The Spell Realm (The Sorcery Code #2)(29)

“Truth be told, I am not surprised that I floated,” Gala said, looking at him. “I think I wanted to. I was feeling so good and so light . . .”

“Good.” Blaise was glad to hear that. “Now we need to figure out how you can use some of what you learned to control your spell casting.”

“I want to try something,” she said with a mischievous expression on her face, and before Blaise could respond, she started walking toward the water. Blaise figured she wanted to go for a swim, but she didn’t move to take off her clothes. It was only when she took the first step that he finally understood what she was doing.

She was walking on the calm waters of the lake, her feet barely creating any ripples.

Grinning at her achievement, Blaise pulled out his Interpreter Stone and quickly wrote a spell for himself—and then he headed toward the water, joining Gala in walking on the surface.

Apparently hearing something, she looked behind her, toward Blaise, and immediately started sinking. She broke her focus, he realized. Concentration was critical for her, it seemed. She was up to her shapely calves in the water when he grabbed her hand.

With his support, she seemed to recover quickly, her feet once again gliding on the water as they walked further. Blaise knew his spell would only work for a limited time, so he tried to enjoy the thrill of it. It had been ages since he had done something like this—simply using magic for the sheer fun of experiencing something no one else could do.

After a couple of minutes, Gala slowed down and reached for his other hand, facing him as they stood in the middle of the lake. He could feel the familiar pulsing heat rising between them, and he lowered his head, kissing her again. She kissed him back fiercely, her arms coming up to wrap around his neck. Their bodies moved and swayed together, almost as if they were dancing . . . and then Blaise felt his spell end. He began to sink, and Gala gasped, losing her focus again.

They fell into the water with a splash. Out here, away from the shore, the water was much cooler, and Blaise could feel it seeping through his clothes. The heated moment was over. Cursing and laughing, they swam to the shore.

Emerging from the lake with their clothes dripping, they quickly headed back to the chaise. “I think that’s plenty of training for now,” Blaise said, grinning at Gala. “You did what you set out to do for today.”

She beamed back at him. “I did, didn’t I? I finally controlled a spell!”



*



After they came back from the lake, Gala joined Maya and Esther, and the women went to check on a pregnant woman in the village. Blaise was left alone in the house with Liva. This was his opportunity to implement an idea that had been hovering in his mind ever since his and Gala’s semi-dance on the lake.

Going to the room he was sharing with Gala, he laid out a few spell cards and his Interpreter Stone. He wanted to give Gala a gift, and he knew just the thing she would like. As he was writing out the spell, he caught himself grinning. He was looking forward to Gala’s reaction to this.

As he was finishing up, he heard a tentative knock on the door.

“Come in,” he called out, not bothering to put away the evidence of his work. Given what he’d learned about Liva, he didn’t think she would mind him doing a little sorcery in her house.

The older woman entered the room with an uncertain expression on her face. When she spotted the cards and the Stone, her eyes widened. “Is that the Interpreter Stone?” she asked reverently. “I heard about this new invention from some of the recent arrivals, but I’ve never seen it before.”

“Yes, this is the Stone,” Blaise said. “Would you like to take a look at it?”

Liva’s face lit up. “Oh, may I?” She reached out and picked up the black object with trembling fingers. “This is amazing . . . Is it true that you can do all kinds of complex spells with it?”

“Yes, it’s true,” Blaise confirmed, and he repeated some of the things he had explained to Gala earlier in the day. Liva listened intently, hanging on his every word. There was an expression of longing on her face, and he realized that she was as hungry for arcane knowledge as he was himself.

“What do you use your spells for?” he asked Liva, wondering how she managed to do magic in a place that seemed to frown upon sorcery in all its forms.

“Oh, I only use it for things that will not be attributed to spell casting,” she said, looking at him. “When someone is sick in a way that nothing else would help, I sometimes use a spell to make them feel better. I can’t always cure them, but I try to take some pain away.”

“That’s quite impressive,” Blaise said, studying the woman with newfound respect. Healing spells were not easy, particularly when done in verbal form. Her knowledge base was more extensive than he had thought.

“I also help out with food in the winter months,” she added, looking pleased at the praise, “and when the storms hit.”

“Does that happen frequently?”

She shook her head. “Fortunately, no. But when it does happen, it’s brutal. People die, and we have to rebuild our homes. The worst ones can do severe damage to the local forests, destroying edible plants and causing animals to hide in other areas.”

“So what do you do then?” Blaise asked curiously. “How does the village survive?”

“There are a few fruit trees at the very edge of the village, as well as some that bear nuts,” she explained. “I figured out a way to help those trees thrive, even in tough times. It’s not that different from doing a healing spell. The rest of the village think the trees are just unusually sturdy. So between that and some of the meat that we cure, we usually make it through.”