A Little Magic(79)

She created a hesitant little flame, and a great deal of smoke, which the wind cheerfully blew back in her face. She hissed at it, sucked on her throbbing thumb, then sat on her heels to think it through.

And the flames burst into light and heat.

She set her teeth, fought the urge to turn around. “I can do it myself, thank you.”

“As you wish, lady.”

The fire vanished but for the smoke. She coughed, waved it away from her face, then got to her feet. “It’s warm enough without one.”

“I’d say it’s unnaturally chilly at the moment.” He walked up behind her, took her hand in his. “You’ve hurt yourself.”

“It’s only a splinter. Don’t,” she said when he lifted it to his lips.

“Being strong-minded and being contrary are two different matters.” He touched his lips to her thumb, and the throbbing eased. “But not contrary enough, I notice, to ignore the comforts of a cup of tea, a book, and a pleasant chair.”

“I wasn’t going to stand in an empty room wringing my hands while you worked out your tantrum.”

He lifted his eyebrows. “Disconcerting, isn’t it? Emptiness.”

She tugged her hand free of his. “All right, yes. And I have no true conception of what you’ve dealt with, nor any right to criticize how you compensate. But—”

“Right is right,” he finished. “This place and what I possessed was all I had when first I came here. I could fill it with things, the things that appealed to me. That’s what I did. I won’t apologize for it.”

“I don’t want an apology.”

“No, you want something else entirely.” He opened his hands, and the rich loops of pearls gleamed in them.

“Flynn, don’t ask me to take them.”

“I am asking. I give you this gift, Kayleen. They’re replicas, and belong to no one but me. Until they belong to you.”

Her throat closed as he placed them around her neck. “You made them for me?”

“Perhaps I’d grown a bit lazy over the years. It took me a little longer to conjure them than it might have, but it made me remember the pleasure of making.”

“They’re more beautiful than the others. And much more precious.”

“And here’s a tear,” he murmured, and caught it on his fingertip as it spilled onto her cheek. “If it falls from happiness, it will shine. If it’s from sorrow, it will turn to ashes. See.”

The drop glimmered on his finger, shimmered, then solidified into a diamond in the shape of a tear. “And this is your gift to me.” He drew the pendant from beneath his shirt, passed his hand over it. The diamond drop sparkled now beneath the moonstone. “I’ll wear it near my heart. Ever.”

She leapt into his arms, clung to his neck. “I missed you!”

“I let temper steal hours from us.”

“So did I.” She leaned back. “We’ve had our first fight. I’m glad. Now we never have to have a first one again.”

“But others?”

“We’ll have to.” She kissed his cheek. “There’s so much we don’t understand about each other. And even when we do, we won’t always agree.”

“Ah, my sensible Kayleen. No, don’t frown,” he said, tipping up her chin. “I like your mind. It stimulates my own.”

“It annoyed you.”

“At the first of it.” He circled her around, lighting the fire, the candles as he did. “And I spent a bit of time pondering on how much more comfortable life would be if you’d just be biddable and agree with everything I said and did. ‘Yes, Flynn, my darling,’ you would say. ‘No indeed, my handsome Flynn.’”

“Oh, really?”

“But then I’d miss that battle light in your eyes, wouldn’t I, and the way your lovely mouth goes firm. Makes me want to…” He nipped her bottom lip. “But that’s another kind of stimulation altogether. I’m willing to fight with you, Kayleen, as long as you’re willing to make up again with me.”

“And I’m willing to have you stomp off in a temper—”

“I didn’t stomp.”

“Metaphorically speaking. As long as you come back.” She laid her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes. “The storm’s passed,” she murmured. “Moonlight’s shining through the windows.”

“So it is.” He scooped her up. “I have the perfect way to celebrate our first fight.” He closed her hand over his pendant. “Would you like to fly, Kayleen?”

“Fly? But—”

And she was soaring through the air, through the night. Air swirled around her, then seemed to go fluid so it was like cutting clean through a dark sea. The stone pulsed against her palm. She cried out in surprise, and then in delight, reaching out as if she could snatch one of the stars that shone around her.