Then he chuckled lightly. "Don't try sleeping on the couch again either."
I grinned and blushed, looking down bashfully. "I was trying to be respectful to you. I thought you wouldn't want to be in the bed with me, and I wasn't going to make you sleep on the couch."
"I wouldn't have let you be alone for even a second. I told you that. I can protect you better when I'm right beside you. Your safety means everything to me. You mean everything to me."
Yeah. I was a puddle now.
I slid back in to him, ignoring the flurry of excitement that budded deep inside me. "Just tell me when I get too close."
He grumbled while shifting beneath me. "Yeah, this is going to be difficult." He raised his eyebrows questioningly as my hands slid around his waist. Then I felt his arms pulling me in closer.
"I do love you, Aria."
"I love you, too." I couldn't have been happier in that moment, well, unless we could have kissed, of course. But who was I to be so greedy?
Then I decided to take my mind off how badly I wanted him. I didn't want Amelia projecting that onto him. "Tell me about the committee."
Amelia and Henry walked back up, eyeing us. "What's going on?" she asked, fighting back her knowing grin.
Deciding to stick with
the topic I had just shifted us to, I answered, "I was asking about the committee. I want to know what they do exactly."
"Ah. Well, I've been curious about this as well. So spill it, magic boys."
Henry chuckled while sitting down in one of the porch chairs, pulling Amelia to his lap.
"They do a lot actually. From casting, to protection spells, to creating new crests for families of weaker magical descent. It's a wide range of things actually," Henry answered, shrugging.
I rolled my eyes at his vague answer as I smiled at him. "Wow, that really cleared things up for me."
Tallis chuckled. "It's really crazy complicated, but the committee has a lot to do with the strength of our magic. It was originally called the Table of Isis.
"They help the weaker families with cresting—like Henry said. They also help to keep the mortals safe. They make it to where mortals are blind to the magical world. Like the whole Brazilian incident for instance. The entire committee had to work hard to erase those memories.
"Fortunately, Graven isn't focused on the mortals right now. If he were to extinguish all of the followers of the light, as he plans to do, then they would rid the world of its mortals as well. Right now, magic keeps mortals safe from the knowledge of the true magic all around them.
"There are loopholes in every cast, and the committee tries to safely find a way to use them to their advantages. They've also created spells for trap nets, and they are able to assemble groups to see to smaller threats. They call in the light militia and meet with them regularly about strategies and new casts."
The mention of the light militia made me think of Jared. I quickly tried to get him out of my mind before Amelia projected that onto Tallis as well.
Amelia narrowed her eyes, seeming intrigued and confused, but not because of me. "What is a trap net? And when is there ever a small threat?"
Henry smiled as he answered, "Sometimes, smaller groups of the dark followers rally together to form their own militia. Sometimes Graven sends out small groups of his personal militia. That's what he means by a 'smaller threat.'
"Our militia sets up trap nets with heavy cresting and casting. No magic can get out once inside the trap net. You can walk in without realizing it. Once inside the trap, you can't get out without someone breaking the crests, and your magic can't escape the barrier. However, people outside the crests can still use magic on you. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. It is something that Iris came up with actually. It's pretty ingenious.
"It's a technique used most often when intercepting these small groups. If they use their magic while inside the trap, it just ricochets around. Sometimes they're even hit by their own magic. It certainly comes in handy."
I nodded, actually a little impressed. "So, do they have their meetings at my grandma's house all the time?"
Tallis was the one to answer. "Not always. They've had a lot of meetings there lately because they wanted to be close to you. They usually alternate their meeting spots. It's safer to not be in the same place all the time. The only ones allowed to go to the meeting spots are the witches and washers. No guard has ever gone to a committee meeting. Personally, I like that rule." He winked at me, ignoring Henry's frown.
Then Henry interjected, "Until Edmond, no changer had ever been allowed to go. It's amazing at the difference his power has made to the committee as a whole. Iris plans to bring Chris on board one day as the first bodyguard."
Amelia and I exchanged the same confused look.
"Why no changers or guards? And why Chris?" she asked, saving me the trouble.