Natural Mage (Magical Mayhem #2)(68)

The pull of him washed over me, begging me to close the distance between us. Emery felt like a lifeboat in the midst of a storm. A place where I could safely unburden myself. He wouldn’t judge me or tell me I’ll get used to it—he’d just listen, and hold me, and make it more bearable.

Unless I was completely misreading him…

“Turn on the light so I can see what you’re doing,” Dizzy said, squinting at the dagger in Reagan’s hand.

“This ward is…” Emery scanned the house. So much magic pulsed in the ward that it was visible. The light flicked on, illuminating his face. His gaze came to rest on mine, and I drank in his beautiful blue eyes, so unique, with a ring of gold encircling the pupil, and from that, light blue streaking and webbing over darker blue until it all ended in a circle of smoky blue. It was like looking at the Milky Way on a clear night. “The best I have ever seen, Penny Bristol.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, my face heating with pride. Coming from him, that was an enormous compliment. “Reagan helped.”

“But I was told Reagan is not a mage.”

“No, she’s…” Reagan stopped what she was doing, the dagger suspended over Callie’s finger, and lifted her eyebrows at me expectantly. “She’s an asshole.”

“I’ve trained her well,” Reagan said.

“No, she’s just stating the obvious.” Callie sighed and reached for the dagger. “Penny, get up here and take over. Reagan is stalling.”

“I’m not stalling. I’m giving them a chance to catch up while you are distracted.” She nicked Callie’s finger. “Though she does need to do a little magic.”

Callie winced but didn’t pull back her hand. “Should he see this spell?” She nodded toward Emery.

“He’ll improve upon it.” Without batting an eye, I chose from the magic I had on standby in the cloud above me, and effortlessly re-created the weave. Reagan had been right: practicing over and over had given me magical muscle memory, and now, with the distraction of Emery standing next to me, looking at me, I just let it fly without having to think.

“Impressive,” Emery murmured, his eyes on my hands. “Is that your spell, or from a book?”

“Was that condescending?” Reagan put up her finger and tilted her head. “Judges’ ruling?”

“It would only be condescending if you were saying it,” Dizzy said with a smile, and patted Reagan on the shoulder. He stepped up to get his finger nicked.

“It originated from a book.” I waited for Dizzy’s welling of blood. “I changed it a little as our paranoia about the Guild increased, and then altered it when Reagan found holes or issues.”

“So you are a mage, then?” Emery asked Reagan. His gaze had turned analytical, even shrewd. He would soon learn that there would always be one very troubling unknown in this neighborhood. Her name was Reagan, and she delighted in being mysterious.

“Nope. An asshole, remember?” She tucked her dagger into its holster on her thigh.

Emery’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t push.

“You still didn’t tell us what you were doing.” Callie waited for me to open the door and step aside before she filed into the house, Dizzy falling in behind her.

Reagan stopped next to me, her back to Emery, who still hadn’t moved up the stairs. “I’ll keep them busy yelling at me. You know, if you want to bump uglies with Mr. Hot Pants. But if he plans on staying, we’re going to need to make some changes. I trust you. I don’t know him, which means I don’t trust him. No offense. Stranger danger, you see what I’m saying?”

While I was still trying to sort through all of that, wondering which part to respond to first, she strode through the door.

Emery looked out over the street, then up at me from under his eyelashes. I could tell he was uncomfortable, which made me nervous for how this conversation would go.

“You can come in.” I gestured at the door. “I just need some blood. Or…if you’re worried about knives, I can bring you through by touching you.”

He ran his fingers through his hair. “I hadn’t planned on intruding. I don’t want to mess up what you have going here. I just—” He slipped his hands into his pockets again, and my stomach knotted. “I still get forewarnings when you’re in danger. From what I can gather, I saw them when you were in Darius’s house.”

“Oh.” The breath exited my mouth in a rush. “Yeah. That was a dinner gone wrong.”

“And again earlier tonight. It looked like you were running on grass?”

“Ah. Um…” I glanced through the opened door, wondering if I should go warn Reagan that the Bankses were armed with knowledge.

A shape materialized from the entrance to the cemetery across the street, Smokey drifting through the shadows. If I hadn’t known he was for sure human, I’d definitely wonder.

Emery turned nearly immediately, eyeing the creepy guy as he loitered near the wall. Magic streamed up from over a dozen places near us.

“No, no!” I hurried down the steps and put my hand on Emery’s arm. A surge of electricity zapped into my hand from the contact, traveling up my arm and then through my body before exiting through my feet. My teeth clamped shut and my toes curled as my blood felt like it was flash-boiling. The breath exited Emery’s mouth in a gush.