Fates Entwined

30

“I thought you’d probably be hungry after working so hard all morning, so I brought sandwiches. I wasn't sure what kind you liked, so I got a couple different ones, plus some pasta salad. You can take your pick."

I was touched he'd gone to so much effort. “Thank you."

“Would you like to have a picnic out here before we go back?” he asked, gesturing toward the scraggly trees, which offered a tiny bit of shade.

"I'd like that." Jordan handed me one of the bags as we moved under the tree Griffin had been throwing rocks at. From his backpack, he pulled out a blanket for us to sit on. I dug around in the bags, checking out each sandwich, but they all sounded good and I wanted to try a bunch of them. In the end, Jordan and I split each sandwich so I could sample every one. We sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, eating our food. Jordan’s knee brushed against mine, and I didn’t move away.

“I spoke to Griffin,” I said, once my stomach was feeling a lot better and my headache had vanished. "I think he's feeling a bit...ignored. He misses you."

"Really?" Jordan asked, furrowing his brow. "I guess we haven't hung out much lately. Being alpha has taken up a lot of my time."

“He didn’t know you had the new game he wanted, but I think he'd like to play it with you. He also asked me to teach him tracking."

"Oh yeah?" He arched an eyebrow.

"It might be good for him. Give him a way to redirect all that energy he has."

Jordan let out a breath. “Thank you. For talking to him. It means a lot.”

“He and I have a lot in common,” I said. “I also have a brother who is an alpha. I know what it's like."

"Yeah, you do." Jordan looked out at the view of the desert as we ate, his eyes thoughtful.

I took another bite of my turkey sandwich. “This is delicious. Thank you again for bringing it.”

"You deserve it. I felt the moon magic as soon as I crossed the wards. Oh, that reminds me, there’s something I want to show you.” He reached for his backpack and pulled out a dark brown leather-bound book with a radiant sun embossed on the front. “My mom gave me a book of Sun Witch spells. I tried to take a look at it, but it’s overwhelming.”

I leaned over, tracing the old, carved leather cover with my fingers. “Let me guess, it's all in ancient Greek?” He nodded and pulled a face. “It can take a long time to learn, and then the spells themselves can be really tricky.”

Jordan let out a frustrated breath. “There’s no way I have time to learn all that right now." He tossed the book on the blanket. "Can’t you just teach me? You know all about magic.”

“I know a bit about moon magic, most of it from Larkin, but I don’t know anything about sun magic. You could ask Ayla. She's gotten pretty good at it."

“I don’t want to ask Ayla,” Jordan said, holding my gaze. “I only want you.”

I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry even though I’d just drank a bunch of water. The double meaning in his words wasn’t lost on me. I reached past him and picked the book up. “I’ll take a look at it,” I said, ignoring the heat of Jordan’s gaze and how those words made me feel.

"Thanks." He balled up the last of the sandwich wrappers and began cleaning up.

I thumbed through the book, scanning the pages. Ancient Greek wasn’t too hard for me anymore, thanks to all the tutoring from Larkin over the last few months, but I still had to slow down and try to figure out some of the terminology that was foreign to me. “A lot of it is similar to moon magic, in theory anyway. I think I could get you started on the basics at least.”

Jordan stood up and brushed off his jeans. "That would be great. I want to be ready in case Roxandra or any vampires come back, but I want to make sure I don't accidentally set anyone on fire either."

"We’d probably better get away from the trees,” I said, heading toward the big, open space that surrounded most of the Leo village. “We don't want you to light them on fire and burn them all down."

Jordan snorted but followed me a good distance away from anything that might be flammable. "Now what?"

“Try to empty your mind of everything, then repeat after me.” I recited the phrase I’d seen in the book, listed as one of the beginner spells.

Jordan repeated it, tripping over the unfamiliar pronunciation. I said it again, and Jordan repeated it, more confident this time.

“Good,” I said. “Now concentrate on keeping your mind calm and blank while you say it.”

Jordan tried, but nothing happened. He did it over and over, while the sun beat down on us, and sweat formed on our foreheads.

Eventually, Jordan kicked a rock in frustration. “This is pointless. I'm never going to learn this shit."

A short distance away, a scraggly tumbleweed caught on fire, bursting into an inferno in the time it took me to blink. I yelped and shot some cooling moon magic at it before it blew toward the trees.

Jordan's jaw dropped. "Did I do that?"

"It sure as hell wasn't me," I muttered.

"Oops." He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Now if only I knew how I did it."

"Hmm. Maybe sun magic is fueled by passion, whereas moon magic needs a clear, calm mind."

He flashed me one of his cocky smiles. “If it’s passion you want, I’ve got plenty to spare.”

I shoved at him playfully with my shoulder. “Prove it. Show me you can do it again.”