A Little Magic(76)

He could give her anything she wanted here. Anything and everything. What would she miss of the life she had outside? It was ordinary and tedious. Hadn’t she said so herself? He would see that she never missed what had been. Before long she wouldn’t even think of it. The life before would be the dream.



HE taught her to ride, and she was fearless. When he thought of how she’d clung to him in terror when he’d pulled her up onto Dilis the first time, he rationalized the change by saying she was simply quick to learn. He hadn’t changed her basic nature, or forced her will.

That was beyond his powers and the most essential rule of magic.

When she galloped off into the forest, her laughter streaming behind her, he told himself he let his mind follow her only to keep her from harm.

Yet he knew, deep inside himself, that if she traveled near the edge of his world, he would pull her back.

He had that right, Flynn thought, as his hands fisted at his sides. He had claimed her. What he claimed during his imprisonment was his to keep.

“That is the law.” He threw his head back, scowling up at the heavens. “It is your law. She came to me. By rights of magic, by the law of this place, she is mine. No power can take her from me.”

When the sky darkened, when lightning darted at the black edges of clouds, Flynn stood in the whistling wind, feet planted in challenge. His hair blew wild around his face, his eyes went emerald-bright. And the power that was his, that could not be taken from him, shimmered around him like silver.

In his mind he saw Kayleen astride the white horse. She glanced uneasily at the gathering storm, shivered in the fresh chill of the wind. And turned her mount to ride back to him.

She was laughing again as she raced out of the trees. “That was wonderful!” She threw her arms recklessly in the air so that Flynn gripped the halter to keep Dilis steady. “I want to ride every day. I can’t believe the feeling.”

Feeling, he thought with a vicious tug of guilt, was the one thing he wouldn’t be able to offer her much longer.

“Come, darling.” He lifted his arms up to her. “We’ll put Dilis down for the night. A storm’s coming.”



SHE welcomed it too. The wind, the rain, the thunder. It stirred something in her, some whippy thrill that made her feel reckless and bold. When Flynn set the fire to blaze with a twist of his hand, her eyes danced.

“I don’t suppose you could teach me to do that?”

He glanced back at her, the faintest of smiles, the slightest lift of brow. “I can’t, no. But you’ve your own magic, Kayleen.”

“Have I?”

“It binds me to you, as I’ve been bound to no other. I will give you a boon. Any that you ask that is in my power to give.”

“Any?” A smile played around her mouth now as she looked up at him from under her lashes. The blatantly flirtatious move came to her much more naturally than she’d anticipated. “Well, that’s quite an offer. I’ll have to consider very carefully before making any decision.”

She wandered the room, trailing a fingertip over the back of the sofa, over the polished gleam of a table. “Would that offer include, say, the sun and the moon?”

Look at her. He thought. She grows more beautiful by the hour. “Such as these?” He held out his hands. From them dripped a string of luminous white pearls with a clasp of diamonds.

She laughed, even as her breath caught. “Those aren’t bad, as an example. They’re magnificent, Flynn. But I didn’t ask for diamonds or pearls.”

“Then I give them freely.” He crossed to her, laid the necklace over her head. “For the pleasure of seeing you wear them.”

“I’ve never worn pearls.” Surprised by the delight they brought her, she lifted them, let them run like moonbeams through her fingers. “They make me feel regal.”

Holding them out, she turned a circle while the diamond clasp exploded with light. “Where do they come from? Do you just picture them in your mind and…poof?”

“Poof?” He decided she hadn’t meant that as an insult. “More or less, I suppose. They exist, and I move them from one place to another. From there, to here. Whatever is, that has no will, I can bring here, and keep. Nothing with heart or soul can be taken. But the rest…It’s sapphires, I’m thinking, that suit you best.”

As Kayleen blinked, a string of rich black pearls clasped with brilliant sapphires appeared around her neck. “Oh! I’ll never get used to…Move them?” She looked back at him. “You mean take them?”

“Mmm.” He turned to pour glasses of wine.