nap.” Darien tilted his head, looking Silas up and down, then rubbed his thumb across his lips and licked it. “So, we have two hours—”
“Less than. It’s a thirty-minute drive to the Guild hall. And we need to eat and dress and I have one more thing to teach you.”
“Ah.” The spark went out of Darien’s eyes. “Right. I’ll just go clean up.” He rose, brushed past Silas, and slammed the bathroom door.
Did he feel rejected? Should I say something? Silas set the problem of their non-sex-life aside. Survival first. Sex later.
Darien came back out with his hair damp and his head high. “How should I dress for this meeting?”
“As well as we can arrange. I’ll lend you something.” The council did like its prestige. “But first the lesson. And food.”
“In the study?”
“I can teach you this one here, I think.”
A hint of heat brightened Darien’s expression. “Bedroom lessons. I like it.”
How can I resist? Silas grabbed him and kissed him, fast but with intent. “We’ll plan to teach each other those later. Right now, this is about keeping council members’ hands off you.”
“Are you jealous, Silas?”
“No.” Yes. But that’s not the point. “If they touch your skin, they gain another route into your mind. Your shield dome will stop magical attacks, but touch is always a conduit.”
“Well, I don’t plan to get close to them.”
“There will be drinks and mingling first.”
“Seriously?” Darien stared at him. “You start important sorcerous meetings with cocktails?”
Silas felt his lip curl. “Oh, we’re very civilized about these things.”
“And they’ll try something?”
“Nothing big, not in public and around all the rest. But a little probe? Setting a little hook? Yes. Worthington most likely, Burns for sure. They’d call it ‘for the safety of the community with a new unknown apprentice’ but it would be for their own purposes.”
“So what do I do?” Darien looked determined.
“This is like the shields, after you stopped needing the circle. Magic and intent.” Silas drew a sigil in the air, the name of fire. It hung flame-bright for an instant, then faded. “Did you see that?”
“Yeah. I think so.” Darien traced the shape with a finger, pretty accurately. They’d found that his architecture-student sense of shape, structure, and function seemed to stand him in good stead for remembering runes.
“Looks good.” Silas traced it again. “Think it, imagine it in the air, with heat in it.”
“Can I use my finger again?”
“Carefully. And don’t push much power in it. Imagine a butterfly of fire, not a dragon. I don’t want the house burned down.”
“Butterfly flames. Got it.” Darien traced the rune, once, again, again, again, his nose wrinkled up and brow furrowed. A wash of helpless affection went through Silas. He tries so hard, after all that’s happened to him, being thrown in on the deep end. He was tempted to tell Darien he’d protect him, take care of him. But the best thing he could do for Darien was to teach him to take care of himself.
Silas felt the little pulse of power before a flicker of gold flamed around the shape Darien had traced, winked, and went out. “Excellent.”
“I can power it up a bit.”
“No. That’s perfect. What you want is a spark and a touch of heat. Even less than you just did. You do not want to set a member of the council on fire.”
“I can’t, can I? Won’t they be shielded?”
“Yes, but if they touch you to connect with you, they have to open up enough to allow it. I don’t think you can immolate them, even so, but you’re stronger than I realized. I don’t want to find out the hard way.”
Darien’s eyes glittered. “So what I’m aiming for is to give them a magical static shock?”
“Exactly. If you can manage a zap without so much as a burned finger, that’s perfect. Let’s try again, and go for more spark and less flame.”
Forty minutes later, Silas sucked a blistered fingertip and fended off Darien’s attempts to look at it. “I’m fine. I’ve gotten worse from Grim’s claws in a testy mood.”
“I’m sorry. It got away from me.”
“I shouldn’t have told you to pretend I was Ferngold.” Silas put his other hand on Darien’s arm. “And you’re getting tired. Control always slips when you’re tired. But you got it right before, and your shielding is great, especially for a novice. I’m impressed.”
He really was. Darien had taken to shielding like a duck to water, learning how to raise his dome without drawing an actual circle, how to