The Consumption of Magic (Tales From Verania 3)

He grinned at me. It was wild and bright and unlike anything I’d ever seen on him before.

I faltered. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because,” he said, smile widening. “You just admitted there are things you’re keeping locked away. That’s the first step.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and took a defensive stance. “Come on, old man. Let’s go again.”

The ice began to crack under my feet and I—

—WASN’T EXPECTING someone like Ruv. I mean, sure, I knew there were others out there for me. That had been instilled in me ever since Morgan told me what a cornerstone was. There wasn’t just one person in the whole wide world made for me. That would be ridiculous. The chances of ever finding them would be so small, I might as well have just handed myself over to the Darks.

Still, that didn’t mean it was going to be easy. Even if there was more than one, how was I supposed to find them?

I should have known. Not right away, not that day in the alley all those years ago when I turned Nox to stone. I didn’t even know what I was doing back then. I didn’t know anything. But later, maybe. As I grew older. I should have remembered what had happened to me, but I was too enamored at the thought of there being one pe

rson in the world just for me. It was the romantic in me. I wanted someone who could love me just like my mother and father loved each other.

That was the crux of it, wasn’t it? That’s the reason I spent so much time focused on Ryan (read: going to fan club meetings). I’d like to think that unconsciously, I knew all along what he was going to be, but in reality, I was probably just a creepy motherfucker who was perving on the Knight Commander, wondering if he tasted like my dreams.

I had no idea, not until that date with Todd (his ears!) in the restaurant when those Darks came in and tried to do whatever stupid things Darks did. It was like the last little piece of whatever puzzle made up my being slid into place, and it was both the best and the scariest thing that ever happened to me.

Ruv never made me feel like that. Not once.

Yes, he was handsome.

Yes, he had a propensity to not wear clothes, and he was REALLY flexible.

Yes, he was charming and funny and absolutely not to be trusted, even though he seemed to go out of his way to help us on our quest for the desert dragon.

And yes, my magic felt something with him.

But it was… strange. Muted. Soft. Like it was just a dream. Like it wasn’t real at all. I think that was because I already had Ryan, I already had a cornerstone in place. Ruv was a pinprick of light in the dark. Ryan is the sun.

And I will always—

“—FIND A way to get my revenge against you,” I panted, dodging a column of ice that rose in front of me. “You dick. That could have killed me.”

Randall flexed his fingers, and another sheet of ice came flying toward me. I fell to my knees and leaned back, sliding along the slick floor, the ice flying over me, missing me by inches. It crashed into the wall behind me, shattering and falling to the ground.

“I’m not trying to kill you, you little drama queen,” he said. “I’m trying to help you.”

“Really,” I said, sucking in another breath. Sweat dripped down my forehead. “So absolutely none of this has anything to do with turning your nose into a dick?”

“Why, Sam! What kind of person do you take me for?”

“A vindictive person. A vindictive person is what I take you for.”

He had a strange glint in his eyes, looking younger than I’d ever seen him, and it hit me then that Randall, maybe for the first time since I’d known him, was having fun.

“I am never vindictive,” he said.

I had to move quickly before I was crushed by a small section of ice that fell from the ceiling. “Then what the shit was that!”

“Ready to talk yet?”

“There’s nothing to talk about!” I growled at him.

“Well, then. Let’s see what else I can do. I must admit, it’s been a long time since I’ve stretched my muscles this much. It reminds me of the time with the Ridley cousins. Now, they knew how to have a good time. They had absolutely no morals whatsoever, and it didn’t matter that they were cousins, they still liked to suck my—”