Page 1 of Taste of Thorns

Chapter One

Briony

I pull back from him, blinking up into his face.

“Wh-what?” I stutter. “What do you mean this power is different?”

My body doesn’t feel like my own. I’m lightheaded, dazed. The world is spinning twice as fast and blood roars in my ears. I can sense the adrenaline swirling in my veins and something else, something different, something hot and alive.

I stare down at my hands. My hands. Just the same as always, yet they seem completely alien to me. I half expect that strange power to radiate out from my fingers all over again.

Fox cups my hands in his own, and as he does, I realize mine are shaking. In fact, my entire body is shaking.

“I’m not sure entirely, but I think …” His glowing eyes flick to the door and then back to my hands, and then he’s dragging me through the classroom and into his room, shutting the door behind him and sweeping his arms through the air, whispering unspoken words. I know what that means now – he’s casting a spell.

He answers my curious look.

“I don’t know what this means,” he says, and his unease is infectious. Fox Tudor has always seemed so sure of himself. I don’t think anything scares him. He’s immortal after all. What would? But he seems frightened now, and fear trickles down my spine, adding to the whirlwind of emotions I’m feeling right now. “I don’t know how much danger this places you in or why.” He scoffs, shaking his head and turning away from me. “Maybe I’m just a bitter old cynic after all.”

“I think we have to be cautious, Fox,” I whisper, my voice trembling. I step closer to him and place my hands on his shoulder, wanting to anchor myself to something, wanting to anchor myself to him. He jolts a little at my unfamiliar touch, then leans into it, and I can’t resist sliding my hands over his shoulder and into his hair, massaging the back of his neck. “Tell me, Professor, please.”

He stands there for several minutes, letting me run my fingers through his hair and knead my fingertips into his cold flesh. Then he turns, taking my right hand in his, kissing the palm, before taking my other hand in his grasp as well. Then he meets my gaze.

“Lumomancy,” he says, the word barely audible from his lips, his hands cradling mine as if they are precious things.

“I don’t know what that is,” I say with irritation.

“Light wielding. It’s not the same kind of magic as mine,” he says, “as Beaufort’s or Dray’s. We can weave shadows. Manipulate the darkness. You, Briony, if I’m right, if what I think I saw is correct, can manipulate the light.”

“But what does that mean?”

“Honestly,” a smile plays across his lips, “I don’t know. It’s a magic that was lost. It hasn’t been seen for centuries. Not since the time of dragons.”

I swallow hard. My eyes automatically moving towards the walls and the forest that lies somewhere beyond. I should tell him, but the secret lodges in my throat. Because there’s something that concerns me more.

Thorne.

“I need to check on–”

“Can you do it again?” he asks, a little eagerly, holding my hands tightly.

I stare down at my hands again. That strange sensation sizzles in my veins, but I have no idea how to control it, how to use it. It’s about as useful to me as the sensation of an empty stomach or aching muscles.

“No,” I say. “I don’t know how.” I frown. “And I don’t understand. Why now?” If I had this power, this ability in my blood all along, well that would have been damn useful to know, damn useful to use. All those times Muriel beat me, the time Odessa pushed me from that net, the time her friend punched me in the face, the time Henrietta zapped me with her magic and the time Madame tortured me with hers. “All along I had the means and the power to defend myself, to strike back, and nothing. Nothing ever happened. So why the hell now?”

Fox frowns. “I don’t know. Do you remember anything in the moment … anything different?”

“No,” I say, “all I remember was being desperate not to lose another person that I loved!”

“Love?” Fox says, looking at me with shock. “You’re in love with Thorne Cadieux?” The shock fades quickly, and he steels his features – although I swear his eyes glow more fiercely with emotions I can’t read.

“I … I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I’ve never been in love before.”

“No,” he says, “neither have I …”

I pull my hands from his grasp and rub the heels of my hands into my eyes. “I don’t know if it’s love or something else, but I have all these crazy emotions crashing around in my head right now … and they aren’t just for Thorne.” I peer through my fingers at him, hoping he catches my drift because I don’t have the stomach for any more brave acts right now. “But I do care for him a lot, and I need to know he’s okay. I need to see him. I need to talk to him.” The need is tugging at my heart and at my feet. I need to be near him. “So I’m going to leave now, Professor, and I’m going to go and find him.”

“I’ll come with you.”