Love Uncharted

by Berinn Rae

  “You keep saying he isn’t stripped.”

  Lily looked at her in the dim light. “Could he maintain any emotional link if his paranormal senses were burned as badly as Gran claimed? Mostly he was drunk out of his gourd, all mushy and drifty. At least until … God, he must have felt the shackling spell hit me because he got suddenly mad as hell. Then he just held … well, he just sort of held me. With his mind.”

  “What an awesome gift to share.” Nila let out an exaggerated sigh. “I wonder if there’s a tall, dark, and handsome Reader with a link out there for me.”

  Lily groaned. “I think you and Gradyn Spencer should pair up and have a flock of mocking, sadistic babies. You two deserve each other.”

  “He is gorgeous,” Nila sighed. “I’d split the sheets with him, no hesitation, if I was drunk out of my gourd.”

  “Then come to the opening Tuesday night at his new gallery.” Lily turned to her. “If you’re there I will know … mmm, let me think, four people I can talk to. Gradyn said I could invite anyone I wanted. Say you’ll come, Nila, please? You and I can gaze at the unparalleled gorgeousity of Mr. Spencer from across the room. And across glasses of very expensive champagne.”

  “I’ll gaze. You’ll be attached at the hip to Daniel.”

  “I won’t, you know. I’ll be whisked off to meet dozens of people I won’t remember, be asked about inspiration and ideas as if I just pluck paintings out of my brain like they are on an assembly line.”

  “Don’t you?”

  “Hell, no. Ideas just come. Like magic … ”

  “You’ll get your powers back, Lil.” Nila reached to clasp her arm and give her a shake. “Daniel is a very powerful Reader. If anyone can undo Gran’s shackling, he can.”

  Lily leaned her head back and closed eyelids suddenly too heavy to hold open. “I feel all caved in. And lost. Have you ever been in love, Nila?”

  “Gods, yes. I’ve been in love with Gradyn Spencer since the day I was born. Hurts like hell, doesn’t it?”

  “I never imagined,” Lily sighed.

  Ten minutes later Nila turned the car into a sweeping drive that led up to a large, magnificently restored Victorian house. “Ta-da! Gradyn Spencer’s domicile. Spectacular, huh? The man has class, I grant him that. I’ll walk you to the door and then, Lily dear, you are on your own.”

  Lily panicked. “You can’t leave me! What do I do with all this … stuff?” She gave the basket a rigid shake.

  Nila laughed. “Well, first you set the candles out. Preferably upright. Then you light them with a blessing. After that I guarantee instinct, and Daniel’s particular magic,” she did her eyebrow waggle again, “will kick in.”

  It wasn’t until Nila rang the doorbell that the two realized the time was well after midnight.

  “Damn.” Nila poised to run.

  • • •

  But the Gradyn who opened the door was dressed and, though drunk and unshaven, appeared wide awake. “Ladies!” He beamed and blinked in alarm when Nila vanished back into the dark. Then he had Lily by the arm and was dragging her inside the house. “Good Lord, Lily, you’re soaked to the skin!”

  “I’ll drip all over your beautiful floor,” she stuttered as he forced her into the foyer and with a last bemused look after Nila, closed the door against the rain.

  “You, silly child, will take those clothes off this minute. And if I must, I’ll bring you a robe.” His grin was far from sober, or paternal. Already his nimble hands were stripping the wet jacket from her shoulders. She hadn’t the energy to fight him.

  “How’s Daniel? Is he … ”

  “Asleep. After puking his insides out. I assume you brought the talisman … wait! Shit, Lily, you can’t be here!” Gradyn cast a wild eye up the stairs and tried to shove her back out the door.

  “It’s okay, Gradyn. Believe it or not, I’m Daniel’s healer tonight. With Madame Bagasha’s blessing. But I have the talisman.” Distaste flared on her face. “I’m just praying like hell he won’t need it.”

  Gradyn’s brows lifted in comical confusion. “You’re a … ? You can … ?”

  “Yes.” The half-truth and another shiver shook her weary body. She lifted her arms like a child as Gradyn peeled off the sweater and dropped it in a sopping heap on his perfect parquet floor.

  He started on her shirt buttons. “Daniel never has to know, love.” He smirked as she slapped his hands away to undo them herself. He grinned incorrigibly. “Now there’s some color back in your face. Through that door is a hot fire waiting just for you. I’m off to make you tea, which you will drink, before you can see Daniel. No arguments.” Gradyn dashed away to find the promised robe. “Just leave your clothes there, I’ll toss them in the dryer.”

  By the time she’d stripped down to clammy skin, a thick robe had floated down from the balcony above. The robe, a man’s, naturally, was huge but dry and warm. Lily wrapped it nearly twice around herself before knotting the belt. It sagged open at the neck. She clutched it close, shooting a grateful smile at Gradyn when he came through a door carrying a tea tray and kicking a laundry basket ahead of him. Lily threw her wet clothes in the basket. Tucking the geode inside one of the robe’s giant pockets, she gathered up the dragging hem before following him into a large room of male heaven complete with game consoles and both a pool and air hockey table.

  Lily ran to the hearth to curl as close to the flames as possible. Gradyn handed her a steaming mug of tea. He had to cover her shaking fingers with his until he was sure she wouldn’t spill and burn herself.

  He was suddenly all seriousness as he folded his tall frame to sit on the floor beside her. “Now, Lily, you understand about shielding, don’t you? Because emotions are like poison to him in his state.”

  The hot tea burned her mouth but she gulped it anyway, closing her eyes at the heady spread of warmth through her limbs. She flashed him a grateful grin. He’d liberally doctored the brew with brandy.

  “I can shield,” she said after another sip. “And Nila taught me a few simple spells on the way here. I swear I won’t hurt him again, Gradyn. In fact, I’m probably the only person who can give him peace enough to heal himself. He needs me now as much as I need him.” Tears sprang to fill her eyes and she put up a ready shield against the emotion. “Did he tell you? Gran and her coven shackled my magic.”

  Gradyn’s face paled. “She wouldn’t dare!”

  “She did. Madame and Nila say I’m a Rogue Elemental. Which means my magic is as much a part of me as these painter’s hands or my blue eyes.” She met his horrified gaze. “And only another Reader can undo a binding spell of this magnitude.”

  “Christ, Lily, are you saying … the shackling can’t kill you, can it?” He reached as if to take her in his arms but at her negligent shrug, forced a smile instead. “You should have seen Daniel bolt for the door the second your link broke. I had to tackle him and he fought like a lion. Then the scotch got the better of him. Finally.”

  Lily stared miserably into the flames and finished her tea in silence. What good she would do Daniel with her magic bound, she hadn’t a clue. And he couldn’t work magic until he was healed. What a vicious cycle of events. She knew nothing of power, hadn’t any technique or skill. In fact, Lily realized with a fragile draw of breath, she really only had the will of her heart to guide her. She stood and handed Gradyn the empty mug.

  “Lil, are you sure … ”

  “I am sure, absolutely.” She walked to where she’d set Madame’s basket and, picking it up, headed towards the stairs. As Gradyn moved to lead the way, she shook her head. “You don’t have to show me.” She flashed a sudden smile. “I know where he is.”

  Gradyn looked down at her. “How come tonight you’re all self-assured and growed up? It’s a bit of a shocker, I don’t mind saying.”

  “I hurt the person I love most in the world today,” Lily said with unforgiving terseness. “That will bring the most wayward spirit down to earth pretty damn fast.”

  Gradyn brushe
d a knuckle across her cheek and said gently, “I’m at the end of the hall if you need anything.”

  Looking up the curved stairway, Lily sensed Daniel asleep above her like a faint breath cruising her skin. She took the stairs two at a time, the geode heavy in her pocket, the basket clutched under her arm. Pausing outside his closed door, she felt the link between them strong again, lilting in her veins. She took a moment to rejoice at its return. Then with a frown of concentration, burrowed inward to rope all her turbulent emotions like wild horses, corralling them inside a mountainous vault made real in her mind before she slipped inside the room.

  The link vibrated, brimming with emotional harmonics, Daniel’s semi-conscious acknowledgment of her, her awareness of him in the bed, the scent of him sweet on her tongue. Drawing a steadying breath, Lily struggled to think of him only in soothing terms while she stood waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark. The room was minimally furnished with a large bed, a bureau, a tidy desk, and night tables on both sides of the bed. Cool air smelling of rain and wet leaves drifted through a barely opened window, fluttering the flame of a single candle burning on the desk. In the dusky light Lily saw clothes scattered across the floor where Daniel had drunkenly shed them.

  She tiptoed closer to the bed, clutching the basket to her chest and saw him lying curled on his side under blankets bunched at his waist. His skin was pale as marble and sweat gleamed on his shoulders. His chest rose and fell in irregular huffs of pain. Dark hair spilled across the pillow and curled damp at his neck. Seeing him so tortured, Lily felt the rise of guilty tears. Knowing such feelings could undo whatever self healing he’d managed, she slammed her self-control more securely in place. No more hurt, she promised him in a fierce whisper.

  Digging out the candles Madame Bagasha had packed, Lily noticed the magic symbols carved into the wax. They would enhance whatever spells Daniel was strong enough to cast. Lily remembered Madame telling her this and was grateful the little gypsy witch had allowed her to come. Few would have trusted Lily near him, especially knowing she possessed an untrained Elemental magic. Lily was determined to live up to that faith … even if her own belief teetered as precariously as a crystal in a hurricane. Bare feet silent on the thick carpet, Lily set about placing the candles, the first on the night table at Daniel’s back, the second on a cedar chest at his feet and the third on the table near his head.

  He lay very still, deep in some meditative trance, Lily suspected. She couldn’t take her eyes off him glowing ghostly white against the dark sheets. His naked back curved long and slender, his spine a wonderland of shadowed hills and valleys. Lily wanted to fold herself around him, feel that strong back solid against her and bit her lip against a need to touch him. Placing the last candle, she stepped back, checking the alignment of each to see that they enclosed him inside an upside down triangle. Madame had explained that an inverted triangle represented the womb, a vessel of creation. Female power, the little witch had added with an enigmatic smile.

  Lily held a match ready to strike and hesitated. Nila had described how to light a candle the magical way, all the while laughing over how difficult it had been for her to master the task. With her own magic shackled, Lily realized she’d fail if she tried. But standing in the dark at Daniel’s back, Lily felt his presence like lyrical notes in her head and imagined his magic trickling like clear water through her veins. And she sensed, suddenly, another energy in the room, a magic faintly drifting in the air, feral and untried.

  If she could see this magic’s color, then perhaps she could work it like she painted, one brush stroke at a time. Closing her eyes, she stretched her mind out and felt the strange, untamed power respond. A golden light bloomed like a dawning sun behind her eyelids. This power was not of the geode and not of Daniel. Lily briefly wondered where it came from, then was only grateful for its presence. She curled her hands into a cup beside the unlighted candlewick and visualized the cup filled with restorative water.

  In the barest of whispers, Lily spoke, “Gentle powers, bless this flame, undo the harm where I’m to blame,” and gently blew across her cupped palms towards the candle. The wick burst into flame. Lily straightened in disbelief. She’d done it, first try! Moving quickly, Lily lit the candle at the foot of the bed, and then moved to the one nearest Daniel’s head. Whispering the blessing a last time, she breathed the flame to life. And across the lighted wick met Daniel’s eyes open and watching her.

  Chapter Twenty

  Lily simply stared at Daniel for a long, breathless minute. His glasses lay on the nightstand. Without them his beautiful eyes shone an intense golden brown, alive with delight and promise and passion.

  “Am I hurting you?” she finally managed to whisper.

  “Not even a little.” He rose on one elbow with an amazed laugh. “It’s a freaking miracle. And you’re shielded. When’d you learn that?”

  “I’ve always known. You know, how to hide bothersome things. Hide myself. I just never did it with you. I never had to. Oh, Daniel … ” Her smile faded. “I am so sorry.”

  “I’m not.” His teeth flashed white in a grin of drunken cheerfulness. “God, to feel you in my head, Lily, in my blood. It’s fantastic! I must be dreaming because you can’t possibly be here. The witches would never allow it.”

  Lily took a half step closer. “So my nearness, it isn’t agony?”

  “Ah, babe, it’s ecstasy!” He reached out to her. His grin died and his hand fell. “Are you all right? You … you feel different.”

  “You don’t remember? Your Gran, she used the coven to shackle my magic.”

  He sat up, face stricken with horror, disbelief, and finally outrage. “No … ” His whisper nearly broke her. When he moved to get out of bed, Lily thrust out her hands.

  “Stop! You can’t touch me. I’ll … I’ll fall apart if you touch me, Daniel. And I can’t fall apart.”

  Her panic slithered past her shield. He grabbed his head as shots of pain peppered his senses. He fought it, sweat beading his forehead. Lily stumbled back. “I shouldn’t be here, I’m not strong enough! Oh, Daniel … ”

  “No, stay.” He lowered his shaking hands to look at her. “I can undo the shackling spell. Only a Reader can. And I must.” His eyes darkened with fear. “You’re an Elemental, Lily. Your magic is your essence. If you stay bound too long … ”

  “I know, Nila told me. But I have time.” With a visible straightening of her spine, she nodded. “I’ll stay, but only if you promise you’ll tell me when my presence becomes too painful.”

  Quickly, she finished setting the gemstones, amethyst and agates, at the base of each candle. Daniel watched her every move. When she finished, she folded to a sit on the carpet a few feet from the bed where he could see her face but stay beyond his reach.

  She smiled sadly. “Needless to say, your Gran and I aren’t friends.”

  Anger tightened Daniel’s mouth. “She had no right, Lily, and I’m sorry.”

  “She was only trying to protect you.”

  “I wish that were so, but with Gran it’s never simple. She’s always got an agenda. I knew you two wouldn’t get along. You are sunlight and crazy color, she’s shadow and hard discipline.”

  “I could have healed you, Daniel, before she … I could see in my head just how to undo what I’d done.” Lily tugged the geode out of the robe pocket and held it up. “Can you feel the energy inside these crystals?”

  “Yes. I feel you, your magic! Wait … how is this possible?”

  Lily shrugged. “I have Rogue magic. Who can say what’s possible? Nila managed to deflect some of the power behind your grandmother’s spell. With the geode … well, you know it’s more than just a rock. It amplifies power, as you discovered,” she sent him an apologetic look, “and seems to reflect and channel energy. I think it can help you heal.”

  “But you don’t have that much time, Lily. The shackling will — ”

  Her voice cut him off, tranquil and steady. “I have time, Daniel. Just tell m
e how we can help you.” She grinned, hefting the geode. “Me and my pet rock.”

  Daniel leaned his head back against the headboard. Fear for her and a seething anger strained his face. After a moment his shoulders heaved as if he’d shifted a great weight. He closed his eyes and smiled dreamily.

  “I can feel that drifty stillness you become when you disappear into a slant of intriguing light or a pattern in the clouds. An emotion, by the way, completely you, Lil. And so magnificently different from the storm of passion I walked into in your apartment this afternoon. Which is you since I kissed you.” His eyes opened and he leered at her. “So I’m thinking you should shed that ridiculous robe already half falling off anyway, and climb in here with me.”

  “No!” Lily snatched at the gaping robe and scuttled further back. “No physical contact. Madame Bagasha was definite about that!”

  Daniel sat up, eyes darkly serious. “Listen, Lily. Tonight there is no Madame. And no Gran. It’s just you and me. I saw you light that candle with magic, yet yours is shackled. And you empowered a geode, filled it with your heart, and I walked into it. Maybe the geode protected me and forged this link we share, I don’t know. I don’t care! All I want is you, now. I think we should ride this as far as it takes us.”

  He laughed at the stubborn lift of her chin.

  “No.” She scowled. “I’m here to take back what I caused, that’s all.”

  “Don’t you dare take back a thing. I’ve waited too long for you, for this!” His anger shot blazing color around the room and bent him double in pain.

  She was halfway to his side before she could stop herself. “I’ll only take the hurt, Daniel. Can’t it be that simple for now? Please?”

  With a caustic laugh, he said, “You and I passed simple a while ago, Lil.” His body slid to lie flat on the bed, every muscle, nerve, and bone blistered and hot.

  “We’ll get through this, I promise,” he reassured her before his eyes closed again. Whispering a protection spell, Daniel stretched his senses out to touch Lily’s pet geode. And he found her there, inside the crystals, loving and strong and determined.