Page 24 of Mantle

I wiggled my eyebrows. “Learned from the best, as I said earlier.”

“Yes, very impressive,” Gabriel commended.

Ryker grinned. “I’d say.”

“I’m calling itUnderveil Shield.”

“Ketheron is a mixture of supernatural beings,” Gabriel mused aloud. “So the shield wasn’t created to repel from a magical standpoint. It senses power type, so any Celestial power present is what it repels.”

“Exactly,” I confirmed. I eyed Kai. “Just what you wanted, right?”

“Better even. Your control of your magic is improving at a substantial rate. Well done.”

I winked at him.

“I’m going to have to push you harder when we resume classes,” Gabriel teased. “Now we’ve seen a definitive demonstration of what you’re capable of.”

Ryker chuckled. “Ever the hardass, Dad.”

While they were talking, I noticed Kai twisting around and staring at something that had been concealed by a blue cushion on the arm of the couch.

“What’s wrong, Kai?” I called to him.

Ryker frowned, following my line of sight.

Gabriel didn’t look concerned at all, indicating he already knew what was going on. He nudged Ryker. “Treading in your ill-advised footsteps with theholoscreensituation.”

“Holoscreen?” I questioned.

Kai sighed and pocketed it in his trench coat. “I’m just ensuring Ari is okay.”

Ryker’s eyes narrowed. “She was in the shower.”

“I spelled it to observe once she was already out and dressed actually. Although, you do understand that the four of us are together, yes?”

“Andyoudo understand that I’m her father, yes?” Ryker returned.

“Then I’ll do you the respect of refraining from referencing any gory sexual exploits we enjoy partaking in.”

I rolled my eyes. As if he would talk about it anyway. He was very respectful of our sex life, especially when it came to Ariana. He would never talk about it with outsiders.

I thought Ryker was going to bristle at his words.

But what I’d heard of his charming and loveable, lighthearted nature broke through and he smiled to himself instead, recognizing Kai’s humor and little well-meaning dig at the same time.

“Much appreciated,” he responded, a twinkle in his eye. And then he gestured at the pocket that Kai had stored theholoscreenin. “How is she? Ari wanting space hasn’t always boded well in the past.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kai told him, his words melancholic. “Right now, she’s just taking stock. The dangerous part is what comes after, how she processes it.”

“Well, you, Nyx, and Vorzyr will stay here tonight.” Ryker took a beat, then said, “Yes. In her room. She needs the closeness, that bond the four of you have very clearly forged. In the past, she was lacking that. Things will not play out the same way as they did before.”

“She’s not running now either,” I pointed out.

“She’s come into herself, into her power,” Kai added vehemently, really wanting them to know that, to recognize her not as the Ariana before, but as the powerhouse that she had become.

Of course, despite all the power in the world, she still had emotions, she still felt, and she still had trauma responses. That needed to be recognized, too. But I could see from Kai using theholoscreen, that he was already cognizant of that. He understood both aspects now and how they meshed with one another.

A sudden wind whipped around the room, and then Lucian Black stood there in his full-suited up glory, a sleek designer charcoal three-piece really popping against his silky black hair brushing his collar.

---