My heart squeezed at the longing in her voice. I’d only known the pressures and restrictions of the witching world for a couple of months and mostly just through her. She’d had to live with them hanging over her for her entire life. It was because of those pressures and restrictions that she’d been torn away from our friendship and her home in the first place.
I got to work painting the first token, letting the colors bring the lines of the glyph to brilliant life instead of obscuring them like I’d needed to before. Rose finished her sketching, set the rest of the tokens on the log between us, and stood up. She stepped tentatively into the deeper grass as if testing the ground. Then she really started to move.
It did look like a dance, the motions of her magic. I looked up to catch glimpses as I worked, and when I’d finished the first one I stopped for just a minute to take it in.
Her arms swept through the air, and her feet glided across the ground. Her whole body undulated with the power she could channel through it. My breath caught with awe, just watching, not even knowing what she was creating with that energy.
She stopped, her own breath coming a little short, just as I started on the fourth token. “You know, I think I did find something else I can use, exploring those feelings,” she said. “I protected you all before using the consort bond, that magical connection we already have in place. I might be able to tie another spell to that and each glyph. Make it personal, and stronger that way—and let the energy of the bond enhance the spell. That way I wouldn’t have to keep ‘recharging’ it with more power.”
“That sounds brilliant,” I said. “There you go. That’s why I’m a firm believer in experimenting.”
A short laugh spilled over her lips. She pushed back her dark hair, which was gleaming under the late afternoon sun. Then her smile faltered. “Except with Gabriel. Because we don’t have that connection yet.”
“You could try the consort ceremony with him.”
She shook her head. “He only just started to feel comfortable opening up to me. I can’t ask him to make a decision like that just to make things easier for me. I wish I hadn’t needed to turn to the rest of you the way I did, and there was a lot less pressure on you then. At least, the way things are now, he’d still have a chance of going back to a normal life.”
I raised my eyebrows at her. “Do you really think for one second he’d ever agree to that?”
“Well, maybe not. But who knows, if things get a lot worse… I just wouldn’t feel right taking away that option. Asking him to do it. When we’re safe, when things have settled down, then we can have that conversation.”
“I hope you know that I’ve never regretted committing myself to you and the rest of this,” I said as I set down the fourth token. “And I think I can say that none of your other consorts have either.”
Her smile came back, soft but bright enough to light me up inside. “I know, Jin. And you can’t imagine how amazed I am that I managed to get this lucky.”
She bent to kiss me, and this time I could give in to that urge without any fear of spectators. I kissed her back with all the adoration I had in me until I knew I had to get back to the task at hand.
“Just two more,” I said. “I think the first one, at least, is dry now. You could start adding the spells to them.”
“Perfect.” She picked that one up. “They’re beautiful, as always.”
“You inspire me,” I said with a wink. But it wasn’t just flirting. I meant it. I couldn’t imagine what I might come up with if I had a chance to really settle back into my art now that she was in my life so fully.
I finished the last two tokens and then sat back to watch Rose do her casting. Somehow, I could tell that her movements now were more focused, with a clear purpose instead of tentative exploration of the possibilities. She was just dipping low over the fifth token, her hands swirling in the air, when a shock of a different sort of magic walloped me across the head.
Thanks to Rose’s earlier protections, the impact only made me reel for a second, like a strong blast of wind had hit me. I hated to think what I’d have felt if she hadn’t put a shield around me. Rose went still, standing over the token, her eyes widening. She murmured a few words and whipped around in a different, more frenetic casting.
“They’re close now,” she said, ducking to scoop up the tokens. “We don’t have time to stay and do the rest. I think they’ve almost caught up with us.”
Shit. I tossed my remaining supplies in the bag and ran with her back to the car.
Chapter Eight
Rose
The SUV swayed as Damon took it around a sharp bend in the highway. I wasn’t sure whether letting him drive had been a smart move or a stupid one, but he definitely knew how to speed.
“Well,” Philomena said, appearing briefly beside me. “This is certainly exciting.”
I rolled my eyes at her and then called to Damon from the back. “Hey! We left them behind hours ago. The last time they sent any magic our way, they were so far away I couldn’t get a sense of them anymore. Fast is good, but let’s not overdo it and end up in a ditch.”
“I’ve never put a car in a ditch yet,” Damon said. I could hear his smirk in his voice.
Phil fluttered her fan in front of her face. “I’m not sure I believe that.” But she didn’t look all that put out. She’d been involved in a carriage crash in the novel I’d imagined her out of—but it had ended with a rather passionate encounter that she hadn’t minded at all.
“I think we should take a right up here,” Jin said beside Damon, squinting at the map in the fading sunlight. Evening was turning into dusk outside. “Better to keep changing direction regularly so we’re harder to track, right?”
“That’s the theory,” Ky said from the seat in front of me. The glow of the phone he’d grabbed hazed the area around him. Next to him, Seth had fallen back asleep with his head tipped against the window. He’d stayed reasonably alert for the first frantic race away from the clearing, but as the danger had appeared to retreat, exhaustion had caught up with him again. I wasn’t sure he’d slept at all yesterday.