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Chapter Fourteen
Astrid
I place my ball of light in a stone bowl on the table so we have illumination, and Erik and I dive back into the spell books. It’s freezing down here, so I cast a simple heat spell as well.
As I flip through the pages of the spell books, however, it’s hard to stay focused on the task at hand. Not when I’m thinking about the gorgeous dragon shifter standing next to me. I’m feeling so many different emotions right now it feels like my insides are a kaleidoscope, constantly shifting.
On the one hand, I want Erik, with a desire so blazing hot it scares me. I haven’t ever felt this kind of raw passion for someone. Is it lust? Is it merely because I’ve shut myself off from people for so long that now that I’ve gotten a taste of connection, I’m famished for it? Or is it something more than that?
It feels like it is. Like some kind of fairytale romance. I just met this guy, but it seems we’ve known each other forever. As I told him back at my house, I trust him. And I don’t even know why; I felt it even before I looked into the past and saw him with my ancestor. I’m not exactly a very trusting sort of person after everything I’ve been through, so it’s a strange feeling.
And then there’s the guilt. It seems like somehow I’m betraying Lilli’s dad to feel what I’m feeling for Erik. Even though he’s been gone for seven years, and I haven’t been with anyone since then. I’d thought he was the love of my life. And I had loved him, of that I have no doubt. Which makes the instant and super strong connection I have with Erik feel…like I’m doing something wrong.
Not that my emotions matter. He’s made it clear he wants things to stay purely professional. There’s really no point dwelling on my feelings at all, because that kiss by the fire was the end of it. I’d embarrassed myself by crying and he’d obviously felt sorry for me. But he’s right—he’s here to do a job, nothing more.
I realize I’m so wrapped up in my thoughts that my eyes aren’t even seeing the pages. I groan inwardly and walk around to the other side of the stone table so there’s more distance between us. Erik’s eyes follow me, and I make a show of lighting some old candles with my magic so he doesn’t realize why I changed positions. Then I hop up on the table, facing away from him, and keep reading.
Time passes in the flickering of candlelight against the cavern walls, and I lose myself in my books. It must be about an hour and two books later when my eyes suddenly land on the spell I’ve been looking for. I recognize it instantly—the strange symbol with the dark moon and the white moon, similar to ying-yang. My breath rushes out of my lungs, and Erik zips around the table.
“You found it?”
I nod slowly, my fingers tracing over the page. Erik steps up next to me, reading over my shoulder. His shifter heat washes into me, and the flickering light of the candles plays across his skin in a way that’s entirely too tantalizing. I still haven’t seen all of his tattoos yet, just the bits that peek out from under his shirt, and I’m dying to see what’s underneath. Tattoos and all.
Focus, Astrid! I take another breath to center myself as I read the words on the page, along with a series of runes that form the spell.
The book is so old it doesn’t even have a title. It’s leatherbound, with soft, yellowed pages scrawled in ink which is mostly black with a faint green iridescence like a beetle. It’s both a history text and spell book of the Völva, and based on the dates scrawled within, it was penned in the 1600s.
Restoring Magical Imbalances
There have been several times throughout history that the magic of the world has become unbalanced. The sinking of Atlantis, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which destroyed Pompeii, the Black Plague. It is the responsibility of the Völva to restore balance.
You must first find the source of the imbalance. The spell must be performed near to this source. A dagger forged by magic under the light of twelve lunar cycles must be used to draw the runes.
“Well, shit,” I mutter when my eyes skim over the last sentence.
“What is it?” Erik asks, brow furrowed. He bends closer to me, trying to see what caused my dismay.
“A dagger forged by magic under the light of twelve lunar cycles.” I point to the sentence. “That means we have to find a very special dagger. One that took a whole year’s worth of full moon magic to imbue with the power we need to perform this spell.”
“And I assume you don’t know of any such dagger?”
I sigh. “No. I actually do.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“The problem is it’s locked away in the meeting hall of the local coven,” I say. “And there’s no way they’re going to let me use it.”
A flash of anger moves through Erik’s eyes. “Even if they know you’re being hunted by the Night Guild?”
“Even then.” I shake my head. “I haven’t seen most of those witches for years.”
“But isn’t your mother the head of the Raven Society around here?”
I let out a bitter laugh. “If you think that’s going to change things, I promise you it won’t. I wasn’t exaggerating how terrible she is. She pretty much disowned me after I got together with Lilli’s dad.”
Erik’s face shadows over. “I don’t even have words, Astrid.”
“It is what it is.” I shrug. “Some people have family they can count on. Some people don’t.”
