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“OK, tell me what’s happening.”
I brief Sera about still having issues with wielding demon magic and my fear of Malachi possibly finding me on Cinder if he figures out I’m not on the mortal plane.
“I’ve been thinking about the demon power thing. Is it possible that the lack of sufficient æther magic on the plane is affecting the spell negatively? When we made them…”
“We calculated for magic assuming there’d be atmospheric noise and æther magic to account for.”
“Fuck.”
“Fuck’s right,” I say. Aside from contained explosions, the rings are virtually useless here. I shake my head, not wanting to worry Sera. “It’s fine. I’ll figure it out.”
Sera’s eyes widen, and her gaze is pulled off screen. “Hey, I gotta go. Catch up soon!”
“Oh, OK. Bye.”
The mirror goes black.
“You two are really close, huh?” Stevie asks, returning the mirror under the bed.
“She’s my best friend.”
“You talked about Malachi. Your dad? He’s the one you escaped, isn’t he?” Stevie asks softly.
The question stops my train of thought entirely.
"He killed my mother. He’s a vile, awful man who’s fooled the world into thinking otherwise.” My hands fly to my mouth the moment it’s out.
I didn’t mean to say any of that.
Stevie blinks, clears her throat, and moves on like it didn’t happen. “So, you should have seen Sera’s face when she saw my face instead of yours. I’ve never seen anyone so mad. Her eyes literally glowed red. Then suddenly changed color and she looked kind of different.”
I blow out a breath, eternally grateful to the wolf shifter/witch hybrid next to me. “Yeah, Eye glow comes with the last phase of our power. And I should have warned you not to look right in the mirror at her. I wasn’t thinking.”
“You’re saying you get your power in phases? Pieces?”
“Pretty much. By Birth. By Grace. And by Rites,” I quote the text verbatim.
“And you only have…”
“Two of the three. That’s why I need my betrothed. We can’t receive our full mantle of power until we perform the Rites.”
Stevie nods, finally understanding the gravity of the situation. Still curious, she prods further. “And what are the Rites?”
“It’s…uh, well. It’s basically a sex cult thing.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Nope. Bonded pairs don’t have sex until the Rites, which spurs the last part of our power from dormancy.”
“No sex… like at all?”
I shrug. “Everything but.”
“Ah, yes. I see.”
“DOVE!”
Stevie and I jump, scrambling off her bed at the booming voice outside her door.
