magic. You’re going to need it.”

  It wasn’t a bad idea. But what did he mean by I was going to need it? “Do you know something about my next task?”

  He nodded. “Starts this afternoon.”

  “No break. Of course.”

  “What do you call last night?”

  “Fair point.” But considering that I had to help my deirfiúr track down an invaluable archaeological and magical treasure, I needed more time. But since I wasn’t going to get it, I’d have to make do with what I had. I waved for him to get up. “Come on, get.”

  He climbed out of bed, wearing just his boxer briefs. I spun around eyeing the window and trying to banish the image of muscular thighs. “You can change in the living room.”

  The problem with my suggestion was that it meant he walked in front of me in just his tight black underwear.

  The butt on that dude…

  I squeezed my eyes shut and turned to my bedroom. It didn’t take long to rifle through my clothes—thank fates I’d done the laundry before this madness started. I pulled out a kitty Princess Leia shirt and tugged it on, completing it with my usual jeans and motorcycle boots. A leather jacket finished the ensemble.

  As I returned to the living room, I took stock of my magic. The rest and recover had done wonders, refilling me nearly to the brim.

  Ares waited for me in the living room, completely dressed, thankfully.

  “Why are you still here?” I asked.

  “You looked like hell last night. I thought you could use the help.”

  “Thanks. But why are you here now?” I was healthy now. I didn’t need to be back to the Vampire Court until this afternoon.

  “I like you, Nix. And I figured I could give you a ride to someplace where you can practice your magic without causing problems.”

  Huh. The way he said it… so out in the open. No shifty games or hinting. And he did have a point. My new magic was destruction. I needed to go somewhere where I wouldn’t destroying things I shouldn’t.

  “Thanks,” I said. “Any idea where we should go? It needs to be somewhere empty. No people or valuable things that I could hurt.”

  He smiled, as if glad I’d agreed to go with him. “I have an idea. But you’ll have to bring some things to practice on.”

  “Not a problem.” I hurried to the kitchen, grabbing an iron pot that had a broken handle. I’d hated to throw it away, but it was in such bad shape I couldn’t really use it.

  Now, it’d help me practice my magic. Not a bad way to go.

  Then I grabbed a burned dishrag and a pencil that had been sharpened down to a nub. None of it was as big as the stuff I’d seen Aleric destroy with this gift, but you had to start somewhere.

  I carried my loot back to the living room. “Ready to go!”

  Ares turned to face me. The sun cut across his face, caressing his features. For a creature of the night, he sure looked good in the sun. He held out a hand.

  I took it, trying not to focus on how strong he felt.

  “Hang on,” he said.

  I grinned. A moment later, the ether sucked us in.

  When I opened my eyes on the other side, I gasped.

  The land stretched out flat and white in front of us, gleaming under the light of the full moon. The moonlight reflected so brightly that it was easy to see. The sight was eerily beautiful, the night silent and warm.

  “Where are we?” I breathed. “This place is incredible.”

  “It’s the Rann of Kutch, in Rajasthan, India. One of the largest salt deserts in the world.”

  “Wow.” I spun in a circle, taking in the beautiful emptiness around me. There wasn’t much here—just the flat white ground that must be covered in salt and the full moon—but the place was magnificent in its simplicity.

  “Perfect place, right?”

  “Yeah. Really is.” I sat on the white ground and spread my loot out before me. The salt was grainy beneath me, making me wish for a giant Margarita despite the early hour. Though, technically, it was about eight at night here. So, after happy hour. I grinned, then banished the thought to focus on the task at hand. “I’m going to get started.”

  Except, I had no idea what to do. I’d tried practicing this magic the day before yesterday, but had had no luck. Both my deirfiúr had tried to help, giving me their techniques for learning a new skill, but it hadn’t worked.

  It’d been a long time since I’d had to practice my conjuring.

  “You’re lost,” Ares said.

  I looked up at him, standing tall in the moonlight.

  “Kinda,” I said. “It’s just that it’s so contrary to my normal magic. I’m used to creating. Destroying is so…weird.”

  And wrong. I knew destruction could be a good thing. But in so many cases, it wasn’t. Especially not the way I’d seen Aleric use this gift. He’d blown apart metal stairs and nearly destroyed a great metal door.

  Those could be handy skills to have. And even if I didn’t get that level of control, I at least had to come to peace with the new magic within me so that I didn’t keep getting sick.

  “What have you tried before?” Ares asked.

  “Um, visualization. My friend Del imagines her magic as a light that she controls. But it didn’t work for me.”

  “No, I can see how that might not work for everyone.” Ares looked thoughtful. “But visualization is a good technique. It worked for me while I was learning my powers as a child.”

  “You have a lot, don’t you?”


  “From my mother, yes. She was very talented.”

  So far I’d seen his gift for creating light and walking through foreign realms. Not to mention the healing power in his blood. I wondered what else he had up his sleeve.

  The breeze blew across my face, feeling divine. It sparked an idea. “I could try something else, maybe. Give me a moment.”

  I hadn’t had a lot of time to practice before. We’d been too busy dealing with the aftermath of Aleric and returning the beaker to its proper resting place—where it no longer was.

  But now I had time. And I had to come up with something good.

  The cool breeze brushed past my cheek again. It was so lovely, giving me energy and strength.

  An idea popped into my head. Wind.

  It could build things—like sand dunes—or it could destroy. Every hurricane and tornado was proof of that. Maybe I shouldn’t have envisioned my magic as light like Del did. Wind made more sense.

  I closed my eyes and drew in a deep breath. It was easy to feel the Destroyer’s magic in my body. It felt like sickness. A vague nausea that stayed with me always, roaring up to attack at inopportune moments.

  The wind rustled across my hair and I focused on it, drawing it within myself. I could feel it. I’d have bet twenty bucks this wasn’t visualization at all. Wind roared through me, circling around inside my chest, drawing up the sickness into a small ball.

  With a trembling hand, I reached out and touched the pencil stub, then forced the wind through my arm and into the slender bit of wood.

  The Destroyer magic followed the wind. I peeked, watching. Hoping.

  The pencil looked the same.

  I sucked in a deep breath and forced more wind into it, praying the destruction magic followed along.

  The pencil began to crack, splintering down the middle.

  “You’re doing it,” Ares said. “Keep going.”

  I did, feeding the pencil more and more of the destroying wind. At this point, I was creating the wind as much as I was absorbing it from the atmosphere.

  Finally, the pencil shattered into dust.

  I collapsed, barely supporting myself on my hands. Suddenly, I realize how much the magic had taken out of me. Sweat cooled on my brow and my muscles ached.