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“I love you,” he said again, more urgently this time. “I don’t know what the future will bring us or if we’ll last forever. But I will never stop loving you, no matter what happens. And I want to be able to protect you, whatever the costs are.”
I looked down at him again, my heart beating erratically now, and it wasn’t from the excitement of examining the ruins around us. I always got a thrill with anything to do with the humans, but now wasn’t the time. “You do realize what you’re asking, don’t you, Timothy? Our magic will be mingled. I’ll be able to access yours if—”
“If something were to happen to make yours inaccessible and vice versa.” He pushed back to his feet and cupped my cheeks. “I know, and I know exactly what I’m asking for, Azula.”
My eyes drew to the sky, squinting against the bright sun. “You can only bind—”
“In the light of a quarter moon, I know. That’s tonight. That’s why I’m asking you today. But you have to decide today.”
My eyes shifted back to him and his puppy dog pleading eyes. It wasn’t marriage he was asking of me. He wanted to protect me. The war was ravaging, and the stories that drifted from the main city to the village were sometimes horrendous. Maybe a little exaggerated, but they still set all our nerves on edge. Skeletals and their minions were at work with the opposite side, and they alone were dangerous enough.
The ground shook again, and dust exploded somewhere around us as more brick and stone crumbled from the impact. Pushing forward, I crashed my lips against Timothy’s. His arms instantly wrapped around my neck as he greedily devoured my mouth, his tongue hungrily exploring, taking in every inch. My fingers curled into his hair, my body pressed against his. He pushed me back until my back hit the wall of bricks once more.
After the break in our kiss, it wasn’t long before his lips found my neck. Tilting my head back to give him more room, the words slipped from my mouth before I could stop them. Maybe it was the way his lips made me go fuzzy or how his teeth nipping at my flesh made my thighs burn, making it hard to think straight. Whatever it was, I caved. Maybe I would’ve all along. Maybe he knew I would’ve, but knowing me – I would’ve also strung the both of us along until the last minute as I considered it, going over every inch of each pro and con before getting to my end decision. His touch, however, pushed that effort away.
“Yes.” I breathed as his mouth reached my collarbone, and before he could go any deeper and take us to a place where it would be impossible to come back from, I cupped his face and drew it up so our eyes met. “I said yes.”
He blinked, then his eyes widened. I knew where his mind had been, and it wasn’t about the bonding, which was for sure. As it hit him, Timothy straightened and kissed me again, fervently, thankfully. Being bound together for protection sounded like a good thing if you didn’t know the full details. I knew it all – Dad didn’t raise Jasper and me to be daft and clueless like some of the other witches and warlocks of the village, whose parents just wanted to protect them from the worst of the world around us. I didn’t blame them, but going into it clueless could be such a bad thing. That’s what Dad always said anyway, always snubbing the parents who shielded their children from the world's disasters.
He'd taken Jasper and me on a few trips under the guise of rituals and spell training while growing up, simply to show us the world's decay. To reveal what the humans had put our beloved goddess of mother nature through. The devastation the war was causing the world around us. It wasn’t a pretty sight, and I could only imagine how bad it got as it worsened over the years.
So, I knew exactly what to prepare for.
Though, I was still just a girl. “I love you too,” I told him, and his eyes widened. The corners of my lips curled into a grin at his shock. “I do, Timothy. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t agree to this binding.”
His kiss was more desperate this time, and I could only imagine what it would be like when he got drafted, and I had to say goodbye. But I couldn’t think about that now; I didn’t want to. I wanted to pretend we lived in a world where everything worked out, and war was only a myth. And by the goddess, I wanted Timothy to touch me everywhere.
ChapterTwo
The moon hung in the sky, a quarter shape, glowing down on us. The moon goddess was up there, watching us. It was only Timothy and me tonight, as bindings were supposed to go. Any witnesses, and there was a possibility of it going completely wrong. Anyone extra and the spell could possibly jump around, binding the wrong people together. That would be disastrous.
I drew my eyes up to Timothy as he wrapped our hands together with vines, tightening them every so often. I didn’t need to question him to know he knew what he was doing. Timothy was an intelligent man, and when he wanted something, he got it. Plus, he had to figure life out. Being the man of his household with his father gone made it difficult to just fly through life. He’d had to step up years before he should’ve.
That was something we’d bonded over together. I shouldn’t have been made to be the village’s healer so soon, but I’d had no choice without my mother. It was similar to his circumstances and helped connect us. Something Jasper didn’t have in common with his best friend.
When we first started seeing each other, I knew hiding it from my brother was wrong. I also knew it was wrong to date my brother’s best friend because if our relationship soured, it could disrupt their friendship. They had known each other for as long as I could remember. They were practically brothers, which made it even harder to know it would be my fault if they lost one another. But as our relationship progressed and we grew closer, I had to stop thinking about Jasper’s feelings, stop feeling guilty, and just revel in it.
Including now. I wouldn't be doing this if I considered how this would make Jasper feel. Honestly, I wouldn’t have a life if it were up to him. Jasper was overprotective. He still saw me as the little girl who needed him to carry over blocks of ice in the river to cross it. At least Dad gave me an arm’s length of trust to live my life.
Pulling myself out of my thoughts, I returned my attention to Timothy, who was now tying up the vines, making sure that our hands were bound together, unable to be pulled apart. Once the spell started, there was no turning back. If we broke apart halfway through, it would only cause us pain.
“Protection,” Timothy started, his voice deep, booming. “Love. Security.” The vines thrummed against our skin, indicating that the spell was beginning to activate.
My heart picked up speed and jumped into my throat, blocking me from saying anything. Binding spells weren’t illegal, but they weren’t exactly smiled down upon either. It could be a dangerous thing to be part of, one that I know could have a dangerous ending if it goes wrong.
I tried to not think about that, however, because if I let my mind fall into the abyss, nothing would go right.
“Bound together, between thick and thin. We are one. Our magic will be combined. We belong to each other, and no matter what happens, by the light of the moon goddess Selene, we will always find one another.”
The vines began to heat and pressed into our flesh, biting into our wrists. I sucked in a sharp breath as I felt the thorns tear at my skin, but when I raised my eyes to Timothy’s, his calmness soothed me, and my shoulders slumped, letting the spell take place. Purple and blue tendrils of electricity curled around us, wrapping around one another. They tied to each other and hit both of us on our chests. A warmth swept through my body, followed by what felt like crashing waves washing over me, but when I looked down, I was completely dry.
Timothy cupped my cheek with one hand, leaning forward to press his lips to mine. The vines uncurled and fell away, the spell complete, telling us it was a success. There were stories of binding spells going wrong, but for the most part, they were myths, scary stories to keep people from being idiots and doing it – just like we’d just done. But nothing had gone wrong. Which only solidified my thought of those stories being simple bedtime stories.
Then again, whatever bad could happen after doing it. Down the road, years later – anything could happen. But all spells were dangerous in some way or another. You just had to know how to proceed with them.
Tugging away from Timothy, I drew my eyes up to the moon. It was just hanging there, shining down on us. I could feel the goddess watching, taking in our every movement. Was she accepting of our bond? She must’ve been, or it wouldn’t have worked, right? No, that wasn’t entirely true, not for all spells. But with a binding it was possible. If the goddess disapproved, the spell would’ve gone wrong. I just knew it.
“Azula,” his voice drew my eyes to him. “You aren’t having second thoughts, are you?”
