Page 196 of A Touch of Poison
But one morning, Bastian made time to have breakfast with me. I should’ve known it wouldn’t only be breakfast.
“Hold this.” He passed me an apple as we ate.
“You… could just put it on the table or your plate, you know.” I raised an eyebrow at the fruit’s bright red skin.
“Indulge me.” He narrowed his eyes, a hair’s breadth from rolling them.
I huffed and held it up, waving it side to side to show my obedience.
“As tight as you can.” He nodded at my plate. “You can continue eating—this is going to take a while.”
I screwed up my face, trying to decipher what this was about, but he gave no further explanation, so I gripped as hard as I could and speared a mushroom with my fork.
“Good.” He gave me a half smile, knowing what that tone of voice did to me. “I promise this has a purpose.”
“I’m dying to hear it.”
“I said I’d help you with your magic, didn’t I?”
I went still, clenching my jaw. This wasn’t something I had to worry about anymore.
“When you weren’t wearing that thing, you could feel it, right?”
Slowly, I nodded and glanced at the apple. “The Lady of the Lake said I held on too tight. I did hear her, and I tried letting go. It got a lot of people killed.” I frowned at him. “Why does this feel like a trap?”
“It isn’t, Kat. I just… I want you to understand what you can do—how it works. Andwhy.” He peered at me over his coffee cup, a plea in his eyes.
When I said nothing, he took a sip and went on. “Magic is everywhere, but most people—fae and humans with gifts—they can only feel the magic that’s inside them.”
Like Rose had described when she’d tried to teach me. She’d spoken of reaching inside.
“But we can feel what’saroundus. Think of it as tethered and untethered. Enchanted objects and people—their magic is closely tethered. That’s why Horrors have to go right up to them to feed.”
I grimaced at the memory of Horrors feeding on people in the city streets.
“Remember the apple.”
I sighed and re-focused my grip.
“On the other hand, animals and plants vary depending on their age and intelligence—their will.”
“The Great Yew—I’m guessing that’s tightly tethered.”
“Exactly. While the magic of the land is untethered. It’s the easiest thing for us to draw upon, just as it’s easiest for Horrors to feed upon.”
“So… unseelie draw on magic, and Horrors feed upon it.”
“Hmm.” He nodded and something flickered over his expression before he took a long draught of his coffee.
I thought of the monsters’ void-black eyes and the void blade of his unseelie sword. “Have you ever thought about the similarity between them and unseelie powers before?”
He exhaled through his nose, tension twitching around his eyes. “I have. Often.” He dragged his gaze up from the table to me. “I suspect Horrors came from the Underworld, the same as unseelie. Or that unseelie magic was used to create them. But it was so long ago, and their creators or summoners were all executed after the war. There’s no way to know.”
And, through him, I had something in common with those monsters. Until I was cured, at least.
“I think that’s long enough. You can put the apple down.” He fetched a thick book off the shelf and brought it over. “Now, hold this, your hand at the top, the book beneath.”
My forearm ached as I placed the apple on my plate and turned my chair from the table. When I tried to take the book, it only stayed there a moment before slipping from my grasp.
