Free Devious Magic by Camilla Chafer Page A

challenge. I proved myself to them and that I was a force to be reckoned with, the wolf pack right beside me. No one was quite sure what the repercussions would be, but, so far, things had been quiet on that front. The inevitable power surge, however, brought other unforeseen problems we didn’t want in Wilding.
    “Not a thing. Like I said, we’ve got the Brotherhood on twenty-four hour watch and that’s all under control. So long as we know where you are, and where they are, and that it’s not the same place, we’re good.”
    “I really appreciate it.”
    “I’ll say it again, not a problem. Happy to help.” Gage stood, tugging on a light jacket as some concession to the late winter air. “I have to get to work though. You’ve got my number. Call if you need anything.”
    “Sure.” I left Gage to walk himself out.
    After Kitty and I washed and dried the dishes, and Evan excused himself to work, Étoile insisted on carrying on with our magic lessons as normal. Despite Kitty’s big gap in her studies while she’d been in the hospital, her magic was coming through thick and fast. Her weather specialism afforded her a very strong connection to the earth. It seemed like she could create any climatic conditions she chose. On a small scale, she was terrific. On a larger scale, she wavered a little but I’d seen her create tropical sunshine, and then make snow fall in the same location.
    Kitty was instructed by Étoile to practise making and directing mist, coiling it like candyfloss around her hand. Meanwhile, she had me practise my telekinesis. Throughout my life I’d made things happen and sometimes, it had really scared me. Then, almost a year ago, under Evan’s tutelage, I deliberately used it to make an inanimate object move.
    Now, I found tapping into my magic much more easily. I simply had to focus on the object in question and will it. No longer did things slide across tables. I could make them float to me, land in my hand, or alight wherever I chose.
    Currently Étoile had me calling specific objects from different rooms, mundane things and things she planted, which involved a lot more concentration, something I found scarce while I was worrying about the Brotherhood’s next moves.
    After an hour of moving objects around the house, I felt exhausted and I was just resting my head on the kitchen table when I heard Evan’s footsteps approaching. I looked up, smiling, as he stuck his head around the door.
    “I’m going out,” he said succinctly. “I’ll be gone a couple of hours.”
    “Where to?” I stifled a yawn.
    “Errands,” he said, and was gone before I could ask what sort of errands. As far as I knew, Evan had people who ran around and did things for him. In regards to his business, he was currently outsourcing most of his daily work to various employees – whom I’d yet to meet – leaving him free to manage the overall business. Apart from occasionally mailing packages, I’d never seen him run any kind of errand. A little part of me was suspicious that he had discovered something about the Brotherhood that he was choosing not to share. All at once, I felt bad at that. I’d gotten used to sharing everything with Evan. The same little part of me that wondered if I were making a mistake by not being more acquiescent to his desire to go home, also wondered what parts of his life he kept from me.
    His business was operated only on a fairly secretive basis, and Evan told me that sometimes he thought it was best I didn’t know. He didn’t say in case it put me in danger, but that’s what I inferred. Maybe that should have made me more worried than it did, but it didn’t. He didn’t interfere with my job, so I didn’t interfere with his.
    Remembering I had a question that I wanted to ask him, I stepped through to the living room. The lingering heat told me Evan had already gone, shimmering out of the house. He could be anywhere by now.
“I have to go pick up a package,” Kitty said.