Suzanne McLeod - The Bitter Seed of Magic

He pulled away. ‘Not quite the same as it’s been in the past, is it?’ he said with a wry look.

‘No.’ I pursed my lips. ‘I feel relaxed, and satisfied with just a kiss, almost as if we’ve already had sex … and now we’re enjoying the peaceful aftermath; but not quite.’ I slipped a button on his shirt, then pressed my hand over his heart, feeling its steady, unexcited thud beneath my palm, and saw his horns were still almost hidden by his hair. Definitely a sign he wasn’t feeling the sex-god vibes. ‘That’s how you feel too, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah.’ He cast a pensive look at the spell, then met my eyes. His were now dark and serious. ‘I think it’s some sort of Chastity spell.’

‘Chastity—? Fuck, that’s …’ Speechless, I glared down at the handprint branded on my stomach. I wasn’t some sort of mediaeval chattel, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to have anyone else decide my love-life for me, whether it was the Morrígan, Tavish, the magic or whoever, no matter what their reasons were. ‘Can you get rid of it?’

‘I can try, but it might hurt. Will you trust me, Gen?’

‘Yes,’ I said, not hesitating.

‘Thank you.’ He gave me a brief smile, then emerald chips lit in his eyes. He fitted his hand over the spell and I gasped as a sharp pulse of magic hooked deep in my belly. It didn’t hurt. It felt good, and I wanted more of it. The inside of the car sparked with green fireflies of magic—but as they dissipated, so did the good feeling.

‘Okay?’ he asked, a line creasing his brows.

‘Oh yeah.’ I gave him a breathless smile. ‘You can do that again whenever you want.’

His expression turned dark and knowing. He shifted his hand and a remnant of the good feeling echoed inside me. Another sharper pulse of magic hit my core, and I moaned as desire coiled tight inside me then flashed lightning-quick through my body. Green stars bloomed inside the car, and as they faded, the feeling faded with it. I sighed, part disappointment, part need.

‘Third time’s the charm, Gen,’ he murmured.

He took a deep breath, his chest expanding, and pressed his hand hard into my stomach and the spell. He thrust a larger, hotter ball of magic into me, and I screamed at the promise of ecstasy, my spine arching, my back lifting from the seat. Liquid warmth filled my body as green light blinded my vision. I collapsed back, panting, and reached out to fist my hand in the soft cotton of his shirt, my pulse jumping in my throat, wanting him—

—scorching fire ripped through my belly—

—and as I screamed again, this time in excruciating pain, I heard a deeper, agonised yell echo mine. I convulsed into a ball, desperate to make the pain stop. Hands grabbed my shoulders, burning like silver against my skin—

And I disappeared in a blaze of white-hot flames.

‘She’ll come round in a minute.’ Ricou’s familiar voice said.

A breeze of chill air shivered over my skin. The pain seemed to have gone, but just in case, I pulled my jacket closer and stayed curled up on the grass … Why was I lying on grass? Confused, I slitted my eyes open.

Finn sat on a low stone wall nearby, his tanned face ashen, hugging himself like he was cold, or hurt. Johnny Depp a.k.a. Ricou crouched halfway between us, and behind him I could see Sylvia. She stood with her eyes closed, a focused expression on her face and her arms stretched wide. Her pink cycle helmet was badly dented and sitting askew on her head. The grey stone outer wall of the Tower of London rose up behind her.

‘What happened?’ I said, surprised my voice didn’t croak.

Ricou looked over his black glasses. ‘A fertility fae trying to remove a Chastity spell with a bit of the old slippy slippy, that’s what happened. Are the pair of you insane ? You could’ve killed each other. Luckily it knocked you both out before you really got down and wet.’

That didn’t sound good, but I was still trying to work out how I’d got here from the limo.

‘Also luckily,’ Ricou said, ‘Blossom’s got more curiosity than a whole forest of silver birch, otherwise we wouldn’t have been following you, and then where would you be?’

I sat up, still bemused. We were on the grassy moat bit outside the Tower. There were tourists everywhere; four lads were rearranging backpacks not five feet away, a smartly dressed Japanese family were pointing cameras at each other, and a group of school kids were gathered around a couple of teachers, the kids at the back patently ignoring them … just as everyone appeared to be ignoring us, which was a good thing, seeing as all I had on was my leather jacket over my underwear. I looked and saw a ten-foot-high wall of slightly creased cling film encircling us, hiding us all from view.

‘Sylvia’s cast an Unseen spell.’ Finn’s voice did croak. He pointed a shaky hand at me. ‘Your clothes are there.’

‘Thanks.’ I grabbed my velvet jeans and started pulling them on, looking from him to Ricou for an explanation. ‘How did we end up here?’

‘Well, as I said, luv,’ Ricou said, ‘Blossom here thought we should follow you, so we did. Once the fancy car got here, it stopped right over there.’ He pointed to a private entrance. ‘The chauffeur rolled down his window and stared out down at the river while the witch just nattered away on her phone. Me and Blossom were waiting for you two to surface, then all the magic started kicking off inside the car—like Fireworks Night, it was—Blossom thought we should check on you.’ He shrugged. ‘Then it all quietened down, so we didn’t. After ten minutes, the chauffeur chap, he gunned the engine, and yonder gate opened. Then Blossom thought she saw a veil lift and clicked the gate wasn’t opening into the Tower, but somewhere in Between . So we set up a rescue mission.’ He grinned and tipped his trilby. ‘All part of the service, luv.’

‘They think she was trying to kidnap you,’ Finn said, his voice still hoarse.

‘Kidnap me?’ I said, taken aback. ‘Why the hell would my lawyer want to do that?’

‘Dunno, luv,’ Ricou said cheerfully. ‘She’s a witch; they’re always a bit odd.’

‘Did you see anything?’ I frowned at Finn.

He shook his head. ‘Sorry, I was out of it too.’

‘I know I’m right, Genny,’ Sylvia’s voice was soft, as if she was far away. ‘I saw one of the ravens fly through the gate and vanish with a pop.’

‘There’s been no Between in the Tower for the last forty-odd years, not since MacCúailnge, the Old Donn, was killed,’ Ricou said, sotto voce , and jerked his head towards Sylvia. ‘She says you were talking about him yesterday, so it probably jogged her mind … she does have a bit of an imagination at times.’

‘I heard that!’ Sylvia bristled. ‘And I know what I saw.’

I checked my watch. I was supposed to be seeing the Raven Master now. Maybe Victoria Harrier would turn round and come back when she discovered I was missing. Trouble was, after my little mind-order, Victoria Harrier would probably sit there for ages, waiting for me to get out of the car—or until someone insisted she check.

‘How long has the car been gone?’ I asked, shooting a frustrated look at the closed gate.

‘Five, ten minutes at the most,’ Ricou said.

Which probably wasn’t enough time for anyone to have discovered that I wasn’t in the car. But as my mind started catching up with what they were saying, I decided maybe I should figure out if Victoria Harrier really had been trying to kidnap me before she did discover I was missing. She was Malik’s layer, but he hadn’t picked her, nor had Sanguine Lifestyles, she’d chosen to represent me herself because of the curse and—