November Reign (Northarbor Coven #3)

4. Try Harder

Try Harder

Oak

Determined after my talk with Toth, I made a plan of action for the morning. One where Damon would be studying rather than just physically doing magic. We had taken so many shortcuts with his magical education; it was no wonder we were hitting speed bumps now. There was no foundation for Damon to work from.

Young witches were always given basic rune training. They worked with the elements, crystals, even did the basics of potion making so they could heal the injuries they were most likely to get. Damon had none of that. Worse, he had an ingrained hatred of magic from his time in the foster care system.

Basically, we had an uphill climb with Damon and I’d need all the help I could get.

I ate my late dinner quickly, suddenly famished after the magic I’d performed earlier in the day and having had no lunch. My sleep was all messed up thanks to Basil and Thyme and I was burning up so much energy to get through the day. The two brothers were on my mind constantly. Though Damon was technically one of their family, he was so different, except for his eyes, from the others, that I often forgot they were related.

Once finished, I returned the tray to the kitchen, rinsed my plate and stacked it in the dishwasher. I even ran a cycle, seeing it was full. We all had to pitch in to clean, since Gregoris wouldn’t let us hire a cleaner, citing it as an unnecessary security risk. We barely let the higher up coven members into the house, he was so paranoid about safety. To be fair to him, he took his turn cleaning the shared rooms and his wings helped him with the high dusting.

We’d come to a compromise with the coven: weekly meetings with senior members like Aster, Rose, Sky, Birch and Florian. Most communication with the rest of the coven was done via text message chains. Gossip was rife within the coven hierarchy and we didn’t know who we could trust even in the senior members so we limited information where we could. Not that the coven liked it, but Damon didn’t care. As he saw it, too many interfered when they only caused more problems instead of solving them. He wasn’t the most popular Head Witch. Not that it bothered him.

“Thanks, I was just coming down to do that,” Thyme’s voice was gentle as he padded into the kitchen in his socks, his pajama pants slung low on his narrow hips. I loved the way they clung to his body, highlighting the curve of his ass and showing off the imprint of his cock. He looked so vulnerable, soft and so sexy.

No, no, no. I couldn’t be alone with Thyme this late at night. There were too many thoughts about him in my head already. My brain chose to rewind my earlier activities and replay them in full HD, complete with Thyme’s imagined moans.

“Oak? Are you okay? I came by your room earlier.” He stepped closer to me. His fingers flexed as if he was holding back the urge to touch me.

“Sorry, I’ve just not been sleeping.” I put some much needed distance between us by heading to the sink to clean it out. The thing was sparkling. I just needed something to do with my hands, so I didn’t reach for Thyme.

“And I’m sorry about how I spoke to you and Barr earlier. I… there’s no excuse.”

“It’s alright,” Thyme said in a soft voice. “We’re all under a lot of stress.”

“Still, I shouldn’t have put it all on you. I’m just so damn tired all the time.” If I could just get some decent sleep without memories or dreams plaguing me, I’d be able to handle things better.

In the low lights of the kitchen, Thyme’s hair was a burnished copper. It was wild, with curls springing into his face. The glow of the cabinets made his paper-white face paler, highlighting the bronze of his freckles over his face. His blue eyes were wide and hopeful as he looked at me. Unlike Damon, his nose was straight and slightly upturned at the tip. His lips were distracting, the top fuller than the bottom, with a perfect cupid’s bow. He was so damn pretty, with high cheekbones and a pointed chin.

Thyme had the look of some wild fae prince sent to earth to learn about us. He was so perfect it hurt.

“Can I help?”

My mind supplied all the ways he could help me get a good night’s sleep. It wouldn’t start with actually sleeping, though. I made a noise of agreement, both wanting to end the interaction and also keep him beside me so I could soak up his presence. We were so rarely left alone like this.

A smile broke on his face, giving my heart a jolt. He went to a cabinet and pulled out a pot.

“Sounds ridiculous, but my mom had this recipe she used for warm milk that always helped me sleep.” His cheeks pinked with a faint blush. “I thought it might help you like it did for me.”

“Okay.”

He moved around the kitchen with practiced ease. I knew he took on a lot of the cooking duties because he’d been forced to learn as a child. His father was pretty traditional in the gender roles in the household and while Thyme was being groomed to be the coven leader, he was also being trained to be a wife. His transition had put an end to both plans.

The spell to give him the body which matched who he truly was took a lot of magic, ending his father’s ambition to have Thyme installed as the next Head Witch of the Northarbor coven. Thyme had found friends to help him, cutting the drain. Damon’s mother, Fern, had vowed to help Thyme transition. The help had saved a lot of his magic. Not enough to be in the running for Head Witch, but enough that he’d been easily accepted back into the coven as his authentic self, despite what his father said.

“You know, you don’t have to do all the cooking.”

“I like to cook.”

If it was something he enjoyed, I wasn’t going to argue. He was pretty good at it, too. So many nights I had to stop myself asking for seconds, wanting to make sure he had plenty to eat first. Thyme was bad at putting his needs ahead of everyone else.

I waited patiently at the table as he heated the milk and added a bunch of things to it. There was lavender, honey, chamomile, and a few other things he didn’t show me. Must have been a secret his mom had passed onto him.

Eventually, the milk was done. He set a mug down in front of me and cradled his own in his hands. He sat with his legs folded up under him .

“Want to tell me what’s bothering you? That might help.” He took a sip and waited.

Trying to think of something to say, I also tried the milk. I gave a groan of pleasure as the flavors burst over my tongue.

“This is really good!”

“I’d be offended you’re so surprised, but it is just that good,” he teased. “Come on, what’s going on in that big brain of yours?”

Rather than tell him the truth, that he was on my mind all the time, I went for the safe bet: Damon. If I knew one thing, it was that Thyme was obsessed with his little brother.

“I think we need to start from scratch with Damon’s magical training.”

“Why?” I could see him getting defensive.

“Okay, hear me out. He has no foundation. Damon wasn’t raised with magic. The opposite, really.”

“Yeah.” He sounded all sad. My instinct was to comfort him.

“He’s a fast learner, though. So talented.”

Thyme brightened. “Isn’t he?”

“So, I thought we should go back to basics, give him the easy shit so he can be better at the harder shit.”

“You have such a way with words,” Thyme said playfully.

“Do you agree, though? ”

“Yeah. You’re right.” He gave a sigh and looked off into the distance. “We’ve gone about this all wrong. Maybe if we start from the beginning, he’ll be more receptive to actually using his magic.”

“We should try to make it fun as well,” I suggested, warming into this new plan. “All he does is fight, and I wonder if that makes him more resistant to it.”

Thyme smiled. “You’ve got a good point there.” He clapped his hands together. “Okay, we can do this.”

We. That sounded so good. So natural.

“Yep, back to basics for Damon.” I bit back a yawn. “Thanks, Thyme. I think the talking and the milk helped. I’m gonna head to bed.”

Thyme flushed with delight. “I’m so happy I could help you.”

As I lay in my bed, I imagined Thyme lying next to me. I think it was that and the milk, which finally gave me a solid night of sleep.

When I got to the training room in the morning, Thyme was there with Gregoris and Parker. I caught him explaining the new plan for Damon .

“Oak’s right, we’ve done this all wrong!” He was so passionate. His cheeks pinked as he caught my gaze.”I was just telling them...”

“Back to basics. Might help Cody some to refresh the beginning.”

“Oh! That’s a great idea. Damon won’t—“ Thyme’s sentence was cut off.

“Won’t what?” the man in question drawled.

I shared a look with Thyme. Deciding to be the bad guy on this, I took the lead.

“Look, we can tell you all day to try harder, but it’s our training that’s been lacking.”

“You’ve tried your best,” Damon said loyally, shooting a look at his flushed brother. “Maybe I’m just no good—“

“Damon, you’ve got more talent in your big toe than half the witches in the coven,” I said plainly. “The problem is our methods. We started you in the middle, not at the starting line. We were talking—“

“You two actually talk? I thought all you could do was snipe.” Damon gave a wicked grin.

“Maybe I’ve been going about that all wrong, too. Thyme,” I turned to face him, watching as his face got redder. “I owe you an apology. We, as the most senior members of the coven, should be working together. I’ve behaved badly.”

“I, uh, thanks. I’ve not been much better, honestly. ”

“You tried harder than I did. Thanks for the milk, by the way, I slept like a baby.”

The flush on Thyme’s face traveled down his body. He was so damn cute! I couldn’t taint him.

“Well, this is sweet and all, but I’m guessing we have work to do.” Damon steered us back to the task at hand.

“We do. You and Cody are starting from scratch. Today, we’re doing magic 101, which includes finding your center. Then we’ll play with the elements.”

Truthfully, I was expecting some pushback, so when Damon’s eyes lit up, I should have realized we were in for trouble.

“Fire?”

“Controlled fire,” Thyme warned, sounding the most stern I’d ever heard from him. It was kind of hot.

“Buzzkill,” Damon pouted. “This should be fun.”