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She slowly relaxes, her muscles unclenching.
“That’s it, love. I’m here.”
“Erik?”
I ease back gently to see her face and gaze down into her eyes. “It was just a nightmare.”
“I dreamed that The Five caught me and took me back. They sealed me in a sarcophagus. It was so dark, and I was so alone. I thought I would die, scratching my fingers bloody.”
“That’s not going to happen. I will let no one take you from me. We are one. If you go anywhere in life, I go too. I promise you will never be alone again.”
“They bound my powers, like they did to Maeve,” she whispers, her violet eyes glistening. “They robbed me of everything. My freedom, my magic … and you.”
Chapter Seven
Asha
“If we are ever separated, I will come for you, Asha. You have my word. With or without magic, you are my everything. And no matter how scarred you are, or may become, you are beautiful to me—inside and out.”
My heart races all over again, but this time for an entirely different reason. I feel an unfamiliar pulsing between my thighs, and I bite my lip at the unexpected heat that flushes through me. I can’t explain how, or why, but at this moment, more than anything, I yearn for my mate to touch me.
Erik’s onyx jewels bore into my soul, and there is nothing reflected in their dark depths other than honesty, integrity, and strength.
I shiver in his arms.
Somehow, Erik’s already deep brown eyes darken.
“I—” I freeze. I’ve never been with a man, but there is no denying what I feel hardening beneath me is the growing desire of my mate. “Is there anywhere that I could bathe?” I ask, my breath rushing out of me.
Erik gently brushes a lock of hair from my eyes, the corners of his lips quirking. “Of course. We have a hot spring here in the mountain. Come,” he instructs, offering me his hand. “I imagine a good, warm bath after everything will be most welcome.”
I accept his hand and allow him to pull me to my feet. “I can’t remember the last time I had one,” I say. “Back when I was a child, I think.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “The chance to bathe in the sacred Moon Pool was denied me when my Chaos manifested.”
Erik squeezes my hand. “Who needs a Moon Pool when you can have a mountain hot spring?”
“I don’t know if the Goddess will acknowledge me without the ritual of the Moon Pool and the vigil in the Sacred Grove afterward. Maeve was the last Chaos witch to ever be gifted her jewel. After that, it was denied to all of us.”
“I’ve heard of these witches’ jewels.” Erik frowns. “But I don’t know what purpose they serve.”
I lick my chapped lips as we wander from our chamber and through time-worn stone corridors. “A witch’s jewel is precious, a Gift from the Goddess herself to a witch when she comes of age and is finally inducted into her caste and new coven. The jewel enhances our natural capacity for magic, magnifying it and allowing the witch to cast spells and curses she might not otherwise have the ability for naturally.”
“And how does a simple jewel do this?” Erik asks.
“It is no ordinary gem. It is not mined from the earth and shaped by a tinker. It is a jewel that comes from the Beyond, from beyond this world. Each jewel is different in size and shape and manifests in our open palms during the vigil. The jewel is usually later mounted into the witch’s preferred setting, perhaps in a ring, bracelet, a pendant, or even a tool of the craft, such as a wand, staff, or athame.”
“And does a witch need a jewel? What becomes of a witch without one?”
“They are considered forsaken—unwhole. It is why we of Chaos are locked away and denied the ceremony. We are left incomplete. Left to wonder what we could have been, what heights we may have reached. Without the Gift of the Goddess, you hold no official place in Witchdom. You are no one and nothing. A witch without a jewel is not much better than a mortal in the eyes of our kin.” My voice hitches in my throat. “We are already outcasts. But to be thought of as no better than those who don’t know the Goddess at all—it’s just pouring salt into an already open wound.”
“Mortals are no less than we, Asha,” says Erik gently. “You have been raised to believe so, but I have met many mortals, and they are just the same as us. Some are good, some are bad, while most fall somewhere in between. They might not be born to the privilege of magic, but they have their place in the world, just as we have ours. We are all the Goddess’s children, whether we are blind to it or not. I believe she embraces us all.”
I swallow my disillusion, offering him a faint smile. “I’d like to believe that, I really would. But I feel so disconnected. I am not who I was destined to be, and it haunts me. I long to be whole, Erik.”
“Then we shall make you whole, if that is your wish.”
“But how?”
“We’ll have our own ritual, here and now.”
