by Berinn Rae
Lily slammed her fists hard and sudden against his chest and rolled off the bed. Angry tears spilled from her eyes as she snatched her robe closed with a jerk. “Damn you, Daniel, you ruined everything!”
“It was worth it … ” he gasped, face down on the bed.
Lily leaped on his back and, grabbing a handful of hair, dragged his head up. Shaking with fury, she sank her teeth into his ear, not gently.
“Don’t you get that I want you as much? Holding nothing back, taking you like you take me? So until we can both enjoy, keep those clever hands and … that amazing mouth off me.”
Quick as a flash, Daniel flipped her over and beneath him. His eyes were bright with feverish pain and insane delight. “You taste so good, Lily, like rain and springtime and you feel … Gods above, all giving and open and wet.”
• • •
His pain was diminishing, bizarrely enough. He wondered if somehow their combined magic healed as vigorously as it hungered. Cupping her face between his hands, he kissed her once, and again, and again until he felt her furious, unbending body yield to his. He laughed against her mouth. Oh, yes, the psychic pain was definitely less torturous, and less demanding, than his physical need.
“The pain, it’s fading, Lil. Let me make love to you, right now. I’m begging and I’ve never begged for sex, ever.”
“Oh, Daniel, I want to but — ”
“We’ll go slow. Maybe we can spell the magic and it won’t rage so out of control.”
“No.” She pulled away and sat up to tighten her belt with a prim jerk. “When we’re touching each other neither of us has any will of our own. This crazy hunger takes over. I want that, don’t get me wrong. But I also want slow caresses and magic fed by love, not just greed. We need to step back from each other, Daniel. Can’t you feel the magic whipping around us, snapping with lust?”
“Gods, yes,” he groaned, reaching for her.
Lily scooted away.
Growling his frustration, he rolled onto his back. “All right. Just don’t leave, Lily. I shouldn’t have pushed, and I confess it hurt like bloody hell for a while. But please, let me hold you. I need to hold you.” He sat up, curls tumbling over his eyes, and pulled the blankets chastely up around his waist. With a shameless grin, he patted the space beside him.
“No touching,” Lily commanded sternly as she crawled back to him.
“Only a little touching.”
Laughing, Daniel pulled her down to spoon into the curve of his body. Folding his arms around her, he threw a leg across her hip for good measure. Lily wriggled deeper into his lap. He buried his face in her neck, heaved a great sigh. Lily twined her fingers in his, settling for the precious feel of her skin shifting soft against his.
She half turned to him. “Maybe if we tried shielding the more intense emotions … ”
“Never,” Daniel murmured against her cheek. “In for a penny, in for a pound. That’s how we are together. Haven’t you noticed?”
Lily kissed his knuckles. The magic stirred restlessly around them. “You feel that?”
“Mmmm.” Daniel slid his hand inside the robe to cup her breast.
“Madame said that once magic is called, it must be used.”
“This magic is too hot for healing. Let’s see … ” Daniel settled more comfortably around her. His sudden and forceful focus snapped their psychic link tight as a rubber band. The errant magic leaped to his bidding. The colors of their power, his blues and her greens, expanded in the air above the bed like a super nova before sifting down over them in a tingling cloud of fairy dust.
“Happy?” Daniel snuggled closer. Lily laughed, content. They were asleep within moments of each other.
Chapter Twenty-two
Lily floated in a vacuum of blue twilight. Hot water pounded her body, sluiced through her hair and down her face to swill at her feet on the tile floor of the shower. Except she lay in a bed with thick blankets tucked around her. Was she dreaming the hot water slicking her skin, the tension easing from aching muscles? She clearly remembered earlier that morning, watching the pre-dawn light play across Daniel’s features, the feel of his dark curls falling over her face as his mouth moved across her skin.
Those memories were her own. But tangled alongside were emotions belonging to Daniel, his excitement at drawing her magic into him, the taste of her on his tongue, the fever burning in his veins when his hands roamed her body.
Gods afire, his magic had bound them too close! Instead of delighting in it, Lily felt a rise of claustrophobia squeeze the air from her lungs. The hot water, the dripping hair … his sensations roared more alive in her head than the sheets warm beneath her legs and the pillow soft against her cheek. Adrenaline searing her brain, Lily kicked at the strangling blankets.
Then Daniel’s hands curled about her face and his mouth clamped down on hers, solid and forceful and real. Her mind snapped back into her own body. She felt his damp fingers on her face and the slick wetness of his skin under her grasping hands.
He pulled her close and trembling against him. “Jesus, Lily … I’m sorry. This sense of invasion? It won’t last.”
“You’re burning me.” She began to shake.
“No, babe, you’re burning me. Look at me, Lily. See my eyes?” His hands clasped her head, smoothed the hair back from her face. “It’s aftershock, that’s all. It’ll pass.”
“You’re all wet,” she said through chattering teeth.
“Yes.” He kissed her again and pulled her with him under the blankets, holding her close. Still she shivered and with regret he severed the psychic link.
“No!” she protested, but weakly as once again she felt only her own thoughts and emotions inside her head.
“Better?” Daniel heard the rapid beat of her heart slow as his body’s warmth poured into her. Soon her shivering stopped and she relaxed.
“The magic, it bound us too tight,” he explained in apology. “I should have broken the link while you slept. I just couldn’t bring myself to let you go. I’m sorry. Your magic is so intrinsic to who you are, Lil, of course it would perceive mine as a threat.”
“Never.” Lily pulled him into another kiss. “My magic adores your magic. In fact, our magics had more fun than we did. Well, I got off, but poor you … am I still hurting you?”
“Only like a scab prickling. Which doesn’t mean we can go at it like rabbits.” His teeth grazing her shoulder and his hands sliding down her hips spoke differently. Moments later he pulled away with an unhappy sigh. “We have to figure out how the magic took us over so completely. Maybe try to cool it off or something. We’re like a — ”
“Nuclear explosion?” Lily stretched against him. “I never imagined you were so … so volatile. I’ve always had this image of you as self-contained, reserved, even cold sometimes.” She laughed, played her fingers across his mouth. “Not anymore. And since self-restraint isn’t even in my vocabulary, how will we keep off each other? Because I want you touching me all the time. Is that the magic or just being in love? I’ve never been in love, but maybe — ”
He stopped her musings with a kiss while his fingers slipped inside her robe to trace the intriguing ridge of her spine. “Maybe we need help.” He pulled back suddenly. “You know, counseling for magic that’s too hot to handle.”
“No!” Lily said when she realized he was serious.
“It would be like lessons, but in magic. With Madame Bagasha. Unless you prefer my Gran.” Daniel teased and pulled her on top of him. Her resistance vanished as desire flared in her belly. She spread her legs to straddle him, aware that only a towel separated them from …
His hands circled her waist and he forcibly lifted her off him, setting her on the floor. He sat up and reached for his glasses. “God knows I want to spend this glorious Saturday with nothing on me except you, Lily, but … ”
“I know. Sorry,” she sighed and retightened the oversized robe around her. “We have a forever of sleepin Saturdays ahead of us. With sleep opti
onal.” She slanted him a smile and began pulling at the blankets on the bed. “Have you seen our geode?”
• • •
Our geode … his heart flipped over in his chest. He nearly pulled Lily back into bed. But he too wanted more than just frenzied passion. He wanted long, lazy love making on weekend mornings and nights spent cuddling, talking, sharing ideas, shopping for groceries, working side by side on projects, laughing, teasing … just caring for each other.
But with their magic, hers wild and unstable and his fiery and passionate, now joined into a new unruly power … well, they needed advice, at the very least. He’d rather not go to Madame Bagasha. She represented authority, rules, and the damn Cohort almost as much as his Gran did. But Nila, the only other witch he trusted, hadn’t the knowledge or the experience to help them.
Lily watched him, her eyes large and troubled. “I hate that we’re not linked anymore,” she said in a small voice. “I don’t know what you’re thinking.”
He dragged her into his arms. “Which makes us no different than other lovers. Our bodies will have to do the talking.”
“How much talking?” she laughed, pressing closer. “And how often?”
His magic leaped in gut-clenching need. “I’ll never shut up, even when I’m old and doddering.”
“Promise?” Her voice wavered, insecure.
He Read her now as easily as he’d always Read the magic in her paintings. She was afraid. And at last he understood. She’d told him the literal truth when she said she’d never been in love! Never felt whole-hearted passion and commitment and need for anyone. Never felt cherished and protected and adored. Not since her parents died leaving her alone with strangers.
Relationships with others had always been hard for her to maintain. With men they’d proved impossible. Time and again, he’d seen her say or do some quirky thing and watched a guy dump her. More often she ditched the guy. Until now, until him. Now, when she wanted to give him all of her, she didn’t know what to do. And atypical of other women, Lily wasn’t afraid of getting hurt as much as she feared her ignorance and lack of experience would hurt him!
Daniel drew her close. “I promise nothing you do or say will make me leave you, Lily.”
With a deep sigh, she nodded and let him go. “Then we best find that bloody rock. Because unlike me, it has the knack of knowing exactly what to do and when to do it.”
But the geode could not be found, not on the nightstand, in the bed, fallen to the floor or under the curtains. They searched the entire room. Their pet rock of supernatural, sentient power had vanished after a job well done.
• • •
Not wanting to disturb Gradyn so early, Lily searched out her clothes and found them in his dryer. Typical guy, he’d tossed the wool sweater in with her jeans and shrunk it even more. Pulling it on, she was happy to find it still hung past her butt. They called a cab and after only twenty minutes of random driving found the magic shop on Wessex Road East. The sign on the door said closed. Lily sagged with relief. Completely exhausted, she didn’t feel up to facing Nila or anyone just yet. But before they could escape, the purple door of the shop swung open, and Madame beckoned them inside. God’s sake, she’d been expecting them!
The shop prisms were reflecting a more brilliant shine today. The voices sang with greater verve and every gemstone in the shop sparkled with an uncanny radiance.
“The shackling is gone, I’m happy to see.” Madame spoke in a noncommittal tone.
“I’ll never forgive my grandmother for casting it,” Daniel said.
“But you did break it when barely healed,” Madame added temperately. “And my spell as well, it seems. Tell me, was my block even a challenge?”
Lily blushed and Daniel tucked her closer under his arm. “No.”
“I don’t hear an apology for breaking it either.”
“I hate interference, and you know it,” he snapped. “Lily and I will make our own decisions about our magic.”
“And yet here you are,” Madame smiled. Lily felt a soothing charm drift the room. Daniel scowled and twitched irritably under its effect. Then he gave a terse, diluted explanation of their problem.
“The magic between you is too hot?” Madame’s bristly eyebrows shot upward.
“Yes.” Daniel’s mouth tightened.
“What do you mean by ‘too hot,’ exactly?” Laughter gleamed in her black eyes.
Daniel’s cheeks reddened. “You were right, Lil. Coming here was a stupid idea.”
Then Madame’s laughter bubbled over in a whole-body-shaking, tears-running-down-her-face guffaw that left her gasping. “Oh, my … if that’s not the cat’s meow and the bee’s knees all at once!” She slapped her thighs. “Most people can’t create enough magic in their relationships. And yours is too ‘hot’? Oh, that’s rich, it truly is. No, Daniel, don’t storm off. I’m sorry. Just … just give me a minute.”
Watching the little witch doubled over with the giggles, Lily felt her own anger rising. But Madame was finally drying her eyes, cheeks aglow with the pleasure of a good laugh.
“Oh, don’t look so put out, loveys, please?” Madame reached a hand to each of them. “I adore the fact, truly I do. Restores my faith in the wonders of the universe. And such healing, Daniel. That is truly a miracle.”
“I’m not the only one to heal.” Daniel pushed back the sleeve of Lily’s sweater. “See where Nila cut her for the talisman blooding? The wound is gone. It seems once commanded to heal, our powers, or at least Lily’s, never stopped. Does this make her a healer?” Daniel glowered. “Because I hate the thought of her in the hands of the Cohort.”
“Now Daniel, we aren’t all manipulative, scheming, and bossy.” Madame’s eyes shone with humor. “The girl will choose her own path, you know.”
“I’m not so sure,” Lily spoke hesitantly. She’d been keeping herself tightly shielded at Daniel’s suggestion. Both were a little afraid to reveal too much of her new, wild power. “This magic Daniel and I generate together, it sort of takes over. And the more emotion involved, the more power it creates. I think it ate my geode.” She sounded fearful.
Madame didn’t press. Instead, she drew the same large book Nila had consulted days ago from under the counter but didn’t open it. “Perhaps all it comes down to is your lack of experience and technical skill, Lily. Daniel himself knows very little about his powers, having spent his life resenting his psychic gifts rather than studying them. No, I’m not judging you, dear boy. I understand why.”
She brushed gentle fingers over his cheek. Tucking the heavy tome under her arm, she led them down a short hallway to a large kitchen workroom bulging at the seams with scarred tables, benches, distilling apparatus and two cooking stoves, one of cast iron fueled by wood and another electric. Shelves and cupboards lined the walls, mundane cookware was stacked alongside more arcane magical objects. Other shelves overflowed with bottles and crocks of God knew what. The room was warm and smelled homey with wood smoke, hot wax, and something yeasty rising on the shelf.
Madame chattered, trying to put the two at ease. “I know that one can draw on another’s magic to weave spells or build power. But a mingling, a joining that then becomes a new kind of magic? I have never heard such a thing. It was incredible, this joining, yes? Oh, how I love investigating new phenomena,” she clapped her hands like a child. Pressing them both to sit, she continued. “And when your magics combine, Daniel, yours is more dominant? Even though Lily possesses greater power?”
“Yes.”
“And then it spikes out of control,” Lily added. “It’s beautiful, though. The colors, I mean.”
“Colors?” Madame asked in surprise. “Ah, you can see magic. I smell it, taste it. Daniel, did you see color as well?”
“Yes.” He kissed the top of Lily’s head. “Fantastic colors. Probably because I was so deep inside her. Metaphysically, I mean,” he added quickly.
“Of course.” Madame turned away to hide her grin. In a practical voice
, she said, “This is all rather amazing, I must say. And truth to tell, a bit beyond my understanding. So some tea, I think. Then we experiment.”
Madame set the large book down on the table, filled an iron tea kettle with water and placed it on the electric stove. Then she dragged a small ladder from under the sink and climbed up to sort through jars full of herbs.
“Let’s see, something incendiary.” She opened lid after lid, taking long sniffs, cocking her head in thought before either passing the jar to Daniel or replacing it on the shelf. When she was done selecting, she climbed carefully down and began crumbling pinches of each ingredient into a wooden bowl. Occasionally she stirred the mixture with her finger, bending to sniff the rising aroma. Lily, smelling cinnamon and something more pungent and unpleasant, slid closer to Daniel.
“A quick lesson in the basics for Lily,” Madame talked while she worked. “As is right and proper, the universe holds as many different kinds of magic as there are kinds of people. But all magic falls into one of two categories, the Sensitive and the Elemental. Sensitive magic is the most common. These folk have power based on a perception, or sensitivity, that can be refined and controlled through study and technique. Daniel, being a Reader, is a Sensitive. Other Sensitives include Intuitives, Clairvoyants, Dreamrunners, Mesmers, Water, and Weatherwitchers, to name a few.
“You, Lily, are an Elemental. Your magic is intrinsic. Not of perception but of essence. Power is drawn from within and can be magnified or enhanced by organic objects possessing power of their own such as stones, herbs, bones. Elementals include Conjurers, Diviners, Sorcerers, Rifters, Timestriders, and Shapeshifters.”
“Shapeshifters?” Lily shivered, thinking of her painted men.
“Oh, yes, dear,” Madame went on. “But not to fear. They are the shyest of folk in my experience.” The witch started to lift the steaming kettle from the stove. Daniel jumped to take it from her and pour the boiling water into the bowl of mixed herbs. The air filled with a dizzying scent and Lily found herself yawning, abruptly sleepy.
