The Nature of Magic (The Curse of Magic Book 2)

Chapter 11

"Wyn," he said quietly, though in the silent room, it still seemed too loud. But Wyn didn't even stir. Edwyr sighed, tapping at Wyn's exposed shoulder, which made the elf groan, his eyelids fluttering. When Wyn's eyes finally opened a crack, Edwyr was almost taken aback by how clouded by sleep they were. They were usually so focused.

Edwyr resisted the urge to smile when Wyn yawned. It was painfully adorable, which was a problem because Edwyr almost forgot what he wanted to say at the sight.

"Is something the matter?" Wyn asked, still looking very drowsy as he sat up on the bed, rubbing his eyes.

"I just saw Genrith go somewhere using the Infuser," Edwyr said, sitting down next to Wyn. That seemed to bring some clarity to the other elf as his eyes widened.

"In the middle of the night?" Wyn frowned. "That is very odd."

Edwyr had been expecting a stronger reaction than that. But he supposed at least Wyn was taking it seriously, if not with as much suspicion as Edwyr was feeling toward the whole thing.

"So this isn't unusual? Genrith going off like this?"

Wyn ran a hand through his hair, brushing it back and off his face as he shook his head. "She comes and goes. I do not interfere with her business, much like she does not interfere with mine." Wyn didn't have to spell out to Edwyr that despite his words, he was questioning the situation as much as Edwyr was. His pensive tone did it fine on its own. "That said, I do usually know what she is doing."

"And right now, you don't," Edwyr finished for him, and Wyn shook his head again.

"You are suspicious of her, aren't you?" Edwyr didn't bother replying, letting his silence do the talking instead. Wyn sighed. "I do understand. She can be a bit aloof."

Edwyr snorted. A bit. He had never seen her smile, not in a genuine way, during the entire month he'd been here. Not that he'd seen that much of her in the first place. She was usually off, doing things Edwyr was not privy to, but at the time he hadn't cared. But this, paired with her randomly showing up to fight the Council elf.... He was going to pay closer attention to what Genrith said or did. His gut was telling him something was off.

"Whatever she is doing, though, she is on our side," Wyn assured him, giving Edwyr a small smile. Edwyr almost hated how comforting that smile was. He didn't want to underestimate Genrith, even if Wyn had known her for decades and trusted her.

When Edwyr thought about it like this, it almost seemed ridiculous to question Genrith, but he wouldn't let that stop him.

"I will make sure to ask her when she returns," Wyn added, tentatively taking Edwyr's hand into his own, as if unsure he could. As if they hadn't just made love a few hours ago. Edwyr said nothing, though, only squeezing the other elf's hand. "She has been a little less talkative these past few months."

Edwyr almost snorted. He wondered if there ever had been a time when Genrith had been talkative. Though, come to think of it, he didn't know anything much about her. Or her history with Wyn. All he knew was that she'd restored his voice after the Council took it away, but that could have very well happened over a hundred years ago.

"Is she immortal, as well?"

Wyn smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Yes. She was the main reason I even pursued research on how to stop one's body from aging, actually. She was very interested when I mentioned my theories about the subject, and I had no reason to deny her. She did save my life."

Edwyr wanted to point out how odd it was that Wyn seemed to be implying that he had made himself immortal simply because he had already bothered finding a way to do so, rather than figuring it out for himself in the first place, but what Wyn had said afterward interested him much more.