Page 73 of A Queen's Game
“Nothing.” Brynden flashed a smile and opened the wooden box. Inside was a leafy mixture smelling like burnt resin. He filled a few pipes before handing one to Sylas and Oryck.
Oryck raised his eyebrows to Daryn, gleaning something had angered Brynden.
“So Elyse, my goddess, all you have to do is inhale,” Brynden said, holding a pipe in his hands towards her. “Have you ever smoked before?”
She shook her head. It was all new to her, and she couldn’t believe she was doing it.
“Well, you’ll experience a little burning in the chest, but it should adjust after a few times. Here, try it.” Brynden handed her the pipe. From his fingertips, a small flame appeared that he dipped into the pipe. “Inhale.”
Magic. Of course, Brynden could do magic.
Suppressing the shock of his ability, Elyse brought the pipe to her mouth, inhaling. Smoky resin and peppered smoke filled her lungs. A cough racketed through her chest, causing her to fumble with the pipe, but Brynden steadied her hand.
The effects came slowly at first, her thoughts still racing, but the impending doom that always lingered over her head lessened and… she was okay.
There was no doom, no stress. She looked at Brynden, who puffed out a cloud of white and turned to her, and her breath caught. The crooked smile returned, his eyes ablaze with an emotion Elyse couldn’t place.
“How do you feel, goddess?” he said, keeping his voice low as the other males chatted and smoked.
“Like a great weight lifted from my shoulders. I didn’t even know I was holding it until it was gone.” She rolled her neck, closing her eyes as her head tilted back in the sun. She smiled at the lightness in her heart, in her chest.
“If I could see that smile every day for the rest of my life, it still wouldn’t be enough.” Brynden leaned over to kiss her cheek.
“If you could show me everything the world has to offer, then I would smile like this every day.” She peeked one eye open towards Brynden, his smile still caught on his face.
“Once more should be enough for you.” Brynden handed her back the pipe.
She smoked again, the effects stronger the second time around after her coughing subsided. All her worries vanished—even the ones that always ebbed at the edge of her mind. The sense of being watched, the unease in it, vanished as well.
Was this how normal people felt?
As she looked at the Chorys Dasian males laughing as they smoked, the friendship and relationship they had, Elyse knew she was missing something. A lot of things. Life’s simple pleasures of sitting around with friends, joking, and enjoying the moment, were foreign to her. Elyse’s heart ached for it. Her hand grasped Brynden’s, and she squeezed. “If you can give me a life like this,” she whispered to him, “then I will love you until the end of time.”
“Of what? Smoking?” he teased, pulling her close to him.
“Moments of peace, of laughter, of friendship. The freedom to be happy and to enjoy life.” Elyse turned her gaze to his russet eyes. “I want to live and to love, Brynden. I want to experience everything that’s been kept from me.”
Brynden swallowed hard, his gaze roaming her face. The world subsided as they stared at one another, an unspoken understanding passing between them. His lips ticked up in a smile and he glanced down, then back at her. Brynden opened his mouth to speak, but his response was cut off.
“You two are awfully quiet over there,” Oryck said. “Are you walking her through aithyr?”
Brynden hesitated, pulling his gaze from Elyse. “I don’t think I need to walk her through anything. If Fulbryk can keep her up through the night reading, then I think she’s ready.”
Elyse nodded, remembering her reading. Aithyr was all around them, ever-flowing and ever-present. All she needed to do was have her mind reach out and….
She gasped, not registering what someone said, followed by some chuckles. Instead, she focused on the flow of aithyr all around her. The paths were faint and hazy white. A strong, thick current of energy flowed in front of her before snaking up and over the house. Smaller streams of energy wove through the courtyard, swirling around the males.
Elyse’s mind pulled at a smaller stream first, the aithyr drawn to her. Energy entered her body, causing her to gasp again, but the energy stayed thrumming inside.
But what should she do with it?
Thinking back to Fulbryk’s, she imagined transferring the energy to her hand, creating fire as Bryden did.
Her hand burst into flames as her surroundings came back into focus. Brynden jumped back while someone else yelled. The flames covered her hand and the cuff of her sleeve. Heat danced over her skin as she watched in amazement. She’d done magic.
Despite being soft and weak like her father suggested, this moment proved otherwise. She could do it. The magic felt incredible, all-empowering. With that kind of power, she could have the freedom to do whatever she wished. She laughed as the flames flickered up from her hand.
Water appeared from Brynden, dousing her hand and sleeve. “Are you okay? How bad is the burn?”
