Magic In The Storm (26 page)

Holding the rose delicately in her shaking
hand, she tried to steady her breathing. There was no logical
explanation for what he had done.

“Then you really are... you truly are a
witch?” she managed to whisper not lifting her eyes from the
flower—it all seemed so impossible.

“We prefer the term Vallen. Witches are
ordinary people who dabble with potions, but they are not truly
magical.”

Morgan watched as Adriana’s green eyes
widened with wonder when she finally she lifted them to look him.
The gold and red in her auburn hair glinted in the brilliant
sunlight. “But, yes, truly. I am Vallen. I am a Vallen who cares
for you a great deal.”

He couldn’t resist reaching out and touching
her. She was so beautiful even in her awe, and amid her fears. She
was strong and brave in a way he couldn’t have expected from anyone
else. He ran his hand gently up her cheek and then feathered his
lips across hers, leaving a trail of tingles.

A rush of heat went pulsing through his veins
as she took a step closer to him. He wrapped his hands around her
delicate waist and pulled her close. He needed to feel her, all of
her. His lips descended upon hers, pressing his desire into
her.

Fire licked at his blood as Adriana opened
her mouth and allowed their tongues to dance together. He could
feel her arms moving around his neck, as she relaxed and accepted
him for who he truly was.

Happiness and joy coursed through him. Now,
finally, he could be completely honest with her. How long had he
wanted to be able to share his life, his feelings and his problems
with her—to show her just how much they had in common. And now,
finally,
finally
, he could.

Reluctantly, he pulled away from her. He
wanted to tell her everything, to share everything with her.

“Adriana, I am so happy. Happy to be with
you, and to be able to speak with you openly and honestly,” he
began.

A frown marred her beautiful face. “You
haven’t been honest with me up until now?”

“I haven’t been able to be. But I’ve wanted
to.”

“So, why haven’t you?” she said, taking a
step away from him.

“I couldn’t. I couldn’t risk telling
you.”

“Why? I don’t understand.”

“It’s too dangerous. I wouldn’t have told you
now, except you witnessed the fight with my mother. It is very
dangerous for people to know I’m Vallen. What if you accidentally
tell someone and it gets out? I could be killed. It’s not common
any more, but witches are still drowned or burned at the stake, and
we are commonly mistaken for them. People are not kind to us,
Adriana.”

Adriana focused her eyes on the ground,
clearly thinking about this. Slowly she nodded her head. Thank
goodness, she understood—but still, the fear that she might tell
someone was sharp in his gut.

“You can never tell anyone what we are—my
mother, Kat and I—that we have powers,” Morgan said vehemently,
adding a touch of magic to his voice.

“I will never tell...” She stopped speaking
and raised her eyes up to meet his. “You... what did you do?” she
asked, with a tremor in her voice.

“I’m sorry. I put a suggestion into your
mind. If you try to tell anyone I’m Vallen, you won’t be able
to—just as you couldn’t tell your companion my name until I
released my hold.”

“Why did you do that? Don’t you trust
me?”

“Of course I do, I just.... This is so
important, Adriana,” He hated using his magic on her.

“You don’t trust me not to tell anyone.” She
was beginning to get angry again. He could feel it sparking out of
her, pricking him like tiny little needles.

He didn’t do anything for a full minute,
hoping she would calm down. He wanted to trust her. He wanted to so
very much, but there was just the slightest hesitation, the little
voice in the back of his head telling him to be cautious.

But when he saw tears well in her eyes, they
were like a blow to his heart, a knife in his chest.

Placing his hand on her shoulder, he
whispered, “I’m sorry, Adriana. I release my hold. You’re right, I
should trust you, and I do.” He reached down within himself to see
if he was doing the right thing. The voice inside of him still made
its warning sounds, but drowning it out was the feeling that this
was important. It was a big step, but a significant one—he had to
be able to trust Adriana completely, and she needed to know that he
did.

“You shouldn’t just force your will onto
others. It’s not right,” she said, crossing her arms in front of
her.

Morgan nodded. “You’re right. I’m still
getting used to having the power to put a suggestion into someone’s
mind. I don’t always think about whether I should use it or
not.”

“What do you mean, you’re just getting used
to having this power?” she asked, clearly confused again.

“I mean, I’ve only recently developed this
ability. Somehow, my powers have begun to increase.”

“But how is that possible? Where do your
powers come from?”

Morgan gave a little laugh. “I don’t know.
Most Vallen are born with whatever power they have. As they use
them, their powers get stronger. But for me, I was born only with
the power to heal. Now, within the past few weeks, I have been able
to do things I never could before. I need to find out how and why,
and I need to find someone to teach me to control these abilities.
I don’t even know how powerful I am.”

“You don’t?”

“No, and I need to find out, quickly.”

“You’re afraid you’ll hurt someone?”

“No.” He stopped and stared into her eyes,
searching once again to be sure he was doing the right thing before
he answered her with complete honesty. Trust, he reminded himself.
“There was a prophecy. It was foretold I would be the most powerful
Vallen of our time, and that I have a great destiny.”

He turned away from her and stepped over to
the old oak tree that dominated the garden. “My mother has always
said that because I’m male I’m magically weak and I’ll never attain
this destiny. She chose Kat to take my place.” He paused and ran
his hand down the trunk of the tree, taking comfort in its
familiarity. “I’ve spent my whole life trying to increase my
powers, without success. But now they
are
increasing. I
don’t know why, or how, but if I can do anything to help them, to
make them grow faster, I need to do that. You see, if I don’t
attain my full powers by my twenty–first birthday, I’ll lose
everything and become an ordinary man.”

“Would that be so bad?” Adriana asked,
joining him under the tree.

Morgan nodded somberly. “When you’ve been
expecting to be so much more? Yes, I’m afraid it would.” Just the
thought of it turned his stomach.

Adriana nodded, her eyes filled with
understanding.

“Well, do you know anyone who can help you?
Who you can ask about your powers?”

Morgan shook his head. “I don’t know anyone,
aside from my mother.”

“You don’t know any other... Vallen?” She
said the new word awkwardly.

“Only one, but he doesn’t know how to help
me.” Morgan reached up and toyed with a leaf that was hanging down
from the tree. “I can’t exactly walk up to people and ask if they
are a Vallen, can I?”

Adriana laughed at the thought. “But surely
there is someplace where they get together? Like a society party,
only it would be... a Vallen party, I suppose?” she asked.

Morgan smiled at her. “Actually, there are
Vallen in society. I just don’t know who they might be.”

“Really? Members of the beau monde?”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Then why don’t you go to a society party and
see if you can meet one, and ask if they’ll help you?”

“I’m not invited to society parties,” he said
with a shrug, and he wasn’t about to try the same fortune telling
trick he had before. That had been an utter failure.

Adriana seemed to be thinking this through.
“If I could get you an invitation, perhaps you could attend a ball
with me.”

Morgan turned to look at her, the muscles in
his stomach beginning to loosen. She was willing to help him?
“Could you do that? Would you?”

“If it would help you, of course.”

He took her hands in his. “Adriana, I can’t
tell you how much that would mean to me.” His voice dropped into a
quieter, more intimate tone. “How much it means to me that you are
willing to help.”

He pulled her into his arms and gave her a
strong hug.

But then her soft curves were pressing into
his body. Heat shot through him like a lightning bolt. He loosened
his grip on her, and kissed her with all of the hunger and passion
that resided within him.

But then she wiggled and pulled herself away.
“No, Morgan! This is wrong. We’ve got to stop doing this.”

H
ow can you stand to
live in a place such as this?” Tatiana said, looking around at the
shabby furnishings of Mrs. Lunden’s drawing room.

“It’s much nicer than my cottage in the woods
at Vallentyn.”

Morgan stood with his arms crossed in front
of his chest. If he was trying to look powerful, he was doing a
very good job of it, Tatiana admitted reluctantly to herself.

In fact, she’d been extremely surprised when
he’d walked into the room. The entire feel of the room had changed.
Somehow it had gone from being a small room to being a tiny room,
as her son—and she could hardly believe that he was indeed her son,
took up so much of the air in the room.

It wasn’t that he was particularly large,
although he certainly took after his father in the impressive
breadth of his shoulders and his height. No, it was more the feel
of him.

When Morgan had walked into the room,
immediately, Tatiana knew that this was a man to be reckoned
with—which was ridiculous. This was Morgan after all. Her measly,
powerless little boy. When did he become... no!

She refused to believe what her own
well–honed senses told her. He certainly could not be the powerful
Vallen he seemed. It was impossible!

She wouldn’t allow it!

Tamping down the anger that had begun to
simmer inside of her, she asked, “Well, won’t you ask me to sit
down at least?” A brief look around at the shabby furnishings
almost had Tatiana take back her words. If any one of her other
children had dared to live in such squalor she would have removed
them at once. For Morgan, this seemed almost fitting.

“No. This interview is not going to last long
enough for you to get comfortable. Please, just say what you have
to say, Mother.”

Tatiana’s eyes snapped to his and he met hers
with equal force.

How dare he? It was beyond rude—it was
disrespectful. The nerve of this boy!

But she grudgingly had to admit he did not
lower his eyes the way Kat did. She had to respect him...

No! She did not have to respect him for
anything!

She ground her teeth together, but then took
a deep, calming breath.

Walking over to the window, she kept her back
to him so he could not see the fury in her eyes. “You know very
well why I am here,” she said, beginning to gather together the
force of her magic, calling on it from all around and within her.
It would have been better had there been a fire in the hearth, for
then she could have called on her element to assist her, but she
would have to make do with what she had. On the other hand, perhaps
it was better the way it was, after all. If she wasn’t mistaken,
Morgan too was tied to the element of fire, as were all the seventh
children in her family.

“I am not returning to Vallentyn.”

“Why? What is it you want here in London? If
it is Miss Hayden, you can simply remove that thought from your
mind. She is already engaged to your brother.”

She sensed Morgan twitch at that. Ah, so he
hadn’t know that little piece of information. Tatiana supposed Miss
Hayden had conveniently forgotten to mention it during their
assignation the night before. Now was the time to hit him with her
magic. Now, when he wasn’t expecting it. When he was thinking about
Adriana.

She gathered her energy together quickly. She
wasn’t sure how powerful he was, but she would hit him with all she
had the first time. There was very little likelihood that she would
get a second chance.

Putting it all into her voice, she spun
around and made direct eye contact with him. “There is nothing for
you here. Return to Vallentyn!”

He took an involuntary step backwards, but
then smiled as he shook his head slowly from side to side. “It’s
not going to work anymore, Mother. I’ve grown too powerful for
you.”

Tatiana stifled her gasp. There had been so
much power in that suggestion she was a little weakened from it.
How could he have blocked that? When had he become so strong? Where
was his magic coming from? It just didn’t make sense—he’d never had
any powers. This simply wasn’t possible.

The heat of her anger boiled within her, but
she kept a strong rein on it. She would not allow him to see how he
affected her. If she did, he would surely take advantage of it—she
knew she would if she were in his place.

No, she would simply have to use something
else to convince him to go back. If sheer brute force of magic
didn’t work, there were other ways to get what she wanted.

Oh yes, he was confident now. But what about
when she mentioned Miss Hayden? He didn’t seem to be quite so sure
of himself.

“Very well, Morgan. If you will not go back,
then stay. Enjoy yourself and your new–found freedom.” She eyed the
parlor, it’s shabby gentility and sneered, “Enjoy your new home.
Enjoy it now, for you
will
be spending the rest of your life
at Vallentyn. After Miss Hayden marries your brother, there will be
nothing else for you here, will there?”

“She won’t be marrying him,” he said, trying
to put on a good show of bravado. But she could sense his
uncertainty.