Page 17 of Forgotten Arcane (Broken Ashes #6)

Neith

“T hat was quicker that time,” Griff compliments. “Well done, man.”

Raiden grins proudly, “Thanks. I think I could probably do it quicker, but I haven’t been able to get them out for a week while we’ve been at the Choosing. Except for when I showed them to Coen in the chamber.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if you could. You were picking it up really quickly before we got called,” Griff replies. He looks at me, “Ready to have a go?”

I nod, “Yep.”

I don’t allow myself a moment longer to think about it, I know that if I do, then I’m probably going to freak myself out.

My magic comes easily, and that same strange feeling from before appears in my back and makes me grimace slightly.

When the feeling moves from my back to my gums, I have to admit that I start to freak out, but the Voices whisper comfortingly, and I know that they’re telling me to wait it out.

It’s for that reason alone that I don’t pull my magic back, and stop it from doing whatever the fuck it’s doing.

My wings stretch out behind me, and it’s crazy to me how natural it feels to me considering that this is only the second time that I have had them out, and the first time that I have called on them.

I wonder why they didn’t come out when I fell into the lake? Maybe it’s not an automatic thing or at least not yet it’s not.

My magic dissipates completely, and not only does my mouth feel strange, but my eyes do as well, and I can see far further than I ever have been able to before, and it’s clearer too.

“Whoa,” Reed exclaims, as he stares at my face.

“What’s wrong?” I ask. “I felt the same magic that makes my back feel weird when my wings come out, make my mouth feel strange too.”

“You’ve got fangs,” Griff grins.

“No fucking way!” I exclaim as I look over at the guys sitting in the seats and watching.

All of their eyes widen, and I’m surprised to see heat in their expressions too.

“Your eyes are different too, Love,” Coen says.

“They feel different,” I reply. Lifting my hand, I gently poke one of my fangs. They are definitely bigger than my usual canines, but they don’t feel like they don’t fit in my mouth. Just like with my wings, they feel like they belong. “Do my wings look the same?”

Ransom nods, “Yeah, they do. You didn’t get to see them in the chamber, did you?”

River chuckles, “No, she didn’t, she went round in circles and then fell over.”

I stick my middle finger up at him, but I can’t hide my smile. It was pretty funny. River’s laughter gets louder, and some of the others join in.

Ransom tries not to laugh as he stands up and walks over to where we’re standing, “It’s probably easier for you to see your new changes than it is for us to try to describe them to you.”

A huge mirror suddenly appears in front of me, and I gasp.

Holy shit.

My wings are the first thing that my gaze catches on. They’re fucking huge, and I spread them out behind me with barely a thought so that I can get a better look at them.

They look like they should be extremely heavy, and yet, although I am of course aware that they’re there, I can’t feel the weight of them, they feel similar to how an arm or a leg feels.

They’re feathered, just like the Queen’s in the painting from the fourth floor at the castle, but that’s where the similarities end.

They’re beautiful, and the colors are absolutely stunning.

Each feather starts off a deep burgundy color, which then blends into a brighter red, then orange, and yellow, before blending into a bright gold on the tips in an ombre effect.

As if that’s not impressive enough, each wing is then edged in a fiery copper color.

I flex my wings, putting one away so that it folds neatly against my back, and then bringing the other one around so I can get a closer look at the colors.

Lifting my hand, I gently touch the feathers.

“This is real copper,” I say as I tap my fingernails against the metal. I look up to see that, in my distraction, the guys have all moved closer and are watching me intently.

“Really?” Griff asks. He lifts his hand, “May I?”

I nod, “Yeah, go for it.”

His hand gently touches the same tip that I just touched, and he grunts, immediately pulling his hand back and showing that the same wing that I was touching a moment ago just sliced his hand.

“Oh shit, sorry,” I apologize immediately.

Griff grins, “Don’t be, that is so fucking cool.

It would appear that your wings are indeed tipped in actual metal, and although it looks like copper, I’m not entirely sure that’s what it is.

They are also incredibly sharp. If you can work out how to fight with them, you will have an impressive and unique new weapon in your arsenal. ”

“The dragons have armor that they wear on their wings that makes it sharp like your wings naturally are,” Coen explains.

“I didn’t know that,” Raiden replies curiously.

Coen nods, “It’s only used for big conflicts or wars, but we are all trained to use it.

Wars break out suddenly, and when they do, there wouldn’t be enough time to train dragons to use their wings for weapons.

It’s quite complicated and takes a while to get the hang of, especially since we naturally want to protect our wings and not put them in harm’s way. ”

“That makes a lot of sense,” Raiden agrees. He turns to me and grins, “Check out your fangs.”

“Oh, I forgot about them. I got distracted by my wings,” I reply.

“We all are, they’re stunning,” Van compliments, and I grin proudly in response.

Ransom conjures the mirror again, and this time, I focus on my face.

Sure enough, I have fangs, they look similar to vamp fangs, but slightly smaller, and my teeth at the bottom of my mouth have changed slightly as well, becoming sharper and longer, I’m not sure why since it is so different from what I usually look like, but I like them.

Then there are my eyes.

They shock me the most, and I’m surprised that the guys didn’t point them out to me first.

Instead of normal human pupils, mine are now slit like a dragons, and the same copper as my wings, with gold flecks in them. They’re mesmerizing, and such a contrast to my normal eyes that they probably shock me more than any of the other changes.

“Are you okay?” Ransom asks me gently.

I nod, “Yeah, I think my eyes are just a bit of a shock.”

Coen moves so that I can see him in the mirror, he stands next to me, and his eyes turn into those of his dragon.

He grins, “We match.”

I nod a smile, replacing my frown, “We do. I like that.”

River stands on my other side and shifts his eyes too, “All predator shifters have eyes like ours.”

His eyes are the same shape as the two of us, and my smile widens even more.

Griff and Reed suddenly appear in the mirror beside us, their eyes shifted to match ours as well.

All of our eyes are different colors and slightly different in shape, but the vertical slit is the same for all of us, and my eyes don’t seem quite so foreign to me anymore.

“Oh, I never knew that,” I reply to River.

He nods, “Yeah. Most shifters and demons have similar eyes, and we already know that you are a kind of shifter because of the way that your wings work.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I reply. “I like them, it’s just going to take a moment to get used to them.”

“That’s understandable,” Van replies.

“You know you could probably shift them and your fangs back, but keep your wings out if you wanted to,” Reed suggests.

I nod, and then just like they’ve taught me so far, I focus on my eyes and fangs, and turn them back to normal.

When I glance in the mirror that Ransom still has up, I grin, I’m back to normal.

However, normal might be relative because as I run my tongue over my teeth, I have to admit that I miss my fangs already. They looked bad ass.

“Ready to try flying?” Raiden asks excitedly. His wings rustling behind him.

I nod, “Absolutely.”

Everyone smiles, and then those who aren’t participating head back to their seats, and the others stay with me.

“We already know that you can move them without too much effort since you brought one closer to have a look at,” Griff starts.

“So this next thing should be fairly easy, just don’t put too much thought into it.

It’s a part of your nature, and it will come naturally so long as you don’t overthink it. ”

I nod, “Okay, so like if you think about breathing too much, you forget how to breathe?”

They all just stare at me for a moment.

“I think that might be a you thing, Nene,” Evander comments from the sidelines.

I frown, “Really? You guys don’t get that?” They all shake their heads, “Huh, well, you learn something new every day.”

Still smiling, Griff tries to get us back on track, “Right, so at first all I want you to do is try to flap your wings, okay? We’re not going to leave the ground, but I want you to get used to the movement. Ready to try?”

Feeling like a bobble head, since all I seem to be doing is nodding, I nod again.

I do as he instructed, and I’m pleased to find that it’s relatively easy, although the ground is getting in the way of me doing it properly, and my feet actually come off the floor slightly.

“Great job,” Griff praises.

“Well done, Neith,” Reed adds with a smile. “Now, for the actual flying part. You can either start from where you are now, so from a standstill or you can run and jump, remembering to flap your wings, which is much easier.”

“I think I’ll go for option two,” I reply without much thought. “The easier I can make this, the better.”

“Good idea,” Reed replies. “We’ll do the same, and you can watch us, so you get an idea for what you’ve got to do, and then you can follow along.”

“I know it seems obvious, but don’t forget to flap your wings,” Raiden tells me.

I nod, “Got it.”

They all smile as one by one they run and jump, launching themselves into the air.