Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“He’s checking in really quick,” I said. “He’ll be here in a minute. Who are the second and third lummoxes?”
“Tristan and Aljoe.” Nessa turned toward me a little and lowered her voice. “I haven’t told you the latest because I didn’t want to get your hopes up if I couldn’t deliver.”
“Oh!” I smiled at her, my heart warming. “You’re finally getting with Tristan?”
She sucked in a startled breath as her eyes widened. “I—” Nessa cleared her throat uncomfortably. “No—why, did he say something?”
Niamh snickered and Nessa’s cheeks turned red.
“Oh…just…” I didn’t want to get involved, while really wanting to get involved. “Just that he’s trusting other people for the first time, and he wants to put down roots. You know”—I shrugged noncommittally—“look toward the future and everything. I think he’s here for the long haul, that’s all. He’s not a flight risk anymore.”
She brushed her hair out of her face, turning away to grab her drink. “Oh.”
It seemed like she was trying to get her scattered thoughts in order. Niamh snickered again.
“Uhm…” Nessa turned back to me. “No, he hasn’t—it’s nothing like that.”
“He absolutely has.” Phil nodded sagely. “He definitely has. On multiple occasions. His balls must be so blue, they are ready to fall off.”
“Aye, he hasn’t even looked at anyone else since we’ve been back,” Niamh said. “Too busy pining in misery.”
“Much too busy pining, yes,” Phil agreed.
“O-kay, all right, let’s pull it back a little.” Nessa rolled her eyes, both Niamh and Phil snickering now. “Hilarious. Anyway.” She focused on me again. “You know that I have the kind of magic to manipulate energy, right? We’ve talked about that.”
“Yes. You’ve been learning from the books Tristan gave you,” I said, not-so-innocently.
She blushed again. “Right. And Ivy House had some really good, eye-opening ones. I have the ability to manipulate emotions and intentions. I can will people to do what I want, basically, but I can also trace the energy they use, finding motivations, paths they’ve physically followed, things like that. This is an incredibly simplistic explanation, but you get the idea.”
“Yes. Are you getting better at influencing the more stubborn people?”
“Much,” Niamh said. “She has a lot of gargoyles to practice on.”
Nessa nodded. “What’s funny is, Niamh and I largely do the same thing in this respect, but she does it with words and I do it with energy.”
“It took me four hundred years to get where I’m at,” Niamh replied. “You’ve been at it less than a year. I’d say you got the better magic.”
“Except I don’t get to change into a nightmare alicorn and fly so…” Nessa toggled her hand back and forth.
“Well, I mean…” I shrugged. “Nessa, you did it with words and actions before this. You manipulated your fair share of mages.”
“True enough. Energy just makes it easier. But check this out.” She beamed at me again. “That isn’t all this magic can do.”
“When you’re powerful in it, at least,” Phil said.
“Right, if you have enough power, you can seriously flex with this magic if you learn how…” Her blush crept back in. She must’ve been thinking about Tristan in some capacity.
How freaking cute! I was swooning just watching it all unfold. I hoped she gave in to him. He’d really come a long way since we’d all first met him.
“Are you paying attention?” she asked me.
“Yes.” I entwined my fingers in my lap dutifully.
Austin came down on the other side of the bar. “Wine, Jess?”
“C’mere, Austin Steele. I need to talk to ya before the other two get here,” Niamh said.
“Text Tristan to stall. I’ll be right there.” Austin served me up some wine and then took two more orders.
Niamh grumbled but did as he said.
“Right, so you know that Ivy House is at a nexus in the ley lines, right?” Nessa went on.
I twitched up my eyebrows. “No? Ley lines like…the magical river…thing that Momar used at Kingsley’s?”
Nessa glanced at Niamh. “I thought you filled her in.”
“Sebastian said she didn’t need to know yet.”
“Oh.” Nessa rubbed her temple.
“For her own magic, like,” Niamh clarified. “He didn’t want to confuse her. Ye’re fine to tell her this.”
“Oh,” Nessa said in a much more upbeat way. She was clearly excited about this new facet of her magic. “Okay, well yeah, Ivy House is positioned within a large nexus of power. There are small and large ones, often existing at sites with ancient construction, dramatic geography, metaphysical locations, things like that. Then the ley lines travel in straight lines, connecting all those nexuses. If you look at a map of them all, there are grids and triangles and star patterns. Each of those patterns have a different relationship with energy.” Her eyes started to glitter. “Some texts mention that the right magic teamed with the right connecting patterns, teamed with a solar event, can create portals. You could actually go from one nexus to another.”