The Book of Spells and Such

by Jacquie Underdown

  Ariana rolls off of her, panting, and fumbles with a candle, lighting it with her finger. The room illuminates, though it’s dull.

  “Why, Paulao?” hisses Hadeon, his hand still tight over his throat.

  Tears are streaming down Paulao’s face, dripping onto the timber floor.

  “I thought if I killed her, and took her to the queen, she’d give Rissa her soul back,” he says, voice weak, choked.

  “How could you?”

  A sob rattles Paulao’s chest. “She’s my wife. I just want her back.”

  Hadeon frowns, his face lined with furrows. “Surely there are other means,” he says, thick regret dripping from his words. “You know I have to kill you and Rissa now.” Such sorrow.

  Paulao’s eyes bulge, and he tries to shake his head. “No. No, you don’t.”

  Hadeon nods. “I do. I can’t trust you. You’ve proven that.”

  Paulao kicks his legs, his arms flailing. His body flashes—one second he’s visible, the next he isn’t. Back and forth, until Hadeon locks his hands on either side of Paulao’s head and snaps his neck.

  Silence.

  He strides to Rissa and does the same.

  Ariana’s mouth is parted; she is unable to say a word. Horror and disbelief stutter her heart and her muscles tremble.

  “Get dressed and pack your gear,” Hadeon says, not meeting her gaze.

  She scrabbles through her bag and dresses in a tunic-type dress Granny had made in a Fioren style, then packs her bag and slings it over her back.

  Hadeon grabs her hand, pulls her toward the door, and knocks the candle to the floor on their way out. Flames lick across the timber and catch on the bodies. He slams the door shut and doesn’t speak until they are at the edge of the blackened waters, trudging across glassy stones toward a wharf.

  Did that really just happen? Are there two bodies exploding into fiery lights as flames consume them?

  Ariana’s throat burns and her chest squeezes.

  “You need to heal that palm or it will get infected. Your body wouldn’t be immune to the bacteria we have here,” says Hadeon.

  Ariana holds her shaking palm up. A flap of skin has been bitten loose and blood streaks her hand and wrist. The pain is excruciating. “But I’ll faint. We’ll be delayed for hours.”

  “It’s not a big enough wound for you to faint.”

  Blue plumes of smoke billow upward into the black sky, turning it an eerie violet as it blends with the red moons’ rays. She’ll never be able to forget the sickly, smoky-sweet scent.

  She shakes her head. Tears are streaking her cheeks. She wipes them away. “I don’t know why you had to k—”

  Hadeon presses his finger to her lips, stopping her words. He stares at her hard. “Shifter territory.”

  Ariana sniffles as she nods.

  “Now, sort that wound out.”

  Ariana scans the rocky shore for a seat but settles on sitting where she stands. Hadeon crouches beside her.

  Facing her palm upward, she whispers, “Of love and life that burns within. Use that flame to solder and mend. Make broken flesh and bones whole again.”

  She winces and grits her teeth. Pain burns across her palm—cruel stinging. Her head is woozy and bright lights twinkle in her vision. She falls forward into Hadeon’s strong arms, panting. And then the pain subsides, tingles up her arm, and away into the atmosphere.

  Her palm tickles as the wound threads together, skin melding with skin, reddening, then softening until her flesh is almost flawless, aside from a faint pink line in the shape of teeth.

  Ariana straightens, a little flushed. “Damn, that hurts.”

  Hadeon’s lips curl. “Not as much as an infection.”

  He takes her hand and helps her from the rocky beach. He points toward a long timber berth thrusting out into the silvery sea. A large vessel is docked—curved timber sides, tall masts, and white billowy sails.

  “We need to get on that,” he says.

  Ariana stares at the ship then looks back at Hadeon. “What?”

  “It will be our safest route home.”

  Ariana swallows, her stomach already swooning. “I really don’t do well on boats.”

  Hadeon peers behind her toward the burning house. There are yells and commotion as people wake. “We don’t have time to argue about this.” He grabs her hand and pulls her toward the wharf.

  “Fine,” she says, shuffling to keep up.

  Chapter 21

  Ariana can’t stop staring at the captain of the ship—she’s simply stunning, with long, flowing blonde hair falling down her back in waves and over her shoulders to hang just above her ample breasts. The low slung peasant shirt she wears accentuates those breasts while her proportionate hips are emphasized by tight pants. Her lips are full, succulently pink, and she has piercing blue eyes.

  Mesmerizing.

  Ariana shakes her head. What is it with this place?

  She glances sidelong at Hadeon to gauge his reaction, but his face is expressionless as he negotiates their voyage. But how? If she is a woman and is enthralled by the captain, what must he, a man, be feeling? With that thought, unfamiliar anger swamps her bloodstream. She clutches Hadeon’s arm and steps closer to him. He peers at her for a brief moment with narrowed eyes, but she doesn’t heed his reproval and grips tighter.

  The captain, Searana, nods approval and directs them onboard. The other ship hands present themselves. All equally as beautiful as the captain. An entire trip with this harem of beauties will be torture.

  They grab their gear and follow a liquorice-haired goddess down below the deck. They have to climb down narrow, steep steps into a dim cavern where there are a number of rooms sprouting off of a thin hall. All the floors and walls are timber, sky blue like the houses lining the shore.

  Like Paulao and Rissa’s before it was burned to ashes.

  Ariana shudders and hugs herself.

  The goddess gestures to a tiny room to the left at the end of the hall and glides away, her hips swaying beneath her tight tights and her breasts bouncing in her low-cut, pink peasant top.

  Ariana shrugs her backpack off and hoists it on the little-larger-than-a-single bed. She places her hands on her hips and glares. “What kind of ship is this? Some re-creation of a man’s ultimate fantasy? Every single one of those wenches could pass for Victoria’s Secret models.”

  Hadeon drops his bag to the ground. “I can’t help that they are Sealusters any more than I can help that I’m a Warrior.”

  Ariana frowns and her forehead furrows. “Sealusters? Oh, you’ve got to be joking. I’d much rather walk.”

  A tempest rages in Hadeon’s eyes. “What’s with the attitude?”

  She throws her hands up in defeat. “I’m jealous, Hadeon. I’m jealous that you saw…” She points up toward the deck. “…creatures that look like that. I’ve never been jealous in my life.” She pushes her hand to her chest and rolls her shoulders forward. “I don’t like it. It hurts. It actually hurts.”

  Hadeon’s lips curl upward. “Finished, drama-queen?”

  Ariana sits on the bed, gasping for air, and glares at him.

  “Whatever jealousy you’re harboring is your problem,” he says, sitting beside her. “I gave you no reason to feel this way whatsoever. So when you’re finished, I’ll be on deck watching the sunrise as we sail off.”

  He starts to stand, but she grips his wrist and pulls him down. “Couldn’t you feel that sexual charge rolling off of them? I’m a woman and I was aroused. How must you have felt?” Ariana’s voice is high-pitched.

  He smiles. “Now you know how all those men on Earth felt being around you.”

  She gasps. “That’s what it feels like?”

  He nods. “There are four cultures on Fiore that have lust pulses—Sealusters, Spring Blossoms, Charmers, and Warriors.”

  Ariana takes a deep breath. “I knew you did. I knew it. You drove me mad with it.”

  He laughs. “You ought to talk. At least I can
control mine. You send out pulses incessantly. I have a constant hard-on whenever you’re in my presence.”

  Ariana grins. “Really?”

  He nods.

  The smile falls from her lips and her stare hardens. “So you meant to use it on me? When I was working? And afterward in the alley?”

  He shrugs. “Not exactly. When I’m aroused, which you constantly make me, and when I’m attracted to the woman, which I most definitely am, then it’s almost impossible to stop it.”

  She crosses her arms over her chest and pouts. “I don’t like it. I think it’s dangerous to be swayed by an unnatural feeling.”

  “On Earth, where some men do not value women, yes, it’s dangerous.” His neck pulses and his jaw tightens. “Especially for a young girl, a Spring Blossom, caught up in the foster care system. I totally understand that. But on Fiore, things are different. We don’t rape and no pedophilia exists. There are no sexual abnormalities in our species. What you and I have are gifts that ensure we as a species grow stronger every single day. You, a Spring Blossom, are a symbol of beauty, fertility, renewal, and compassion. Sealusters are travelers and gatherers, they epitomize change and abundance. Charmers are the male version of Spring Blossoms. These are the traits best suited to the survival of our species, so we are the cultures given the lust pulse.”

  “What about you?”

  “Warriors represent strength, health, virility, and honor.” He grins. “And if we didn’t have the pulse, no woman would come near us.”

  “How so?”

  “Let’s just say, the usual reaction Warriors get, especially me, when someone first meets us, is fear.”

  Ariana gasps. “No.”

  He nods and laughs. “You should meet my father.”

  Ariana shakes her head. “I’ve never felt fear when I’ve been around you.”

  Hadeon’s expression is one of curiosity. “No. You never have. Quite an anomaly you are.”

  “This is all too surreal.”

  “You’ll be accustomed to how it is here in time.”

  “So this lust pulse, does it also give us impulses to…? Does it make one feel the desire to have…?”

  Hadeon strokes a finger down her cheek, across her bottom lip, smiling. He presses his thumb into her mouth and she gently sucks it. Her chest rises and falls as her breaths deepen. She swirls her tongue over his thumb and sucks again.

  “Yes, Ariana, it makes you as horny as fuck,” Hadeon rumbles.

  He slides his thumb from her mouth and replaces it with his tongue, his warm lips pressing firmly against hers. He gropes her thighs.

  Hadeon inches back and rests his forehead on hers. “I know it’s frowned upon on Earth for women to have healthy sexual appetites, but here it’s different. In you, in all your cells, bones, and blood, is love and creation. That’s the desire. And when you find someone who nourishes that in you and feeds off that, and when you find someone who you nourish and feed off in turn, it creates the most potent, sensual, irresistible sex you’ll ever have. Can’t you feel that when we make love?”

  She leans in, skimming her nose across his jaw and down his neck where she sucks gently, feeling the soft prickles under her lips and tongue. He moans.

  In his ear, she whispers, “I feel it. And I couldn’t have anyone else ever again. I want to make love with you every day for eternity.”

  Hadeon takes her cheeks in his hands and looks deep into her eyes. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Hadeon holds Ariana’s hand. “Come on, we better hurry or we’re not going to see this sunrise.”

  Ariana hesitates.

  Hadeon’s face hardens. “They are no threat to you. Stop this foolishness.”

  “I want to. Truly I do, but I need you to reassure me that you’re not attracted too much to them.”

  Hadeon breathes out a noisy gush of air. “Ariana, I claimed you.”

  She shrugs a shoulder. “And?”

  “You must’ve read about it in the spell book, what that means?”

  She shakes her head. “There was nothing in there on claiming.”

  He stares silently for a long moment.

  “What? What does it mean?” she asks.

  “When a man claims a woman, he commits completely. I will never stop loving you. I will never stop wanting to be with you. I will do everything, and I mean everything, to keep you safe and happy. You are a part of me now. You’re in my blood and in the deepest workings of my heart. You’re in every breath I take. No other woman will ever be enough. Once a man claims a woman, the fabric of the universe changes to answer that claim, and changes irrevocably. Never will I share my heart or bed with another.”

  Ariana gasps. For a long moment she can only stare at him, and then the reality and possible ramifications have her blood pounding in her ears. “What if I’m married off to someone else?” she asks, her bottom lip trembling.

  Hadeon’s shoulders round as his body droops. When he speaks, his voice is weak and raspy. “Then I will die a lonely Warrior with a broken heart. But I knew the consequences. And I’m prepared to live with them.”

  Never has she been presented with such selfless devotion. Her heart opens even further to him, letting him slide inside her veins, all his love and all his being. And at the same time, her chest aches for his future, for their future, already doomed by this imminent betrothal. Tears start to well.

  Ariana wipes at her cheeks and opens her mouth to speak, but she can’t say a thing.

  Hadeon kisses her face, lingering for one shuddered breath. “So don’t be jealous. I love only you. Forever.”

  They exchange a glance. A glance that knows of the bleak time ahead. A bleakness capable of crushing them both if they think about it too much.

  * * * *

  Ariana nestles against Hadeon on the deck of the ship. He encloses her in his arms, warm and strong, as the ship sails through gray seas and the sun, red and boisterous, ascends over the horizon. A world away from serving drinks in bars.

  Her heart is wide open, far removed from the obstinate girl she was with her heart so frigidly closed off to everyone. How strange, almost inconceivable, her life has become. But this rock behind her, who has been there from the start of all this mess, has been her stalwart, even when she feels like strangling him with her frustration.

  She has never depended on anyone, ever, but him. She has had to do away with her fixed ideas. Circumstance has forced that upon her. Hadeon, his protective nature, has made that happen. And she has had to trust him implicitly and still does as he leads her through this foreign land.

  Ariana has never loved anyone, but him. Sure, she wanted to. Like all little girls, she dreamed of her Prince Charming, but a painful adolescence, where she got to intimately know the worst types of men, stole her dream away and left it brittle and battered like a cobweb in a sandstorm.

  To know she still has a quality, a little part inside her, capable of loving and of being loved in return, stitches those old wounds, rubs ointment on the scars, and cleans away some of the pain.

  Ariana is in love now. So much her chest aches with it, her mind is full of it, and her soul is healing with it.

  She spins to face Hadeon and looks up into his eyes.

  He cocks his head and grins. “What?”

  Ariana sinks deeper into his embrace and rests her head on his shoulder. No sunset could surpass how this man makes her feel.

  Ariana rises onto tiptoes, stretches toward his ear, and whispers, “Make love to me, Hadeon.”

  A growl deep in his chest vibrates. “Gladly.”

  * * * *

  Ariana and Hadeon haven’t made love since arriving in Fiore. Ariana’s skin crawls with the need, like a junkie craving a fix, but she has some hesitation: her tattoos. Hadeon has only briefly glimpsed them. She has looked at them once and hasn’t made up her mind how she feels about them, let alone what Hadeon might think.

  Standing before the bed, Hadeon reaches for her.
r />   “Hang on,” she says, lifting a hand. “I want to show you something first.”

  He nods.

  “Close your eyes,” she says, a nest of fear deep in her belly. All these reactions are so unfamiliar. Her mind is screaming that if he doesn’t like the changes to her body then screw him, yet another part of her wants to please him, tantalize him, and turn him on.

  Hadeon releases a frustrated sigh but does as he is asked.

  Ariana grabs the hem of her shirt and pulls it up over her head, unclasps her bra and throws it to the floor. She unzips her jeans and slides them off, along with her panties, until she is completely naked.

  “Don’t open your eyes yet, but take your clothes off.”

  He slouches and shakes his head. “Come off it.”

  “Please.”

  He sighs but undresses until he is a naked statue of long, lean muscle. A hot haze scatters over her cheeks and down her body. He is incredible, every muscle defined. Already he has a semi-erection.

  She wets her lips with her tongue and takes a deep breath. “You can look now.”

  His eyes snap open and he finds her face. But his attention is drawn lower and his gaze wanders down to her full breasts, nipples strained against the cool cabin air. She can feel the heat of his hot stare. Lower, he looks at her spring blossoms winding and pulsing under her skin. They are humming and burning from his attention.

  Hadeon strides to her, captures her hips, and spins her so her back is to him. Each section of her skin ignites, letting her know where his gaze travels.

  “You are so incredibly beautiful,” he says, his voice deep and hoarse.

  She turns to face him. His features are soft with arousal. His chest rises and falls.

  Barely a whisper, she asks, “Do you like them?”

  His gaze drops to her breasts and he nods. “Very much.”

  She giggles. “No. My tattoos?”

  He grins and looks lower at the fertile flowers. His jaw slackens and his teeth drag over his bottom lip with a ragged breath in through his nose. Hadeon’s erection grows, thickens.