Page 79 of Of Kings and Kaos
Improvise.
“I . . . can do something like that,” I hedged, and Ellowyn’s face instantly brightened.
“Really? You can? I can get them off today?” The hope in her voice nearly brought tears to my eyes.
I motioned for her arm and clinically studied the bracelet on her wrist. It was thin and marked with runes; all were simple in nature, but when combined, created a binding effect.
Interesting.
Not only could I remove them, I could negate their power and study them at a later date.
“Yes, I can,” I said confidently.
And fuck Lord d’Refan if he doesn’t want these removed.
“Now?” Ellowyn whispered fervently, a light in her eyes I hadn’t seen yet, even when we visited her home in Hestin.
I smiled, the skin at the corners of my eyes crinkling with the motion.
“Let me grab a few things, but we’ll do it in your room. Just in case there’s any lethargy afterward, I want you to have access to your bed.”
And just in case you blow something up from being repressed so long, I want to save my research. And my cat.
Ellowyn sat on her couch,legs crossed beneath her, face intent on my blood-tipped finger. Her room was the same setup as mine, even down to the same furniture. But it was so much cleaner that the space felt cavernous.
I don’t have that many books. I grumbled internally as I made a few marks on her skin. The rune I tattooed would fade over time, gently releasing her powers. She would feel her magic and be able to draw if but only a trickle at a time. Eventually, over a month or so, her full abilities would be restored.
Hopefully, by then, she would have control over her magic.
I muttered beneath my breath as I saw the rune brighten briefly before darkening into a thin black tattoo on her forearm, just beneath her elbow.
“Feel anything?” I asked, and Ellowyn shook her pretty head.
“Nope. Nothing. Though I love how it looks, I look like you!”
I smiled a bit at her enthusiasm; a singular rune that would fade in a month was not the same as the hundreds I had inked on my skin in various patterns. But the thought was adorable and incredibly endearing.
Even though we came from vastly different backgrounds and lives, I felt an odd kinship with the woman across from me.
Maybe we could even be friends.
Fuck, I needed a friend. Rohak’s absence left a hole in my heart, and I rubbed my chest directly above the pained organ. He’d returned from Hestin weeks ago and, apart from the quick conversation in Lord d’Refan’s study, we hadn’t crossed paths. Whether that was by design or purely coincidental, I wasn’t sure; either way, the fact he hadn’t sought my company hurt more than I wanted to admit.
“I like it,” Ellowyn announced with a firm nod of her head. “Maybe I’ll have you give me more soon.” She waggled her eyebrows, and a laugh barked from my throat.
“Whatever you desire, Lady d’Refan.”
Ellowyn wrinkled her nose at the name.
“Nope. Don’t like that,” she muttered beneath her breath. “Just Ellowyn, please. I’d like to think we’re at least friendly, if not friends.”
Her tentative smile was like sunshine after a wet and cloudy day, and I gave her a genuine one in return.
“I’d like that, too,” I said. “Though I have very little idea how to be friends with anyone, especially with women.”
“Me neither. My only friends back in Hestin were Peytor and . . . Finian.” She flinched slightly at his name, but less thanI would have expected. “The girls were all social climbers and rather dull, if I’m being honest.”
“I was a lonely witch in a cottage at the edge of town with feral cats for company,” I blurted, and we both stared at each other before cackling.
