I swallowed hard and touched his jaw to bring him in for a kiss. His words and the hot press of his mouth against mine brought a rush of love into my chest.
The Spark had to see how much he meant to me—to all of us. How could there be anything wrong with making the bond that was already there so much more concrete?
As I stepped back, Damon coughed. “If you need any help feeding that magic of yours ahead of time…”
I glanced at him, and he grinned wickedly. Oh, he’d helped feed my spark before our last ceremony quite well. It burned brightly behind my ribs already, stoked by all the intimacies I’d shared with my four consorts in the last couple days since I’d started holding my magicking in check. But a little more couldn’t hurt. They should all be part of this ceremony.
“Maybe I need a taste from all of you,” I said with a smile.
I held out my hand, and Damon swooped in, but the others were right behind. As my reckless rebel claimed my mouth, Seth bent to press his lips to the side of my neck. Kyler nipped my earlobe. Jin traced his fingers down my side and leaned in to steal a kiss for himself when Damon eased back.
My spark danced with a brilliant flare of light and heat that blazed all through my body. I hadn’t needed that extra boost, but my feet felt firmer beneath me now.
I motioned my consorts to the edge of the small clearing. “I suppose the best thing is for you to make a ring around us. Witness the ceremony. I’ll let you know if I think there’s any other way you should step in.”
Seth nodded, and they all stepped back. It was just Gabriel and me left in the middle.
“I just do what we talked about earlier?” he said.
“That’s all there is to it. Mostly you just follow my cues.” I trailed my fingers down his face, holding those bright blue eyes, for one more moment. Bending down, I found the sticks of charcoal and lengths of cord I’d left there. I handed Gabriel’s to him and tucked my own into my pocket. Then I stepped back like the others had, to give myself room to perform the first of the spells.
My body moved into the motions even more easily than the first time, knowing the right feel of it, knowing how the magic would come together. I shifted my feet over the grass and unfurled my arms toward the sky, then back down along my body, channeling all the magic I had in me to the edges of my body. Offering it up to the great Spark that warmed us all.
The words spilled from my lips as if the magic propelled them. “The Spark that guides us, bless this partnering.”
I swept the bowl Naomi had lent me up from the grass and swiveled as I raised it over my head. My dress swished around me with the slow circle of my turn. My magic tingled up through my arms. I held the bowl toward the sky as if the whole world would fill it. Then I brought it to my mouth as if to taste the magic I’d sent into it.
That sense of power tingled over my tongue. I offered the bowl to Gabriel. He opened his mouth as I tipped it, drinking in the same symbolic communion. A quiver of energy passed from him into me, and my breath caught.
That was the first time his essence had touched my spark. My first glimpse of what our bond might feel like. It wasn’t as urgent or heady as the sensation had been during my first consorting, but before then my spark hadn’t been properly kindled at all. Just to feel my connection with Gabriel solidifying made my spirits soar.
I set the bowl down and whirled again, sending a wave of magic through the clearing, wrapping it around the two of us and touching my other consorts as well. My spin stopped with me facing Gabriel. I took out my stick of charcoal and held it toward him.
Gabriel had his ready in his hand. He raised it to touch its tip to mine. I stared at the point of contact and willed a flicker of magic through my fingers.
The charcoal was meant to light with a literal flame. But nothing happened. I frowned and urged another jolt of heat toward the sticks with a wave of my other hand.
The night air seemed to swallow that energy up. My pulse thumped harder. Why wasn’t this working?
Gabriel watched me, looking calm and confident as always. He was so sure that I’d find a way to finish this ceremony, to make our connection as deep as it should be. What was wrong wasn’t with him.
No, it was in me. A prickling crept through my nerves with little jabs of heat as my spark sputtered toward each of the four guys in their ring around us, pulled in four directions at the same time.
I drew in a breath, settling my thoughts. Maybe I needed them to be more a part of this ceremony than I’d realized.
“Consorts of mine,” I said, improvising as I went. “Will you bless this union too?”
I reached my stick of charcoal toward Seth, the closest at my left. He dipped his head, every inch of his powerful body showing nothing but approval. “You and Gabriel have my blessing. Let’s all join together.”
He was improvising too, but the words echoed the ones we’d used in our consort ceremony. A little of the jittering inside me eased. I pointed to Kyler next.
“You and Gabriel have my blessing,” he said, smiling. “Let’s all join together.”
Damon was next. Amusement glinted in his dark eyes. “You and Gabriel have my blessing. Let’s all join together.”
When I turned to Jin, he was beaming. “You and Gabriel have my blessing. Let’s all join together.”
The last of that uncomfortable prickling fell away. My spark glowed with an eager pulse and seemed to reach toward Gabriel now. I met my new consort-to-be’s gaze, a smile stretching across my own face. When I touched my charcoal stick to his now, with a twitch of my fingers a flame leapt up between them. A flare of longing shot from my core at the same time. Gabriel’s eyes widened with a glimmer of awe.