Linda Robertson - Shattered Circle

I was amazed! “How did you do that?”

“Magic, love. You can do it, but you’ve forgotten how.” Aidon sat, pulling me down beside him.

I can do such things?

He deposited a series of kisses on my neck, which were quite arousing, but his warm breath caused a chill to run down my spine. “I’ll teach you everything again if I have to.”

He unfastened the clasps of his vestlike shirt and discarded the garment, then resumed kissing my neck.

My head fell back and my eyes shut as desire trickled through me. My hands explored the contours of his chest. Had I known many men? Was this . . . husband . . . my only lover?

His deft fingers caressed between the ribbons at my back as he kissed his way down my neck, avoiding the tender burns. His affection concentrated on the upper mounds of my breasts.

Heat was rising within me.

“Whatever you wish, my love,” Aidon said between kisses, “by my hand, you shall have it.” He stood, lifting me with him. He closed the distance between us, jerking me into his arms and wrapping me in his strength. He kissed my lips again, rough and delicious, and I was locked in a longing I could not escape, and did not want to.

My hands ran along his back. His body was like stone, every muscle so hard. I squeezed his backside, and he bit my lip gently as he growled encouragement.

This moment had all the titillating arousal of the touch of a stranger, but it was mingled with the security of a committed relationship and an inherent knowledge of what pleasure our bodies could create.

He broke the kiss and I instantly yearned for more. Lust had laid claim to me, but I fought to catch my breath and regain control of my passions.

“Can you feel the storm within you, my love?”

“Yes.”

“Can you feel the blaze burning in your soul?”

How did he know? “Yes!”

“Is the flood filling you up?”

“What is happening?”

“You are so close. . . . ” He took my thumb into his mouth and sucked on it. “Malek tsalmaveth.” He switched to the other thumb. “Basilissa nekros.”

The sensation was strangely wonderful.

“Call your mantle.”

“My mantle?”

“Close your eyes. Look inside yourself. There is a light within you, an armor that glows.”

My eyes shut obediently. I tried to see within . . . to feel a storm, a blaze or a flood. “I can’t find it.”

He kissed my palm, my wrist. Working his way up my arm to the inner spot on my elbow, he then moved back to my neck.

“Don’t stop,” I begged.

“Search deep, my love. Follow the desire deep into this body, then fall into it, fall deep into the sensations rising in your soul. There you will find the light.” He squeezed my hands.

And there it was. At the instant I found it, I felt brightness shine out from me.

He gasped. “Yes. There it is, my love. Now hold on to it. Open your eyes.”

Silvery light twinkled around us. It was beautiful.

He rubbed his thumbs in circles against mine. “This is how you command fire, love. Right here. In your thumbs.”

“I command fire?”

“You do. Now choose something to burn. You do not command all the elements yet, so you have to be in contact with something to make it blaze, but since I am here with you, you can push your will through me . . . and burn it without direct contact.”

After looking around, I chose the curtains. Focusing on them, I cast my demand down my arms, into my thumb, and passed it to his.

Flames licked over the curtains. The fire gave off heat and light, but did not consume the fabric.

Aidon reviewed my handiwork with an expression of satisfaction. “You are a quick study, my love.” He pressed his lips to mine again.

Wait,” Johnny said, facing Demeter. “What if you get stuck in the meditation, too?”

He watched her carefully as she considered the question he had posed like a weapon.

“I don’t mean any insult,” he added when she hesitated, “but she’s the Lustrata and she’s stuck. What makes you think you won’t get stuck?”

She lifted her chin and set her shoulders. “That won’t happen.”

“How can you be so sure?” Hunter asked.

“Because. Whatever is interfering with her is doing so because she is the Lustrata. My insignificance means I won’t get ensnared.”

Johnny shot a glance at Hunter, who passed it to Vilna like a hot potato. Vilna’s face twisted into a rather displeased expression, but she nodded. “She has a point.”

“Let’s do this,” Demeter said. She scooted the tray of supplies on the counter closer to her and took up a position near Red.

Hunter sat on the floor and took her shoes off. “So we’re clear, Domn Lup: Are you going to be inside the circle or outside of it?”

Johnny shrugged. “Demeter?”

“Doesn’t matter, I guess. You can be in if you want to, but I don’t foresee there being anything you can do.”

“Outside,” he said.

“All righty, then.” Hunter now had her socks off as well. “You keep your eyes on Persephone and let us know if at any time the magic makes you so uncomfortable you have to leave the area.” She cuffed the ends of her pants up. Pulling bracelets adorned with little colored stones from her pockets, she hooked them around her ankles. Then she stood.

“Use this.” Demeter lifted a pouch of what looked like petals from the tray and handed it to her.

Hunter sniffed it. “Apricot? Honey? What is this?”

“A mix of agrimony and arbutus petals,” Demeter said.

“Ah,” Vilna added. “Good choices.”

“Why?” Hunter asked. “I use herbs, but I don’t recall ever having used agrimony before . . . or arbutus.”

“Probably not, dear.” Lydia joined their conversation. “Agrimony is best for reversing spells, breaking hexes, and banishing negative entities. Arbutus is used for exorcisms.”

“Hold on a minute,” Johnny interrupted. “Banish negative entities? Exorcisms? What the fu—fudge is going on?” He changed his expletive at the last, considering who was present.

“Precautions,” Demeter answered. “It’s helpful, not all-inclusive. We don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

“You said she was stuck in a meditation.”

“She is.”

“You didn’t say the something that was keeping her there might be an evil entity.”

“There’s no way to know if that’s the case until I speak with the totem, so I’m covering the bases should this be a worst-case scenario. Now step back and let us get on with this.”

Begrudgingly, he returned to his spot in the doorway.

With the broom she rode in on, Hunter swept a counterclockwise circle around Red, saying, “With this broom, I sweep all negativity away.” The witches moved inside the circle. “Let positive energy flow that our efforts may be pure.”

“So mote it be,” Demeter said. Vilna-Daluca and Lydia echoed the statement.

Hunter laid her broom on the floor. She took the incense stick Demeter had lit for her in one hand, and the four stones she had gathered in the other. She closed her eyes for a moment and turned in a circle. She stopped and pointed. “North is this way?”

“Yes,” Demeter said.

Starting at the north, Hunter walked a clockwise circle this time. She made one slow circuit, letting the smoke waft from the end of the incense. On the beginning of the second go-round, she crouched to place a stone at the eastern point. “Elements of air, of the east, guard this circle and breathe into us the breath of life.”

When she rose she did not walk to the next point, she danced to it. He noticed that she moved with the confident balance of a trained dancer. He also noted that she had cute feet; her toenails were painted a dark red, the bracelets were draped at sexy angles, and the stones tinkled when they struck together.