Oh. Of course I did.Duh. I pulled the ring from my pocket and gripped it firmly. Alaric unfolded the map and smoothed out the creased parchment. I’d visited none of the places drawn in colored ink. They all seemed so far away, but if this spell worked, I might get the chance to see some of them.Please be alive when we find you.
“This is the dangerous part,” Alaric reminded me. “Say the words while focusing on keeping your magic under control. If you struggle, take my hand.” He rested his palm next to the bowl. Close enough I could reach out and grab it if I needed.
“You should go stand at the back of the room,” he told Zane. “It would be truly tragic if she accidentally blew you up.”
“I’m magic-explosion-proof,” Zane replied. “But your concern for my safety is noted.”
“I’d rather you moved well away,” I said in a low voice. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Aww, pet, I’m pleased you’re finally admitting you like me.” He tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear and feathered his lips across my neck. “If you’re a good girl and don’t kill us all, I’ll reward you later.” The unspoken promise in his words sent a shiver of lust through me. I squirmed on the spot, instantly forgetting what I was supposed to be doing.
“Concentrate, witch!” Alaric gritted out while glaring at Zane. “This is not the time to fuck around!”
“I am concentrating!”
Glynda huffed out a laugh when I blushed. Sucking in a shaky breath, I pushed down all lustful thoughts of Zane, pretended Alaric didn’t exist, and picked up the spell.
After reading through it one last time, I gripped Rasmus’ ring and murmured the words.
With each incantation that tumbled past my lips, my magic welled from the source within my chest. The temperature in the cool crypt increased in direct correlation to the heat of the fire in the bowl in front of me.
Burning embers floated down from the ceiling as magic swirled around me.
The flames in the bowl transformed from red to violet and back to red.
I heard Alaric telling me to focus so my magic didn’t explode, but I was too busy watching as a small spark landed on the map, burning a tiny pinprick hole in a place far closer than I expected.
“Pull your magic back in, Raven!” I jumped in shock at the firestorm raging above my head, blanketed on all sides by obsidian shadows. The amulet around my neck glowed, but it felt cool against my overheated skin.
“FOCUS! PULL IT BACK!” Without thinking, I grabbed Alaric’s hand and almost immediately, my magic settled.
His magic and mine merged, dancing around in pretty spirals, fire and ice. Electricity thrummed, causing my hair to rise with static.
Zane hissed in pain when he got zapped, and I didn’t miss the way Alaric’s lips curled up in a faint smile. I had a feeling that zap of electricity was not accidental.
“Wind your magic back in, Raven.” Alaric’s calm voice helped me focus on the strands of violet magic dancing around us.
With each strand I pulled, the easier it got. After several minutes of great effort on my part, the magic and shadows vanished, leaving nothing but a whiff of smoke behind. When I looked around the crypt, Glynda stood with her back pressed against the stone wall, eyes wide.
“Raven, that was incredible!”
“Incredible?” Kenji grumbled. “It’s a miracle we weren’t all roasted alive!”
Zane coughed and rubbed a black scorch mark on his arm where the skin had blistered.
“Oh my stars, did I do that?” His lip quirked up in amusement.
“No, pet. You could never hurt me.” Leaning in, he whispered in my ear, “And it wouldn’t matter if you did because pain turns me on.”
I flushed bright red as his words sank in. The incubus had a pain kink? Oh my stars.
“We don’t give a shit what your disgusting kinks are,” Alaric muttered. “Fucking perverted incubus.”
“Better than being a vanilla smoothie, mage.”
Kenji cackled in my head while Glynda pretended to examine a crack in the floor.
“Um, moving on,” I croaked, deeply uncomfortable about discussing sexual kinks when I had no clue if I even had anybeyond liking everything my bear did to me. Was enjoying him biting me an actual kink?
