Bleeding Ink

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Dessa didn't expect anything less than the flood of happy tears when she was able to tell her mother and father about going back to see her grandfather Bence. Lyv and Jai had known what Elys was planning for their training session that day, but didn't think about what, where, and, most importantly, when they would manage to get to with their combined magic.

"I remember seeing you," Lyv mumbled through her tears she tried to wipe away without success since they continued falling. "I didn't know who you were but then Elys looked up, saw you, and waved. Then that second time after I got hit...Mother above, I saw your face, Des. I thought it was dreaming since I was looking at me in your features, but your hair and eyes were like Jai's."

Dessa's smile was bright as she looked between her parents. "You two really weren't getting along then, were you?"

Jai grinned as he wound his arm around Lyv's waist, kissing the side of her head. "More on her part, but then she punched me and it seemingly fixed everything."

Dessa's laugh rang out as they both pulled her in for a hug.

"There's something else I wanted to tell you about," she continued when they let her breathe after smothering her. "About someone else I was able to meet."

Lyv and Jai looked at one another before back at her.

Her smile waivered slightly as tears burned in her eyes. "Grandpa Bence."

And that her mother crying yet again.

She told them absolutely everything with Elys interjecting behind her at all the appropriate moments. Of course, Lyv had to go and hit him for never telling her this before, but all he did was laugh and shield himself from her hands before managing to gather her up in a hug as he kissed the top of her head.

"Can I just say again like I always do about how much I miss you being little?" she mumbled into his leather jacket.

Over those next few days, though, Dessa's magic...well, it was fighting her. By extending it farther than she had before, it seemed to falter at every one of her attempts. With her magic limited, it made creating her portals more difficult. She couldn't even manage one to take just herself to the dragon quarters at the Branvon estate, which had her irritated the entire walk there. Even her shadowflame was just a flicker on her fingertips, though they seemed to want to come out more whenever Elys was around.

And that had her seething, eyes narrowing anytime she looked at him and that small smile he'd give her when he was telling her she was doing just fine.

"Just fine my ass," Dessa grumbled as she and Milena trained in the palace courtyard. Her sword was tight in her grip, knuckles going white.

She was trying to keep her cursing to a minimum since Lenora was sitting on the sidelines in Elys's lap, one of her favorite picture books propped in hers as he read it to her. Eamon and Archer were on either side of them, just as captivated with the tale as Len was. If she hadn't been so wound up, Dessa would have been teasing the three males about it, but all she wanted to do was fight.

Milena huffed out a breath, brushing her hair from her face after Dessa successfully blocked one of her blows and called for a timeout. "You're being too hard on yourself. Just like with fight training, you have to build up your stamina with your magic also. How many times have all of us told you this?"

Dessa crossed her arms in defiance. "Well, I just want it to be where it's supposed to be already."

"And just like everyone's told you your whole life, you inherited both your parents' stubbornness combined. Mother help Elys when you two finally..."