His muscles tense rock-hard, and his affinity fire spikes with the strength of a fanned smith forge as I lightly trace the skin along the top of his pants and clumsily unfasten his belt. He pushes his remaining clothing off and kisses me deep and hard, his fire searing through me as we move against each other with a new feverish urgency.
We take each other once, then again deeper in the night in a wild torrent of flame.
By the time the pale light of dawn streaks through the window, the two of us are a mess of tangled limbs, our affinity lines finally dampened to a mellow glow.
* * *
I awaken encircled by Vale’s warm embrace. Reluctant to wake him, I gently slide out from under his draping arm and sit up. I’ve a sheet wrapped discreetly around myself, but Vale is lying across the bed, stomach down, scandalously naked. I take in his long form, sprawled out like a contented cat, his face calm in sleep.
He’s beautiful, and I drink him in for a long moment.
As I rise, his hand snaps out to playfully grab at my sheet.
Shocked, I turn back to him, and he opens his eyes to peer at me with wicked mischief. His fire flares hot again and snakes out to slide along my body, a long line of heat flowing under my sheet.
I smack his hand away and he laughs, deep and throaty. “No,” I tell him, adamant, but I can’t help but grin. “I’m going to get food.”
It’s still new to me, this playful side to him, and I delight in it.
I tug away from him, but he won’t release the sheet. His gaze turns serious and ardent.”This was a good fasting, Tess,” he says.
“It was,” I tell him softly.
“I love you.” He says it with rock-solid assurance. As if he’s saying “There is a moon” or “There is a sky.”
“I love you, too,” I tell him, my heart bursting open.
He reels me in and kisses me. “Go,” he finally relents, caressing my face. He reluctantly releases the sheet, his eyes raking over me. “Before I take you again.”
I laugh, and he smiles and looks down at his hand, briefly holding it up for my inspection. I look to my matching lines—dark swirling patterns that mirror his and run down our hands and around both our wrists now, the lines thicker and more numerous than they were before.
There’s a smug, triumphant grin on Vale’s face that I find amusing.
“Do you think anyone else is awake yet?” I ask as I grab up the clothing that’s scattered all over the floor.
“I doubt it,” he says, looking me over, his fire coursing up and down my form. “It’s barely dawn.”
I throw on my underthings and skirts as Vale brazenly watches me, then throw on one of his tunics instead of mine. They’re easier to put on—no laces up the back.
Then I turn and make my way to the kitchen.
* * *
I reach the bottom of the stairs to find Beck cradling baby Gareth, sitting with Edwin and Fain at the kitchen table. Ray stands near the counter, eyeing me. They are all silent as stone, the Gardnerians abashed and averting their eyes.
Except for Fain. He grins at me with open glee, along with Ray.
I realize, mortified, how loud Vale and I might have been throughout the night. Vale groaning. The bed creaking.
“Hello, Fain,” I say, my cheeks burning.
He looks me over with bold mischief. “Well, don’t you look fetching in Vale’s clothes.” He gets up in one graceful swoop and comes to me, takes my hands in his and smiles. He glances down at my fastmarks and grows briefly serious. “Sweet Tessla,” he says, eyes glassing over as he squeezes my hands. “I wish you so much happiness.”
Tears sting my eyes, a tight knot in my throat. “Thank you, Fain. And thank you for helping my brother and my grandfather.”
Fain releases my hands, throws his arms around me and kisses my head. “You’ve a lovely family. There’s no need for thanks.”
Footsteps sound on the staircase, and everyone looks up. Vale is there, blinking down over the assembled crowd. His hair is messier than I’ve ever seen it, an explosion of uneven spikes.
“Oh, good,” Vale says. “The whole of Valgard is, in fact, here.”
He comes down the stairs, strides over to me and slides his hand around my waist, a line of his fire coursing straight up my spine. “Would you like some tea?” he asks me, his fire whipping around me in caressing tendrils, hot and strong. Hungry. And not for food.
I gawk at him for a brief moment, stunned by his voracious appetite for this.
“Why yes, Vale,” I say with exaggerated formality. “I would love some tea.”
Ray breaks out into multitoned laughter, her gills fanning out. Gareth mimics her laugh and blows out a raspberry.
Vale hands me a mug and I sip at it, blushing furiously, but overcome with happiness.
Who would have ever guessed that I’d want this? With him?
Vale raises my hand to his lips and kisses the back of it, affection running hot in his gaze.
I’ve accidentally, unexpectedly, been given the perfect fasting. I can feel Vale’s love for me flowing right through the fastlines.
Epilogue
“Mages,” the Black Witch intones over the sea of Gardnerians, her eyes blazing with fierce pride. “We come together today to celebrate the wandfasting and sealing of my son, Vale Gardner, to Mage Tessla Harrow.” She sweeps her arm toward Vale and me, and a protective wall of her great fire affinity swoops toward us in a powerful torrent.
The crowded Valgard Cathedral erupts into applause and cheers, everyone springing to their feet in a booming rush. Fain’s up front with two fingers curled into his mouth, whistling loudly, an impish light in his eyes.
Vale’s hand is tight around mine, our fires hot and merged, whipping around our arms in a unified coil. We stand on the cathedral’s dais and face the crowd, then briefly meet each other’s eyes with countless unspoken words and an edge of newfound worry.
Eight months have passed since Vale and I first met, and the Black Witch is back from the front lines.
Gardneria is now the greatest power in the Western Realm and ten times its original size, refugees of other races streaming away from our new borders. Mages have moved in to seize the surrendered land and begin their new lives, and new Gardnerian military bases are rapidly being established.
It’s a formality, this sealing ceremony, but one Vale’s mother insisted on, to the great delight of all Gardnerians. It’s overwhelmed Vale and me, how rapidly this formal refasting and sealing of the Black Witch’s son has turned into a countrywide celebration.
Wren beams at us from the front row where he stands next to Grandfather. He claps with happy enthusiasm, his eyes momentarily locked on to Vale’s with deep affection. He’s taken a wild shine to my fastmate, and Vale’s become his teacher in wandwork and sword fighting. My brother wandtested at Level Three and his power is rising, the lessons in self-defense slowly chipping away at his night terrors and residual trauma.
He’s a different boy now, my brother. Completely healed and filled out—and a good inch taller with access to so much rich food. When he finally looks to me, his grin is wide and warm as the sun. I bask in it, my affinity flaring out to embrace him.
I smile at Vale, tears stinging at my eyes as the applause washes over us, and Vale’s hand tightens around my own.
Grandfather is sobbing and praying, making the sign of blessing again and again over his chest as he leans heavily on his cane. He throws a kiss toward me, and I throw one kiss back to renewed applause.
I train my eyes on the front of the cathedral where Vale’s sister, Vyvian, stands next to Grandfather, grief etched hard on her face. Compassion for Vale’s harsh sister twists inside me. I smile at her, but Vyvian frowns and turns her head sharply away from me. It stings, her continued rejection of Lower R
iver me, but still, I never would have wanted such misery to be visited upon her. She has a wide red armband around her left arm, a symbol of mourning for her beloved fastmate, who was cut down by Urisk soldiers only weeks ago, just before our forces moved in and scorched the remaining Urisk lands. Fain is beside Vyvian, one arm tight around her shoulders, and she slumps into him, uncharacteristically worn and haggard.
I scan the room as the applause dies down. Everyone takes their seats, and the priest rises to intone a welcome prayer.
Beck Keeler sits with his family three rows back. Catching my eye, he briefly lifts his hand in greeting and attempts a wan smile, an ever-present sadness now in his eyes. Margryt, his fastmate, is by his side and cradling baby Gareth. The tips of the child’s hair glint silver in the rays of sunlight that stream down into the cathedral through the stained glass windows.
Margryt is a plain, round-cheeked young woman, her expression stoic and gravely determined. Her three-year-old daughter stands on the bench beside her with a worried frown as she clutches at her mother’s arm.
Ray, the Selkie, is gone. Her skin was found over a month ago by a cabin boy Beck had been kind to, freeing Ray to go back to the sea. She and Beck were devastated to part, but they knew what her discovery would mean for baby Gareth. In the end, it could no longer be denied that the safest course of action would be to raise Gareth as a Gardnerian.
Margryt was initially devastated, as well, shocked to hear of her fastmate’s affair—and with a Selkie, no less. She spent many a tear-soaked night at our cottage, raging against her fasting to Beck at such a young age and his cruel infidelity. But in the end, Margryt’s great kindness won out, and her compassion for this baby who was caught in the middle, just like her. Her growing affection for baby Gareth eventually overshadowed her grief and anger and rapidly morphed into a fiercely protective bond.
The cathedral quiets as Edwin Gardner walks up the side aisle, violin in hand, and joins us on the dais. He offers me a small, heartfelt smile, warmth in his deep green eyes.
“My congratulations to my brother, Vale.” His voice wavers with nerves and emotion. “And to his beloved fastmate, Tessla.”
He lifts violin and bow and launches into my favorite piece, “Winter’s Dark.” The sound of the massive crowd quiets to almost nothing, save the fidgeting of small children and the occasional cry of a baby. Edwin’s melody gracefully winds around every column, and I remember the first time I heard him play this song. It feels like a hundred years ago.
I look over at Fain, who’s listening to the music, his three sisters in a neat row on his left side. Lucretia gives me a brief, friendly smile.
Fain follows his sister’s glance and catches my eye. He casts me his sly, catlike grin and throws out a tendril of cool water that I deftly meet, latch on to and warm up so hot that he has to quickly release it. His head bobs in a laugh, and I smile back at him with mischief.
Fain teases Vale and me to no end about our hunger for each other. Vale is so clearly making up for lost time, taking me away early from every event, pulling me into bedrooms, back rooms, closets, anywhere he can get his hands and his fire on me, the two of us burning through bottle after bottle of Sanjire root, which Fain generously continues to supply.
Fain enjoys making full sport of us, his jokes scandalously off-color. He recently bought three more erotic books for us and left them on our bed with a cheeky note.
To My Dear Vale,
Since you clearly know where to put it.
If you and your lovely fastmate ever come up for air, you can peruse these for more ways to...connect.
As Always,
Fain
I flush at the memory of this as my eyes wander away from Fain. My gaze lights on Rosebeth and Myles, who sit two rows back from Fain and his sisters. Myles’s arm is wrapped protectively around my Lower River friend’s shoulders. Their fasting has proven to be a good one so far—two good-natured people united in bliss.
Rosebeth cries joyfully into her handkerchief and sends me a small smile. I force a returning smile and fight back against an edge of bitterness that’s still raw within me, and the unpleasant thoughts that rise with it.
She and Myles love me again, like so many do—now that I’ve been proven pure. Now that I’m sealed to the son of the most powerful Mage in Gardneria.
I’ve no dearth of admirers and friends now.
But things are forever altered for me. There are no clean lines anymore, no perfectly delineated sides.
Vale’s standing stiffly, his expression frozen in place, and I follow his gaze to a cloaked figure standing past the crowds at the very back of the Cathedral.
“What’s wrong? I ask him in a hushed whisper.
His eyes glint with tears as he leans toward me. “Gods, Tess. It’s Annel’lin.”
I try to keep my face impassive, though my heart swells for him. Annel’lin, the Uuril woman who raised him. Coming here is a huge personal risk for her, as the women of all the Urisk castes are now indentured and forbidden from traveling freely.
But I can tell that her presence means the world to Vale. That she’s here to see the child she loves refasted and sealed.
For the rest of the ceremony, Vale and I wear fake smiles and whisper to each other, putting on an affectionate show, as Vale quickly formulates a plan to bring Annel’lin with us to Verpacia. We’ll sneak her back there under the guise of being our personal servant until we’re safely across the border. It’s a sound plan, and I can feel some of the turbulence in Vale’s fire smoothing out.
“Please rise as we perform the sealing rites,” the priest intones with a beatific smile, his arms stretched wide to embrace the crowd.
Vale and I take our places on either side of the small altar and clasp our hands tight over it, our eyes locked. Carnissa Gardner readies her wand. The priest opens The Book of the Ancients and reverently intones the long series of sealing prayers. He smiles as he finishes, and Vale’s mother holds her wand over our hands.
It’s unnecessary, the repetition of the spell. Purely for ceremony and show, but it suddenly strikes me that I’m here by my own free will this time.
I’m here with my whole heart. Full of a fierce love for the man who stands before me.
The spell won’t do anything—we’ve already had the lines placed and set and well consummated. But I hold tight to Vale as his mother murmurs first the fasting and then the sealing spell. Her tendrils of power curl around our hands, our wrists. I’m suddenly overcome by my love for Vale. Love that’s fully reflected in his ardent gaze as his fire blazes outward to merge with mine.
Carnissa Gardner’s magic pulls into our hands and wrists, and I gasp as a series of impossibly intricate swirls bursts into life, adding to the lines that are already there. My love for Vale and his love for me wrap around and through the spell and out into the lines in a visible rush. The lines glow red for a long moment, and a collective murmur of overjoyed surprise goes up in the vast space. I look to Vale in wonder, and he smiles.
The Black Witch and the priests surrounding us all have tears glistening in their eyes as the crowd responds with thunderous applause.
“I love you, Tessla,” Vale says with ragged feeling, his fire a warm caress all through me.
“I love you, too.” I break into happy tears as he pulls me around the altar and brings his lips to mine. Cheers are shouted out over the applause.
We kiss, and I bask in the feel of his lips, his body pressed to mine, everything around us momentarily fading into background.
“Sanguin’in!” Fain rakishly yells out, and Vale and I laugh at the same time, breaking the kiss. We look to Fain, who’s grinning at us, tears streaking down his face, his arm still tight around Vyvian.
“All will be well,” I tell Vale with fierce assurance, patting the wand that’s safely ensconced in my stocking. �
�We’ll be in Verpacia soon.” Where Annel’lin will be safe. My gaze wordlessly comforts him.
Some of the tight worry leaves his eyes. He nods and lets out a long breath. Then he smiles crookedly at me and leans in close. “It seems we’ll get another chance at a proper Sealing Night.”
A laugh escapes me, and I shoot him a suggestive smile.
Vale gives me a sardonic look. “Maybe don’t punch me this time.”
I caress his back, sending up a trail of sparks in my wake. “Don’t worry,” I whisper into his ear, my other hand tracing the now familiar planes of his chest. “That’s not at all what I had in mind.”
Vale laughs, pulls me firmly against him and brings his lips to mine, our fires lashing around each other like the lines that mark us. Sealed and tightly bound.
Forever.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from THE BLACK WITCH by Laurie Forest.
Acknowledgments
If it takes a village to bring a novel to fruition, it certainly takes a minivillage to bring a novella into being.
First of all, a huge thank-you to my husband, Walter—for all his support, child/teen care, reading, editing and inspiration.
Thank you to my daughter Willoughby (for her spot-on, unflinchingly honest feedback); daughter Schuyler (for her great editing and ideas); and daughters Alexandre and Taylor for putting up with my writing habit and helping to “hold down the fort.”
Thank you to my parents, Mary and Noah Sexton, for their enthusiasm, ideas and encouragement.
Thank you to my sister-in-law, Jessica Bowers, without whom none of this would be happening.
A huge thanks to the Burlington Writers’ Group—Cam M. Sato and Kimberly Ann Hunt (two of my favorite writers and talented editors); the amazing Diane Dexter (editor, reader and good friend); and Eva Gumprecht (esteemed writer and editor). And to the fabulous author/editor Dian Parker; The Burlington Writers’ Workshop; Lorraine Bencivengo Ziff; and everyone else who read parts of this novella and gave feedback.
Wandfasted Page 23
