CHAPTER 5
Crushing on a Sorcerer?
“I grow tired of seeing Lady Acacia’s human pet,” Zarius sneered. “Must you accompany her on every visit to my father?”
Zarius said the word human as if it were a vile insult. Norms were important to the everyday running of wizard society. They performed the jobs that wizards didn’t want to be bothered with. Ours was a symbiotic relationship. Besides, I didn’t think of Rory as a norm. He was just Rory. That was the problem. I had to regularly remind myself that he was a human and therefore out of bounds to me.
“It is as my lady desires, sir wizard,” Rory calmly replied as I rounded the corner, walking toward them. “Would you have me disobey the Lady Acacia?”
“Of course not.” Zarius rolled his eyes and as he did, Rory gave me a secret wink, flashing a quick half-grin before turning his attention back to my brother.
In the aftermath of that grin and the mesmerizing depth of his amethyst eyes, my stomach did that familiar flip-flop and my heart beat a little faster.
Rory Devlin stood at least six feet tall, and the sun glinted off the golden highlights of his chestnut-brown hair. He was dressed like other norms, in a uniform of solid black, but the clothing did nothing to hide the muscular definition of his shoulders, chest, and thighs.
As usual, I had to remind myself that Rory was totally off limits. But at the moment, I wanted to do something, anything, to thwart my brother’s harassment.
Rory appeared composed and collected, but I noticed the telltale clenching of his jaw.
“Why don’t you make yourself scarce like the other norms?” Zarius suggested, but using a tone that implied a command.
“Lady Acacia asked me to wait here by the doors.”
“Rory, it is so nice to see you,” I said as I got closer, desperate to distract my brother from his rant. I wasn’t usually this bold, but I reached out to shake his hand.
Rory turned his now tentative amethyst eyes my way, but didn’t lift his hand. I had an instant to wonder at the mortification I’d feel if he didn’t return my handshake, before his hand came up and took mine into his. His large tanned hand enveloped mine with warmth. The way it curved around mine made me wonder what it would feel like to be enfolded in his arms.
“You dare touch my sister?” Zarius closed the distance between himself and Rory.
I dropped Rory’s hand, realizing my unbelievable mistake as my brother’s accusation sank in.
“Norms do not touch wizards.”
And boys didn’t touch girls! How could I have been so stupid as to put Rory in that position? What had I been thinking? I hadn’t thought.
Rory closed his eyes for a second, his expression betraying that he’d known what would happen when he touched me. “My apologies, sir wizard.” He met Zarius’ angry glare with a calm gaze. “I did not wish to embarrass your sister by not returning her kind welcome.”
“Women do foolish things. It’s a man’s job to ensure that certain boundaries of propriety are not crossed, and you, human, will pay for crossing that line.” Zarius raised a hand, chanted under his breath and hurled pale green magic at Rory.
“Zarius! No!” I moved to throw myself in front of Rory, as wizard girls are immune to offensive wizard magic. Before I could act, a translucent purple barrier of light enveloped Rory.
Pale green magic deflected off the barrier with a pop, and fizzled out like a cloud of green fireflies dying.
Zarius didn’t see what I’d seen. I’d noticed the slight waving gesture of Rory’s left hand. Rory Devlin had wielded purple magic, a shield. What did purple mean? Hugo hadn’t mentioned it, but blue and red combined to make purple. Could it also be a sign of transformation into a sorcerer? But how could Rory be transforming into a sorcerer when he wasn’t even a wizard to begin with?
“Next time I will do something about this, but I find myself distracted by preparation for my party tonight,” Zarius said, obviously believing his magic had not worked. He turned his gaze on me. “Adriana, go inside the house.”
Zarius left after spouting off his order. He didn’t wait for me to obey. He simply assumed I would. And normally, I would have, but I didn’t, not today. Maybe never again.
I stared at the dissipating purple shield, which evaporated in a haze of purple sparkles around Rory Devlin. Was I crushing on a sorcerer? When I shifted my eyes to meet Rory’s, he was studying me warily.
“Is something wrong, Lady Adriana?” Rory probed.
“No, why do you ask?” I smiled, but didn’t think it was terribly convincing.
“You were staring at something next to me, or maybe surrounding me,” he suggested, eyes narrowed in speculation.
“Just startled by my brother’s actions. But, Rory, since when did you start calling me Lady Adriana? You know you can call me Addie.”
“I don’t think it’s appropriate anymore,” Rory replied, his features going blank, almost aloof. “You’re sixteen now, and we’re not children anymore.”
“Rory, please don’t let my brother get to you.”
“It’s not just him. People will expect us to follow certain social rules, now.”
“What if I don’t want to?” Even I could hear the petulance in my voice.
“Who are you, and what have you done with Addie Evangelista?” Rory smiled at me, sending those familiar, pesky butterflies fluttering inside my stomach.
That’s what his smile always did to me. He was the cutest boy I’d ever seen. If I was being totally honest with myself, the truth was I’d had a crush on him since, well…forever. Not that I could act on it like a normal human girl. Not if I didn’t want to be retrained like poor Lucia Amador. Rory, as a human, was forbidden to me, but after what I’d just seen I had to acknowledge he was something other than human. Regardless of what he was, I’d been entered into an arranged marriage with someone I’d never met. Any way I looked at it, Rory was taboo.
I realized I hadn’t answered his teasing question. “It’s just plain old me, Rory. I haven’t changed.” Only after the words left my mouth did I realize what a huge lie that was; unintentionally so, but huge. I had changed. I couldn’t even comprehend how much I’d changed today.
“I wouldn’t say that,” Rory countered. If I didn’t know better, I might say he was flirting. “There isn’t anything plain about you, Addie.” He studied me as if he’d never really looked at me before.
Trying to ignore the woozy giddiness that his gaze caused, I argued, “I know I’m plain. You don’t have to say otherwise.”
“Addie, there’s nothing plain about you,” he repeated seriously. He looked at me a few more seconds. “I shouldn’t have said all that.” He shook his head, frustration showing in his face. “I don’t know what came over me. But there’s something different about you today; I don’t know what it is. And you, the girl who never breaks the rules, tried to rescue me. But Addie—” he bent his head, his face coming so close I could feel his breath on my lips— “I don’t need rescuing.”
I pulled back a little, needing to catch my breath, and thought about the fact that Rory had wielded magic. I’d seen it, even though he shouldn’t be able to use magic any more than I should. Then I remembered what a bad position I’d put him in. “I’m really sorry. The handshake was a horrible idea. I don’t know what I was thinking. I was so embarrassed by my brother.” I bit my lower lip. “Okay, I wasn’t thinking.”
“It was kind of nice, holding your hand. But if I didn’t know better, I’d think that Izzy finally convinced you to come over to the dark side,” Rory teased, shooting me another one of his devastating smiles.
For a few heartbeats, I forgot everything but his smile, and when my brain started working again, I thought about the irony of Rory mentioning the dark side, since his magic was purple. Although Hugo hadn’t said anything about purple, it was the byproduct of mixing blue and red. Could it be that Rory just might be on his way to the dark side?
Not if I had anything to say about it.
&nbs
p; Step one: I needed to find out exactly what Rory Devlin was—human, human-mage, or wizard—and step two, I needed to make sure he didn’t become a sorcerer if that was where he was headed. I remembered I hadn’t replied to Rory, but honestly, he had that effect on me, so he should be used to my delayed responses. “She hasn’t convinced me to go to the dark side, yet, but the night is still young.” What was that? Had I just flirted, too?
A wider smile split Rory’s handsome face. “Glad I’ll be coming tonight, then. I wouldn’t want to miss that for the world.” Rory shook his head as if waking up, his smile of a second before gone.
His drastic shift had me glancing around to see if Zarius had come back outside, but no one was there. The speedy shift from a dazzling smile to this serious expression was dizzying. “What’s wrong, Rory?”
“Addie, speaking of the party—like I said, you’re sixteen now and we’re not kids playing around anymore. There are rules, and I’ve been out of line today and I’m sorry.” He shook his head, his expression one of regret. “I really can’t believe I’m saying this, but your brother is right. You shouldn’t associate with me. You’re a wizard. I’m not. And you’re betrothed.” He looked away, swallowing. “But it’s hard, when I’m around you,” he muttered so low under his breath that I almost didn’t hear him.
Did he just say what I thought he said? Did Rory Devlin like me? As in really like me, like me? I’d always adored him… but didn’t I need to grow up and face the facts, like he was saying? Instead, I fought back. “Betrothed? My betrothed is missing in action. He’s not in my life, and probably won’t ever be.”
Rory brushed a single tanned hand through his golden-brown hair, seeming to force back his frustration. “So if it’s not Falcon Voltaire, it will be some other wizard, Addie. You’re the daughter of the High Chancellor. You’ll marry a wizard, and an important one at that. Period. End of story.” His frown transformed into another smile. “But you’re making this hard, Addie Evangelista. Where did this fighter in you come from?” And he touched that same forefinger to my chest, pointing at my heart. “I like it,” he said in a hoarse whisper. His touch made my heart pound harder and faster. And he could feel it, which made his smile grow bigger.
Feeling a little overwhelmed by everything, and I mean everything, I stepped back. Clearing my throat, I paused a moment, glancing down at his black Nikes before I looked up to meet his amethyst eyes. “I still want to talk about this, but I need to go in and get ready for tonight.”
He squared his shoulders and nodded. “You’re right, but we probably shouldn’t talk anymore.”
“What is it that norms say? Bull crap! We will talk. And I saw you do magic, Rory Devlin. We have a whole lot to talk about.”
And I turned and left him, but not before I saw his mouth gape open.