AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hmm?” she said distractedly, glancing up at him again.
“I’m going to bind you.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“I know, which is why I need my shirt back,” he said.
“Huh?”
He chuckled and held out his hand. “My shirt.”
She realized she was holding his clothing and handed it back to him quickly. “Oh, sorry. Right.”
He slipped it over his head, and disappointment flooded Jesska. “Am I doing this because you’re making me?”
“No, Jesska,” he said again, irritation rising. “I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
“Don’t get all snappy with me! Your brother did it to my sister, so why wouldn’t I assume you could do it to me?”
He took her hand, kissing her palm. “I apologize for biting you.”
She tried not to giggle, but failed. “Snappy, not biting. It’s an expression.”
“Well, I’m sorry for that too.” He smiled. “The reason my brother could use manipulation on your sister was because she had not reached ár mökunar.”
“Ár mökunar?”
“Mating year. When we, the Kalt Einn, turn twenty-five, our gifts come into focus and our partners are shown to us if they are close. He knew your sister was his mate, but he would not have been able to make their union permanent until she reached twenty-five. When she did, she was no longer subject to his manipulation, because she now had all the power.”
“I don’t understand. What gifts? What’s mating year?” She shuddered. “It sounds horrid. What aren’t you telling me?”
“When we reach the age of twenty-five, we know our gifts. Some of us will get inklings earlier of what they are, but for the most part, we come fully into our abilities then.”
“Like witchcraft?”
“No, baby. Nothing like that.” He flicked his wrist, and the wine bottle levitated from the table and poured wine into each glass.
Jesska jumped out of her seat. “What the hell did you do?”
Kaspar reached for her at the same time as he lowered the wine bottle back to the table. “You have nothing to fear, elskan.”
She felt her heart calm at his touch, and she blinked a few times, not entirely sure she could believe what she was seeing. “How is that not witchcraft?”
“Because, one, I’m not a practitioner of Wicca.”
She stared at the wine bottle, then up at him. “What else can you do?”
“Let’s ease you into that, eh?”
“Oh, because making the wine fly around the room is so easy to accept.”
“You have a point.” Kaspar laughed. “I bring all of this up to say that since you are twenty-seven—”
“How do you know how old I am?”
“I just do. Because you’re past the age of ár mökunar, it means you have all the power here, sweetheart. I can’t make you do anything you don’t want to do, and I’m at your mercy.”
She licked her lips and smiled. “Oh, really?”
