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Apprehension gripped me, and I knew I needed him to get on with it before I lost my nerve. “Just do it. Worrying won’t change anything. Just let me feel it and then tell me what to do.”

“Okay.” He surprised me by taking my hand again, and I was surprised more by the fact it felt so natural now.

I had no idea what to expect, so I startled slightly as something—power, obviously—that was built inside. A deep well of it. And as he slowly released his hold on it, it poured into me, filling the well.

It didn’t give me any hint at what it could be capable of like I thought it might. I could just feel how much of it there was, and it was far more than I expected. Nyx walked around the palace looking like magic was just a part of him—a part he had no trouble mastering. If we were equally matched, like he said, he was hiding his reserves expertly. This was overwhelming.

“You okay?” he asked softly.

I nodded.

“Breathe, then,” he urged, humor in his tone.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

“Shall I keep going?”

“There’s more?” Even to my ears, I sounded panicked.

Nyx smiled. “Only a little. You almost have it.”

I felt him let go, and the remaining magic flowed in. When it stopped, I could feel my reserve was full. I hadn’t expected to be so aware of how much power I would have on hand, and I sensed that I would always be aware of how much was in the reserve at any time.

“Okay?”

“Yes.”

“I know you feel full to the brim right now, but you’ll adjust. It’s a feeling that becomes background very quickly. Give it a day or two, and you’ll stop thinking about it. It’s like eating. When the reserve is full, you don’t think about it. When it’s low, it’s like a hunger to replenish it.”

“How do you replenish it?”

He tilted his head in thought. “Rest is the main thing. Sleep, eat, heal. If those things are taken care of, magic restores itself naturally within a short time. There are things you can do specific to your magic and to your origin, too. Dragons can use metals to replenish; we draw power from different ones. Some more than others. You’ll find that metals which are more valuable are so because they provide more power to us. Other things such as crystals can boost magic; usually those native to where your line originates give the most power. There are potions, but those are more of a short-term, artificial boost. Like a shot of energy. Good in an emergency. And in old magic, the sacred symbols were used to connect our magic centers to the Goddess. Though, these days, those connections are weakened, and we don’t rely on them anymore.”

“Why are they weakened?”

He laughed. “Do you want a history lesson or a magic lesson?”

I breathed out a laugh. “Magic, please.” That was the priority. “But will you tell me some time about the rest?”

“Sure.” And hope grew between us for a moment about a future ‘sometime’ that now felt reachable. We returned to the task. “Okay, let’s try something basic.”

Nyx went to the shelf on the far wall and brought back some empty cans. He set them on the floor at various points around the room. I watched, quietly adjusting to the new sensations.

“I want you to draw some power from your reserve and direct it out of your hands. We are going to try and knock the cans over. I’ll show you.”

He described how to draw on it and form it into an energy I could use to move objects, then he demonstrated the action by waving a hand toward a can. It promptly fell over and rolled away.

Then it was my turn. I drew on my magic like he said, and I formed it into energy, which was harder to do than it sounded. I had no idea if I had done it right. Then I waved my hand, and nothing happened. I waved it again, and nothing. Frustrated, I shook my hand out, and energy burst behind me with a bang. I hunched in on myself instinctively, then slowly turned.

A burned patch of floor several feet away was smoking, but the walls were still standing.

“Okay, that was fire.” He sounded amused. Relaxed, even. Was he mad?

I looked down at my hands as if they would go off again at any moment.

“Let’s keep these where we can see them for now,” he teased, reaching for both my hands.

I tried to snatch them away. “Don’t! If I do that again, you’ll get hurt.”