Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up #4) - K.F. Breene Page 0,41

feet. “This would never happen in my world. Mages and shifters working side by side. The intricacy of spells and potions mixed with brute strength and iron-clad courage. What an army that would be.”

“That’s not true, about shifters and mages never working together,” I mumbled, half my brain still thinking about where that spell might’ve gone wrong. “This house was attacked by a mage and some shifters.”

“Those shifters were brought to die,” Ulric said. “They weren’t working together. That mage was offering them for slaughter.”

“Yes, that sounds more likely,” Sebastian said, still studying his shoes. “That spell had the right qualities, but you used way, way too much power.” He put his head in his hands. “You have a deep well of power within you—very, very deep—but it’s mostly below the surface, like an iceberg. It wasn’t until you opened up with spell work that I glimpsed your raw strength. You aren’t using all of it yet, but I know you will be more powerful than me when you eventually do. I could feel the currents of it when it hit my spell.”

“Can you still teach me what you know?” I asked softly.

“Yes.” He scrubbed at his hair and sat up, looking away, his eyes distant. “Why hide your magical ability? A mage’s power level scares off potential attackers half the time. Only the worthy need apply.”

“For now, her biggest strength is in being undervalued,” Edgar said, sitting back on his haunches. “It’s best if people think she isn’t anyone of consequence. But that aspect of her magic is at her discretion. When she’s ready to show what she’s made of, she can.”

“How come you never told me that?” I asked.

Edgar shrugged. “It never came up.”

“That makes sense.” Sebastian’s eyes rested on me, and for the first time I could remember, they weren’t flat and affectless. They looked almost blue in the slice of sun that cut down his face, and they shone with intelligence and cunning. “You can release the alpha. You can release everyone but the vampire and his book, actually. I won’t need their help.”

I offered him a relieved smile, thankful he was sticking around. “Austin draws out my magic, so he has to stay.” I glanced at Ulric and Jasper. “I’ll call you when it’s time to fly.”

Before I could turn to Niamh, she said, “Nah. Don’t bother. I’m not going anywhere. I want to see how ye get on. Besides, if that mage turns into a nutter and tries to bring you down, I want to be on hand to watch Ivy House deal with him.”

“There is no way I am stepping out of line with the alpha on hand, I assure you,” Sebastian said, flicking a glance Austin’s way. “Seeing his polar bear form rattled me, and I don’t mind admitting it.” Sebastian rose, slouching as he walked toward me. “He doesn’t need to stand there. You shouldn’t practice on him anymore. He distracts you, and the worry of hurting him makes you hold back. I could see it in your body motions and positioning. Believe it or not, the positioning of your body matters when making a spell.”

Austin nodded and moved toward Ulric, putting out his hand for the sweats.

“You will cast toward my magical backdrop.” Sebastian stopped beside me. “First you’ll do a spell from the book that you know and have no trouble with—I certainly wish I’d had a book like that—and then you’ll create something similar from scratch. See how you measure up.”

“Measure up…meaning what?” Mr. Tom asked. “To what?”

“Training by committee. Interesting approach.” If Sebastian was put out, he didn’t show it. “You saw what happened when a spell with too much power hit my wall. Fire. The color of the smoke informed us of the nature of the spell—violence lives in purples and blues. More benign spells come in yellows and oranges, and so on. But talking only achieves so much in the realm of spell-making. It’ll be easier for me to teach you if I see you cast.” He put his hands behind his back and clasped his fingers. “So let’s see what we’ve got, okay?”

We had a lot of violence, that was what we had. I’d learned attack spells through the book and on the go. I also knew a lot of defensive spells, which were apparently in the red family. I didn’t have a lot of knowledge to go with either variety. Most of the things I tried I got wrong, but occasionally I got