Page 35 of Harbinger

“Did you feel it… feel my energy pushing at you?”

“Not as strongly as the first time. It’s weakening the more we do this.”

“It is?”

He nodded. “You’re getting used to handling the sensations, getting better at letting go without causing harm in the process.”

“I’m not sure about that. It’s still too risky.”

“Is that why you’re interested in the dragon? You think he could take you without the need for magic like mine?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Well, there’s a lot that you don’t actually say.”

I eased back from him. “Don’t do this.”

But, of course, he did.

Strangely, not before he flicked his fingers at me and cleaned, dried, and dressed me in my jeans, tank, and brown suede jacket get-up.

“He doesn’t just want to be your friend,” he said, as he dried and re-dressed himself too, even levitating his coat over to him and shrugging it on. “If you seriously believe that, you’re more naïve than I even took you for.”

“It could’ve been you,” I blurted out.

He stilled. “What?”

“Nothing,” I said, looking away.

He came to me and grasped my jaw in that commanding, all-encompassing way of his, forcing my gaze to snap right back to his. “Explain.”

“We were friends. For years. Until you pulled away and cut me out of your life. All the way up until a few days ago.”

“I pulled away becauseyouclosed yourself off. Emotionally and magically. We were learning and exploring our abilities and our power together, but you got scared. And you’ve remained that way ever since.”

“Things were more complicated for me than they were for you. You didn’t even try to understand.”

“You’re wrong.”

I scoffed. “Sure.”

“I’m here because ofyou, Ari.”

Ari.

That was the first time he’d called me that in years.

“Excuse me?”

“Do you think I wanted to attendthisacademy, one so closely linked to my parents, when you know I was adamant about treading my own path, and being far out of their circle of influence? I had my eye on Castlebrook Academy over on the other side of the fucking world.UntilI learned that you were planning to come here.”

“I don’t understand. Why have you barely spoken to me in the last three years that we’ve been here then?”

“You think you just cut yourself off to others in order to protect yourself from those ignorant buffoons who fear you, that you locked down your power, but you also cut yourself off from a whole lot of other things, including me. You weren’t open at all. You didn’t want me to interact with you. You couldn’t handle it. And that only altered the other night when you made that mistake that gave me the in that I’d been lacking before when it came to reconnecting.”

“So, I’m not just a toy to you, then?”

“Oh, you are. Just in a completely different way.”

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