if he’s able to feel my anxiety.
Nodding, I turn to face the waiting mages. I’m a little disconcerted that these people know more about me than I do about them, but Grayson seems to trust me. “What do you want to know?”
Merrin opens his mouth to ask a question, but Ellis leans forward, his expression one of concern as he cuts him off. “How did you survive my magic?”
Glancing across at Grayson, I see him nod in encouragement and I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding. The others eagerly wait for my response, but I don’t know what they expect, I know next to nothing about magic, after all.
“I’m not sure,” I admit, as I shrug my shoulders, instantly regretting it as pain follows the movement. Pierre emits an annoyed sound in the back of his throat, making me flinch. Anger bubbles up inside me. I’m annoyed, but I don’t want the magician to see how much he’s affecting me.
“This is pointless,” Pierre growls, looking like he’s about to jump up and use a different, more violent method to force me to talk. He doesn’t believe me, and I get the impression that whatever I say, he’s going to believe otherwise.
“She’s telling the truth. Let the girl talk,” Merrin chides, and I can hear a note of anger in his tone that hadn’t been there before. Perhaps it’s not just me who dislikes the magician. “Continue, please.”
“We have found that since I was blessed, I can…” Pausing, I try to determine how to describe it, recalling what Grayson said when we first discovered my gifts from the Mother. “I can detect magic. I can feel it. It’s like there’s a heaviness in the air. I can also amplify magic.”
The atmosphere of the room seems to change as I speak, the mages watching me with a new interest in their eyes. Their expressions range from general interest to greed, and it makes me nervous. I won’t be used as a tool, not anymore.
“Yet she has no magic?” Merrin directs his question at Grayson, who simply nods to confirm.
“Show us,” Pierre demands with a hungry gleam in his eyes, suddenly interested now that I may be of use to him.
Glancing over at Grayson for reassurance, I see how tense he is as he watches us, but he nods reluctantly. Closing one hand into a fist, he gestures with the other, muttering under his breath, and once he unfurls his fist, a small ball of light sits in his palm. The thick, syrupy feeling fills the air again as I stare at the light. Magic amazes me, how it can create something out of nothing.
Looking up, I watch as Grayson smiles slightly and tilts his head as he waits for me to walk over and join him. Slowly, and with more pain than I would like, I make my way to his side.
“Just touch it like you did before,” he instructs, glancing over at the other magicians who are watching closely. “You might want to shield your eyes,” he warns, his smile growing slightly as his cheeky side starts to surface. I don’t know if they heeded his warning or not, I simply reach out and touch the glowing orb. Like before, it instantly grows, filling the room with a blinding light before it seemingly explodes into a hundred little lights that fizzle around us.
The room is completely silent. Ellis and Merrin stare at me in surprise, while Pierre looks like all his wishes have come true.
“Are the fireworks over yet?” Jayne’s voice breaks the silence and the energy in the space settles as they all smile.
“Yes, thank you, Jayne,” Grayson answers, as she bustles in and places a tray of steaming cups on the small table in the centre of the room. The three high magicians talk together as Jayne arranges everything on the table and then leaves with a small smile aimed at me, her eyes gleaming. I know that the tears and hugs are not over yet, and once our ‘guests’ leave, I will be barraged with more questions.
I don’t blame her, I have so many questions myself, I think to myself as the memories from earlier today flash through my head. Flinching away from the images, I realise I’ve closed my eyes and I’m still crouching next to Grayson, who is watching me with a concerned frown. I stand quickly, hurrying back over to my chair, acutely aware of several sets of eyes on me