I scooted across the sofa to him, my heart beating so fast I was scared it was going to shatter. What if this didn’twork?
What if itdid?
Seth touched the side of my face, so close now the heady smell of him, like sun-warmed bronze, washed over me. I had the sudden urge to lean in and lick my tongue up his neck, to see if he tasted that way too. To find out what sound he’d make if I tried it. Heat spiked low in my belly just at thethought.
“You’re sure?” he said, the question sounding almost pained. But I knew if I said no, he’d move away, no matter how much he wanted this. Thankfully I didn’t haveto.
“Completely,” I said, and tipped my head to offer him better access to my lips. Seth’s fingers tensed against my cheek. Then he leaned in and pressed his mouth tomine.
Kissing Seth was nothing at all like kissing his twin, maybe in part because I’d let him take the lead rather than catching him by surprise. But everything about the kiss was utterly Seth. Firm and yet gentle, strength radiating from his body as his arm slid around me with the utmost care. I pulled myself even closer, my legs sprawling across his lap. His breath stuttered against my mouth. He kissed me again, harder but somehow stilltender.
Every inch of my skin, every nerve running beneath it, felt as if it were glowing with pleasure. And deep in the center of my chest, that flickering sensation I’d felt with Ky sparked into beingagain.
Exhilaration rushed through me. My spark. It was lit. I wasn’t letting it stop at that small burst of light this time. I wantedmore.
I looped my arm around Seth’s neck. My other hand gripped the sleeve of his shirt. He adjusted the pressure of his mouth, softly encouraging, asking for entrance rather than insisting on it the way Derek had. My lips parted to deepen the kiss, and the spark inside me flaredbrighter.
Seth’s fingers traced up and down my side, trailing heat in their wake. I let my tongue slip between his lips tentatively. His teased out to meet it. They tangled together until I felt as if I were trying to devour him, or maybe him me, or both at the same time. Either way I was happy to be along for theride.
The flare inside me danced higher, but it still wasn’t enough. I wasn’t halfway sated. I twisted my body toward Seth’s caressing fingers, letting them graze my breast. His chest hitched. As we kept kissing, his hand shifted to cup my breast completely. His thumb stroked over the side, sending shivers of pleasure through my sensitive flesh. Then it reached right up to thetip.
My nipple pebbled under the flick of his thumb. I whimpered, kissing him again. Pressing into his touch. Sethgroaned.
“Rose,” he murmured, that one syllable so full of joy and longing it sent an answering wave of emotion through my body. The flame danced inside me, its power vibrating in time with the thump of my pulse. And just like that I knew, as well as I knew how to walk or speak, that it was there for me touse.
I drew back from Seth just slightly, my breath still ragged, and made a small flick of my fingers. A soft glow burst above my palm, shining and dancing like the spark insideme.
Seth stared at the conjured glow, his face softening with awe. “What isthat?”
My lips curled into a giddy smile. “It’smagic.”
Chapter Sixteen
Rose
If you’d glanced into our breakfast room any given morning, the four of us would probably have looked like a happy family. Dad and Celestine on one side of the elm-wood table, Derek and I on the other, fine china all around and the scents of buttery rolls and herbed scrambled eggs filling theair.
Of course, if you stopped to watch a little longer, you’d notice that not a whole lot of talking went on during those breakfasts. Derek would remark on the weather and the food and I would say something agreeable in return, Dad and Celestine might briefly discuss some business around the estate, but mostly we just ate in our own littlebubbles.
The morning after I’d snuck out to see Seth, my bubble felt particularly close to bursting. The glow of my spark had already almost entirely died out. Until it was fully kindled by a consort ceremony, any magic that sparked inside me would seep right back out of me like water through a sieve. But a glimmer of that power still danced in the middle of mychest.
A glimmer that had been kindled by an unsparked, non-witching man. How was that even possible? It went against everything I’d been taught. Not a single historical or modern witching record I’d read had mentioned such athing.
Of course, it could be that this glimpse of magic was deceptive. Maybe affection between a witch and an unsparked man could bring a brief flicker, but never more than that. Never a properconsorting.
There wasn’t any way or anyone I could easily ask. Imagine all the questions they’d start askingmeif I brought up thesubject.
More distracting, though, were the questions I still had about two of the three people I was dining with. And the schemes they were making againstme.
As I chewed and swallowed my eggs and toast, I tasted only blandness. “Pass the salt,” I said onautopilot.
“Of course,” Celestine said with a glitter in her eyes. She swiveled her wrist, and the salt shaker sailed along the table to drop in front of me. My backtensed.
A little show of her power—for me? To remind me that she still held the magic here, I guessed. Little did sheknow.
I scooped up another forkful of egg and studied my stepmother and my fiancé. Just how allied were they in this binding Celestine was planning? Could I catch any sign of their secretunderstanding?
So far I still hadn’t seen a hint of it. Derek smiled at Celestine when she offered him the cream for his coffee, but he smiled at everyone like that—me, my dad, the server who brought a fresh pot of coffee, that cleaning staff girl Polly who was gathering dishes as they were cleared of food. They didn’t say anything to each other except when Derek mentioned a music festival a few towns over he was thinking of taking me to, and my stepmother made a comment on the best routethere.