She came farther into the room, stifling another yawn. “Just so I know specifically what you’re talking about, which problem is that?”
She grinned as she slid onto the couch and conjured a coffee with her magic, with a mark on the cup I didn’t recognize.
“Where’s that from?” I gestured to the coffee, ignoring her question for a moment.
“Want one?” she asked.
I nodded towards the cup of tea in my hand. Coffee always gave me the worst headaches and I wanted to avoid having one, especially since I had a mission in mind. I waited for an answer to my question.
“Oh... they’re from a coffee shop in the village,” she explained. “There’s always one or two waiting on the bench and I just grab them. Once I’ve worked out how to replicate it with magic, I’ll do it that way.”
I stared at her, then began to laugh. “You’re stealing coffees?” I shook my head. “Well, that’s original.”
She shrugged and kept drinking her stolen café latte, or whatever it was.
She gestured with her hands, and I said, “What?”
“I asked you which of your problems you were trying to cure?”
“Oh...” I glanced down at the books again.
I’d almost forgotten about my worries. It was one of the best things about Courtney. She was so funny, carefree, and happy. I could forget that I was worried about something for a long moment. It was nice to just relax—if relaxing was an option in the first place.
“I was looking up the Council, actually,” I told her, easing the books off my lap and onto the floor. “Not that there is much about the hierarchy of the magical realm. And looking at legitimacy... and stuff.”
I rubbed my eyes, and then blinked once, twice. I took another sip of my tea and sighed.
Courtney reached over and grabbed one of the leather-bound books that I’d borrowed from Bella’s bookshelf.
“What’s this stuff? Shielding?” Her gaze lifted to mine and I shrugged.
“Yeah, well, considering how little we were taught about them, I think it’s something we need to work on,” I said. “At least I need to work on it. Abigail made it a big deal during my trial. Me shielding blows, I mean.”
“You know, you haven’t really talked about what happened at your trial,” Courtney said, her gaze fixed on the book. She started picking at the cover and I winced. I knew Bella wouldn’t be happy if she caught Courtney messing up her books, even if she didn’t mean to.
“Yeah, well, maybe another time.” I pressed my lips together. I wasn’t trying to shut her out. Really, I wasn’t. I just wasn’t ready to talk more in-depth about it than I already had.
Courtney didn’t respond right away. For a moment, I worried that she would demand more information. Instead, she sighed.
“Okay,” she said, setting the book aside. “You showed me this morning how in need of shields I am.” She rolled her eyes at herself and the tension eased out of me.
“Trust me, we all do,” I said. “You are much better at this than I was when I first started. Mother taught us a little about mental shields, but not enough about physical ones. And the witches and wizards of the realms are vicious.”
“Then we definitely need to work on them,” she said, her eyes burning with determination.
Another thing I loved about Courtney was that she would walk into fire without asking questions. Bella would want to know everything about it. I was just glad I didn’t have to answer any questions, at least not right now.
At that moment, Bella strode into the room with a heavy-footed purpose. “I agree.”
I turned to look at Bella, where she stood clasping a large black book to her chest. I shouldn’t be surprised that she’d overheard our conversation, but part of me was. How much had she heard? Was she going to start questioning me about my trials? Just because Courtney dropped it, didn’t mean Bella would.
“What have you got there, Bella?” I asked.
“I was listening to you and Courtney and realized that you’re right,” Bella said. She took a seat on the edge of her chair, smoothing down the wrinkles of her shirt before sliding the book on her lap. “We don’t have any defenses against a magical attack. Mother did not train us, nor set us up for a fight from the outside. Probably one of the reasons she never wanted us to find our father.”
I nodded. “I hadn’t thought about that,” I said.
This was why it was so important to involve my sisters. They saw things, thought of things, I wouldn’t be able to do.