A Kiss of Magic: A Kiss of Magic Book One (2 page)

Bess chattered on about dozens of other topics, but Yasra had to confess she hardly kept track of any of them. As she ate the lunch Bess set into her lap, she found herself obsessing about the practicals tomorrow.

A rap on her door interrupted Bess’s gossip about the neighbor’s loose-moraled daughter. Bess hopped up from her perch on the hassock by Yasra’s feet and moved over to the door, her long red hair swishing down her back. She answered the door with a smile, but the moment that smile faded, Yasra knew who was at the door. Bess’s bright bubbliness disappeared instantly and her head dropped submissively. Only two people could have that effect on her.

“Mother. Father.” Yasra said, leaping to her feet and crossing to the door. Her mother pushed in past Bess, not even waiting for her to step back in welcome. Her father trailed behind only slightly less aggressively.

“How did the test go?” her mother asked without preamble. Not even so much as a hello.

“It went the same as it always does,” Yas said with a frown. “I do very well on the written tests. I get everything right.”

“No one gets everything right,” her father said with a scoffing sound. “Anyway, you’re not supposed to get everything right, Yasra. The test is supposed to show—“

“Aptitude. Yes, I know.” Yasra said irritably. “Well maybe I don’t have aptitude. Maybe I don’t have any majic at all! When are you going to face that fact? I’m a non, Father. Plain and simple.”

“No daughter of ours could ever be a non,” her mother said with a scoffing sound of her own for punctuation. “Stop talking nonsense.”

“It isn’t nonsense! It’s the truth!”

“It is not the truth!” her mother said, her voice suddenly shrill. “You are simply not applying yourself! You’re lazy and you’re…you’re spoiled! That’s what it is. Well, we’re not going to put up with your slacking any longer! You will test out tomorrow or you will find yourself without any means of supporting yourself! Your father and I will not spend lavish amounts of our hard earned money to support a daughter who isn’t even going to try and give it her best effort!”

“Lavish amounts?
Lavish
?” Yasra was incredulous. “I have to beg you for extra money just to get myself a new dress when the old one gets threadbare! And even then I’m loath to ask it of you because you always kick up a fuss about it…complaining about it every step of the way!”

“Well we wouldn’t complain if we thought you were applying yourself…at least trying to study a house of majic. Yasra, all we ask is a little show of majic. One glimmer of hope.”

“I can’t give you the impossible! I’m a non, Mother!”

“Stop saying that! The more you think like that, the more you’ll block yourself mentally from being able to cast majic.”

“No daughter of ours could possibly be a non,” her father said, his deep voice booming dangerously. “You will test out tomorrow, Yasra. If you fail again…well, then you’re no daughter of ours.”

“Test out or find yourself and your little friend here on the street,” her mother said, nodding to Bess harshly. “Yes, that’s right. We know you are lovers. It’s disgusting and a disgrace!”

Yasra was so shocked she couldn’t even form words as her parents went back toward the door. Even if she could form words, she wouldn’t want to. What did it matter what they thought of her and Bess? None of it mattered.

“Test out tomorrow, Yasra. This is your final chance,” her mother said before turning her back and heading down the stairs with her father.

Bess slowly shut the door behind them, clearly just as shell-shocked as she was. Yasra slowly sat back down and suddenly…suddenly she felt so light. Not lightheaded…but light. As if a tremendous weight had been lifted off of her.

Free. She would be free of her parents at long last. Finally, when she failed tomorrow, they would stop hounding her to be this amazing child of power they were supposed to have had. They would finally accept that she was a non and they would leave her alone.

Sure…the idea of being cut off financially was worrisome…even a little frightening, but she had saved enough money to potentially start a small business of her own. Books weren’t that expensive and she had a vast library there in her bedsit. She could rent a small store and use her personal books as stock. She would hate to see some of them go, but it was more important that she kept food in her and Bess’s bellies. And Bess could help her as a shop girl. Tidying shelves…finding books. They would continue to live there together, but as equals.

Bess came over to her and knelt down before her, taking her into her arms and giving her a consoling hug.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry your parents think that about us. I must not have been discreet and they—“

Yasra cut her off with a loud laugh. “Do you think I care what my parents think of our relationship? Oh Bessy, don’t worry! This is a good thing! I’ll finally be free of them and you and I can live in peace!”

“Oh Yasra,” Bess said with a frown, “I don’t think you really appreciate how expensive life can be. You aren’t really cut out to be a servant in a house. You’re much more finely bred than that.”

Yasra frowned a little. “I’m perfectly capable of supporting us. I’ve been tracking the household accounts for months now. I’ve had to. They were giving me so little money and I knew this was coming one day. So I put a little aside every month and now I’ve got enough saved up so we can open a little shop. You and me together. We’ll be bookshop owners!”

“Really?” Bess’s eyes turned suddenly hopeful. “You mean as equals?”

“Yes!” Yasra laughed. “As equals!”

“Well, I have a little money saved as well. We can use that too. Only then will I think it fair we call ourselves equals.”

“All right then!” Yasra laughed. “Oh Bess. This is going to be so wonderful!”

Bess caught up with her excitement. “We should go look for a store to let as soon as possible. We will need to buy books for the shelves as soon as we can.”

“We’ll use these,” Yasra said, indicating her large collection.

“Oh Yas! No! This is your library!”

“Bess, I’ve read them all dozens of times already. I won’t miss any of them. And any that are special to me, like the ones you gave me, I will keep aside. We will start to collect others as soon as we have enough money. Many of these books are hard to find and they will get snatched up immediately. We will have money aplenty soon enough.” Yasra said.

“I hope so,” Bess said, nibbling on her bottom lip anxiously. “I want you to be comfortable and happy. How were you able to put so much money aside when they gave you so little?”

“Whenever I needed a dress I would ask for more than I needed. I would forego meat and buy us only fish. My parents gave me a little money for incidentals every month and I never spent any of it. It was just enough to put a little aside. A silver here a penny there and before you know it…I’ve a few gold pieces put aside. I knew this day was coming and I wanted to be prepared for it.”

“Well we’re lucky you had such foresight. For my part, living here with you and eating your food made it possible for me to save just about every penny you ever paid me! I’ve a few gold pieces put aside myself!”

“Come on, let’s go find a shop to let!” Yasra cried, bouncing up onto her feet excitedly. Bess followed quickly behind her.

The two women headed out, chatting gaily about all the things they were going to do for their new shop.

Chapter Two

Yasra was impatient for the testing to begin. She found it funny that she wasn’t under duress for the first time since she’d begun testing so many years ago. She was truly impatient…actually looking forward to her failure this time. It was the last step necessary before she finally was free from anything and everything to do with majic. She would officially be declared a non and that would be the end of it. So she was relaxed and content to sit back and watch the others around her fret and worry about their tests.

She was looking around the field, past the tables of elements, and across to the tent housing all of the instructors and mentors. She recognized almost every last one of them, all of them being associated with her parents in one way or another. Their school was a particularly large one. The schools were simple. A school was for all of the students of majic that had yet to test out for a specific house. Once the student tested out of the school, they were then assigned a house and would go to the furtherance school associated with that house. For instance, if a student tested out to have nature majic, they would belong to the Padoni house and would from then on go to Padoni furtherance school. If the student proved to have fire majic during their testing, they would belong to the Torenic house from that moment on and would go to Torenic furtherance school where they would advance in level each according to their skill. Some students would test out to average levels and would have to start out at the lowest level of the house furtherance school, but some…some tested so strongly and with such skill that they entered the furtherance school at already a high level.

In the past Yasra had not cared which house or even if she’d had to start all the way at the beginning, as long as she showed the smallest bit of aptitude for majic. But now she no longer cared. She was content that these were her last tests ever. Her parents had thought their ultimatum would push her over the edge and into majic, when in fact the opposite had been true. She had been released and relieved. She looked forward to her failure for the first time in all the autumns since she’d started testing eight autumns earlier.

She noticed a sudden ripple of silence running through the students and then someone nearby gasped, “It’s Dendri Adiron!”

Yasra leaned forward and scanned the small crowd of mentors and sure enough, Dendri Adiron walked past everyone, garnering a respectful bow and silence everywhere he passed.

What was Dendri Adiron doing at a preschool? she wondered. She watched the man move, felt as though she could feel the power emanating off of the 20
th
level Aspano majji. He was a towering six foot six, but his large body moved with an incredible amount of grace. It was lean and clearly strong. The man was well-defined in his close-fitting pants and sleeveless shirt that left little to the imagination as far as his fitness was concerned. She found that impressive, since 20
th
level majji usually ran to fat, their power making them lazy in all other ways not related to their majic. His black coffee colored hair was the deepest, darkest of browns with no hint of highlights. His hair was long, reaching to the middle of his shoulders, but he did not wear it free. It was braided in an intricate series of braids, hand-painted beads the size of large peas braided throughout. She couldn’t see the hand painting from the distance at which she sat of course, but she had seen the style on others. Though none of them had worn it quite so well as Dendri Adiron did.

He had a square jaw, all lean angles leading into a strong chin. His cheekbones were well defined and his brows winged up over his eyes as two separate beings, unlike Esmo with his unified brow who was falling all over himself to speak with Adiron at that very moment. To her infinite pleasure, Adiron looked down on Esmo as if he were some kind of annoying little bug that had dared to run over his boot tip. Yasra chuckled when, in his excitement, Esmo tripped over his own feet and landed on the ground face first. Adiron seemed not to notice as he continued walking on.

Adiron walked out onto the field, taking in the elemental tables and then turning an assessing gaze on the gathering of students waiting to be tested. His eyes fell on Yasra briefly and she felt the insane impulse to sit up straighter. But by the time she did, his attention had slid past her and on to someone else.

Adiron walked up to the proctor and said something to him. The proctor nodded and stepped back, letting Adiron take his place behind the elemental tables.

Oh no! Did that mean Adiron was going to proctor the tests? That would be awful! Bad enough to embarrass herself in front of a class full of youngsters and the regular proctors, but in front of Dendri Adiron? He moved in circles even above what her parents moved in.

Maybe he would only proctor some of the tests and she would not be called until after he was through.

“Yasra Desro,” one of the other proctors called out. Yasra’s heart sank. First. She was first. And Adiron was going to proctor her test.

She stood up and wiped her suddenly damp palms down her skirt. She wore breeches just as often as she wore skirts, but she had felt like dressing up today. Now she was glad she had. At least she wouldn’t look like a boy going up there. Not that anyone could mistake her for a boy. She was round in all the right places…and some not so right places. Her mother had frowned on her habit of wearing breeches and the fact that she didn’t wear an underbust. But she didn’t like to be confined. She liked to be able to breathe and move. Besides, it wasn't as though other women didn’t wear them. She wasn't exactly setting a trend…it was just that most women wore long, floor-length dresses with empire waists or underbusts.

The dress she presently wore had an empire waist and was a soft velveteen blue, to pick up the color of her eyes. It also flattered the blackness of her hair. She was grateful she looked halfway decent as she made her way to the center of the field. At least if she had to fail so publicly, she would look good while doing so.

In the center of the field there were three tables. Elemental tables. Each one bore things associated with fire, earth, and water. Anyone with any majic should be able to manipulate one in some way. For instance, on the earth table there was a bin full of rich, loamy soil and small bundles of seeds. If you were of the Padoni house you should be able to take a seed and grow it into a seedling. On another table were coals. If you were of the Torenic house you should be able to start a fire, however small, using the coals and only the power of your majic.

As for water…it could be used for multiple houses. Torenics could turn the water to steam. Vendii could turn it to ice or evaporate it and make it rain. Or maybe turn it to fog.

The only two houses that could not affect the elements were the last two. The Necromay and Aspano. Necromay dealt in death majic. So they could kill or bring something back from the dead or commune with spirits of the dead. They often had spirit guides, and they could make those spirits visible. So that would be what they had to do. Make a spirit visible. It was an elementary form of Necromay majic, one of the first things they could do.

Then there was Aspano house. Aspanos were mind majji. They could communicate using telepathy. They could move things using telekinesis. So, potentially, they could affect all three of the elemental tables. Telekinesis was an advanced skill and youngsters like these were more likely to be able to do telepathy. That would require use of the proctor’s mind. It would be for the proctor to say whether his mind was touched in any way. Also, Aspanos were known for sex majic. But it would be frowned upon for a student to try and use sex majic with a proctor. There were just some things you didn’t do out of respect and politeness. Besides, sex majic was one of the most advanced and complex skills there was.

She walked up and stood before the elemental tables, once again wiping her hands on her skirt. It was an overly warm day for the fall and she was baking now that she was out from under the tent that had been protecting the students, which stood across from the one that protected the proctors and visiting parents of the students.

Her parents had not come to the test, no longer willing to face the humiliation of their powerless daughter in front of their peers.

As she stood there waiting, she heard tittering laughter coming from both sides of the field. Both the younger students and the older parents and proctors knew who she was. Knew what a majical failure she was. Did Dendri Adiron know who she was? Did he know he was wasting his exalted and precious time with her?

“Medra Desro,” he greeted her formally, his voice low and rich. Now that she was closer she could see his eyes. They were green. A vivid green that stood out against his tanned features and his dark colored hair.

“M-Medro Adiron,” she stammered in response with a shaky nod of her head.

He then did something unexpected. As a rule, the proctor stood on one side of the elemental tables while the student stood on the other. Adiron crossed the distance between them and stood next to her, facing the tables with her. He stood so close he blocked out the sun and she could smell him on the warm, summery air. He smelled of something rich and dark, so male and inviting that she took in a deep breath to bring it into her senses. Then she caught herself doing it and rolled her eyes. She would not be like some of these women standing around here who just about fainted when Dendri Adiron entered the room.

Then again she felt a lot like fainting right then.

“Relax,” he said, his deep voice penetrating her. “You are very wound up. No majic can break through so much tension.”

“I don’t have any majic,” she whispered fiercely. Her face burned to admit it to a man like Adiron, but she figured it was best to get it out of the way.

“You’re a non?” he asked, raising one of his winged brows. “Then why do you come to the test?”

“My parents cannot accept that I’m a non. I was supposed to be this incredibly powerful child and…I’m just not. But this is the last time I am doing this. They will give up at last after this. I’ll just be a quiet embarrassment from now on,” she said bitterly.

He took her revelation in silence for a long moment.

“Let us commence the testing. The sooner you begin the sooner it will be over,” he said to her kindly.

“Thank you,” she said.

Yasra shook out her tense hands and began with the earthen table. She walked up to it, put seeds into the soil and stood back and concentrated on trying to grow them. Of course, nothing happened. Then she felt Adiron’s presence behind her again.

“You will never be able to tap into your majic if you are so blocked from it. You are determined to fail, and so you will.”

Well, he should know, Yasra thought. He knew everything there was to know about the mind. The powerful Aspano majji was the most advanced of his kind. There was no one stronger.

“It doesn’t matter how blocked my mind is. I don’t have any majic,” she said irritably.

“You never will show it with that attitude.”

“I’ve been testing for eight autumns and have failed every time. If I was going to have majic it would have shown itself long before now!”

She marched away from him and went to the water table. She tried to freeze the water, create a whirlpool, make fog. Anything. And, of course, nothing happened. By the time she reached the fire table, Adiron had come up behind her again. She tried to focus, but he was so close it unnerved her. And suddenly he reached out while she was concentrating on starting a fire and touched her on her shoulders from behind.

Yasra’s mind imploded. Or that was what it felt like. She suddenly felt the world closing in around her then swiftly exploding outward. She found herself in a room, all white, in a bed, with blinding white sheets upon it. There, next to her, lying naked in the bed save for a sheet of white drawn haphazardly over his legs, was Dendri Adiron. She was shocked to realize she was naked as well, and he was touching her. He ran his knuckles along her skin, their smooth warmth stroking down the length of her arm. Heat swirled inside of her with every stroke of his fingers, excitement unfurling at the thought and feel of him.

“I want to make you come for me,” he said, his voice a low, rich rumble of sexual promise. Her face burned hot at the bluntness of his spoken desire, but she wasn’t turned off by his suggestion. Instead just the opposite was true.

“What about the test?” she asked. But the test seemed suddenly to be so far away. So far it was as though it didn’t exist at all.

“The true test will be if I can make you respond to me as I should.” His fingers, long and strong, went to the edge of the sheet she was using to cover herself from his eyes. “Let me in, Yasra,” he implored her silkily.

She was speechless as she relaxed and allowed him to draw the sheet away from her naked body. She felt exposed as he looked down on her. He kept pulling that sheet back until she was completely revealed, from head to toes. She had to fight the urge to cover herself with her hands.

His fingertips came to rest on her belly as he sat there, propped on one arm, looking her over with eyes full of hunger. Desire. For
her
. He drifted those fingertips up until they were climbing the underside of her left breast, sliding up over the nipple, which he paused to pluck until it was a stiff little point. The touch sent pleasure swirling through her and she drew in a soft, soundless gasp of breath. He smiled and it completely transformed the cold aristocracy of his face into a warmer, lighter version of itself. She had never seen him smile before so it came as a delightful surprise to experience such an open expression from him.