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Chapter Eighteen
Astrid
I stare at Erik, my heart sinking. He’s never going to agree to this. To join with me, submitting his magic and his dragon to me. Letting me take the reins of his inner beast. Of course, it’s a two-way street, so he’ll also have control of my witch powers. But I know that’s not the same as a shifter and their inner animal.
“I’m sorry,” I say softly. “I didn’t know she would pick a spell like that.” I look down. “We can forfeit this round. There’s still one more.”
“Is there a problem?” Althea calls over the crowd, seeing me whispering to Erik.
I clear my throat to say what needs to be said, but Erik beats me to it. “There’s no problem,” he says loudly. “Unless the High Priestess isn’t ready to proceed?”
He looks over at my mother and she stares stonily back. Then she averts her gaze slightly and locks onto mine, her eyes narrowing. She thinks we’re up to something. As if we’re the ones who have been cheating this entire time.
“I am fully ready,” she says to the crowd.
“Good,” Althea intones. “You will have three minutes to complete the spell, and then each of you will have an additional three minutes to exhibit its success. Or failure.” Her eyes dart to me.
I suck in a shaky breath. I’d done joining spells with my friends as a teenager, but I’ve been out of the witch community for so long, I haven’t exactly had someone I can practice with. Not to mention Erik isn’t a witch, and this sort of spell is for magic of a similar kind. I’m not sure the spells I’ve used before will even work with a shifter.
“Begin,” Althea says.
I reach out and take both of Erik’s hands, intertwining my fingers in his.
“How exactly does this work?” he asks softly.
“I say a spell, and we pray,” I murmur. “Close your eyes. Feel for my magic. Try to relax and stay open.”
I take in a breath to steady myself, and then I begin to chant the words of the spell.
Circle unbroken
Connect two bodies
Two minds
Two powers
Bind them and keep them
May they share of each other
One body
One mind
One power
I’d told Erik to open to me. But I’m entirely unprepared for the strength of his dragon.
A wave of heat and ice and raw power launches into me. I can feel its claws, its teeth, its wings. Its lust.
Erik’s dragon wants me with all the power of a solar flare. Its desire pulses against me like the beat of a drum, setting my blood racing and my heart rocketing in my chest. And other parts of me are pulsing, too. My magic rushes out to meet Erik’s and they merge in a storm of color overhead, sparks flying off into the cave. The witches all gasp and step back several paces.
I look up at Erik, and his eyes are burning with the same heat as his dragon. Our magic has merged before, but not like this. Something about this is so…intimate. As if we’re naked in front of the entire coven. As his magic penetrates me, flashes of Erik’s body move through my head, both our magical and physical forms entwined.
I’ve never felt longing like this from someone else. I’ve never longing like this for someone else.
And it terrifies me.
