The Nightshade Guild: Mage You Look by Abigail Kade (interesting books to read txt) 📕

town. I couldn’t tell him I didn’t want evidence of a baby here, and I didn’t want any paranormals to get curious about the trash and get him into trouble. If anyone hurt Henry, I would be seriously pissed.

“That’s fine.” He took the outfit I’d gotten for her and got her dressed faster than I could follow. There were so many snaps, and the way it went on was odd, but when he was done, she was all cozy in a blue all-in-one sleeper with feet attached. “Well, missy ma’am. You’re all clean, but from watching you and those toes, I’ll bet you’re hungry.”

Henry had pulled her up to standing, holding her under her little arms to help her balance on her feet. At the word hungry, she started to bounce up and down and laugh. “Yes, you’re hungry?” She laughed some more and danced around with her tiny feet, bouncing on her toes with him holding her up. She exuded pure joy just because she was able to communicate that she was hungry. Henry was so good with her. Was it weird that seeing him with the baby made him even more attractive?

I was brought out of my thoughts when Henry motioned for me to move forward. “Here. Finn. You hold her, and I’ll get her bottle ready. Where’s her other things?”

“Umm, no, I’ll do it. It’s a special formula, and they already explained to me how to mix it. I’ll be right back.”

Running from my stray thoughts and the object of my growing attraction, I walked through the living room, past the pallet I’d made for Ameria to nap, and into my bedroom. I’d put the bag holding the tin with her magical formula powder that the Elvin council had given us in there to keep it safe. There was nothing odd about the tin or the powder itself, but I didn’t need Henry noticing that the powder tin was always full no matter how many times we used it.

I got a bottle out of the same bag, put some powder in, and then returned to the kitchen to fill it with water before returning to the table where Henry had already bundled up the towel and cleaned the table.

“Here’s the bottle. Do you want to feed her too?”

“Oh, no, we’re still in baby school. You’re her babysitter, so it’s time for you to step in, Uncle Finn. Go sit in that huge chair over there that’s got to be your favorite and hold her while she eats. I’ll throw this towel in the hamper and take care of this nuclear waste and get started unloading the truck.”

“I should help you. Some of that stuff is too heavy for you.”

“Dude. I loaded that crap in the truck, to begin with. I’ll be fine. You need to get to know little miss. Go sit, and I’ll have this done in no time.”

I reluctantly picked Ameria up and carried her over to my chair. It was big to suit my size, so Henry was spot on. I sat, making sure my forest plaid kilt was tucked under my legs. There was nothing worse than cold leather on your bum. I settled the baby in the crook of my arm and handed her the bottle, which she held up and attacked. When she got comfortable enough to hold the bottle with one hand, she reached up and touched my face with the other.

In a flash, images and feelings started pouring into my head. I felt happiness with an image of Henry, then a flash of my suspicious and stern face and a feeling of anxiety. I got a complete rundown of everything that had happened since Henry got here with images and feelings. When she finished the bottle, she removed her hand from my cheek, removed the bottle from her mouth, and gave out a very loud belch.

“Was that our little princess burping like a sailor?” Henry yelled from the front door. He didn’t wait for an answer, but he was laughing as he went out to get another load.

It was beyond belief, but she had just told me exactly how she’d felt for the last hour. She couldn’t speak much beyond ramblings of ma ma ma ma or da da da da. No, she couldn’t talk, but she could make her feelings known without a doubt. This was amazing.

Amazing, but dangerous. What if she did that to Henry? How on earth would I explain that to a human? I looked out the large picture window next to me, and even through the darkness, I could tell this was going to be a big storm. Henry probably would be stuck here for days, and I was going to have to hide all aspects of magic from him while he was here. I was going to be using a lot of power to create an illusion that everything was normal. Looking down at the baby babbling in my lap and playing with the scarf I still had around my neck, I thought I’d try to explain the situation and see if she could understand. She was exceptionally bright, so maybe she could help me out. Lowering my voice so Henry wouldn’t possibly overhear, I gave it a try.

“Ameria. Henry is going to be staying with us for a while.” Her little face lit up and she giggled, clapping her hands like she wanted me to give Henry to her. That was a good start. “Yes, I like him too. But he doesn’t know about magic. He can’t know about our magic, or he won’t be safe.” She frowned and shook her head. Hmm. “I don’t want him to be in danger, and knowing about our magic might make him not safe, so please try to not do any magic around him, okay?”

Ameria scrunched up her face and shook her head again. Umm. What did that mean?

“I