A Little Green Magic (The Little Coven #1) - Isabel Wroth Page 0,103
her change of subject with a nod. “I did.”
“Are you okay?” she pressed gently, the wealth of sadness he managed to squeeze into two words made her want to cry.
He was quiet for a moment, his hand absently rubbing up and down her arm. “Before I came to understand that much of what our father said was artful lies and misdirection to ensure my loyalty, I spent my childhood resenting her, and you. He told me I had been unwanted, practically abandoned in the woods to die when he'd come to rescue me.
“He said mother didn't want me for a myriad of reasons that sounded terrible and damning to a young boy, and went on to tell me all the right things necessary to make me believe it and be loyal only to him.
“It wasn't until after he realized my magic wasn't as strong as it should be for having been solstice born that he told me I had a sister, and he made you sound every bit as cruel as Mother. Said she'd kept you because you were the more powerful. I learned early on not to ask questions about who she was, as it always sent father into a rage.”
Ilex's voice was as hollow as the log they leaned against, devoid of emotion, reciting his past as though it were someone else's, but he absently touched the scar on his face, and Ivy knew he'd gotten it after having asked about their mother.
She kept quiet, even as she wanted desperately to get up and take an ax to the Bastard Tree and see how their dear old dad liked the way it felt.
“I never knew that she'd come to Fairy to find me, or that our father was responsible for her murder.” Ilex sighed and rubbed her arm with more vigor, a faint smile touching his mouth.
“But, for all that she suffered, I was glad to learn about your life and hers through her own words. Many of my questions were answered, and it is good to finally have the whole truth.”
Despite some minor doubts in the beginning, Ivy quickly came to adore her big brother. He was quiet and reserved, but kind.
He dealt with the craziness of the coven with remarkable steadfastness, hardly ruffled at all by Kerrigan and Juliet's abrasive behavior, patient as the day was long when Callie bombarded him with questions about flowers or items she was interested in for her alchemy potions.
He seemed to greatly enjoy Rowena's practical nature and had asked Astrid to teach him the art of meditation. He even seemed to like her alien music. Along with his men, Ilex had a standing appointment with Astrid every Sunday night to sit and meditate under the stars.
When Ivy confessed her feelings of fear and uncertainty with her newly unleashed magic, Ilex immediately set out to help her.
He met with her each day and answered her questions, no matter how embarrassing or stupid they were, working with her in her garden as she expanded the Blossom Shrine and made room for other projects.
He was a patient teacher, diligent, and firm when Ivy doubted herself or shared her feelings of shame.
According to him, those unsatisfied moments she'd felt after claiming her ground using Uriah to fuel her was normal. Ilex told her at one point he was surprised by her restraint, as such a ritual usually would have been performed with hundreds of couples around her to 'feed' off of and sate whatever sexual hunger she had.
That she hadn't climbed off Uriah and gone in search of the next available male, or summoned one using the power of an unsatisfied fertility goddess, only told him she'd been too inexperienced to accomplish a true claiming.
Not keen for another chance to get it right, Ivy made it clear she had no plans to claim any more ground. Ilex shrugged and went on to educate her regardless, just in case, and lectured her in the many ways a Green Man, or Green Woman in her case, used sex to do more than just magically stake a claim on some dirt.
Apparently, she could see to it that an entire football stadium full of people got pregnant during a ritual, or do like their father wanted and replenish the soil to make it fertile and rich for growing crops.
Or, she could take in the sexual energy of that football stadium full of people to create forests in the desert or islands in the middle of the ocean.