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Maybe, just maybe, if this enchantress was able to help Kai and me with how to break the curse, I could give myself over to real friends and real social interactions. But that was still a long ways off.
“I need both of you to be quiet now,” I said, stepping into the circle, making sure both of my feet planted on a few of Kai’s hairs. “I have to concentrate.”
“Roger-wilco.”
They did as I asked, and I closed my eyes, centering myself. Breathing deeply, I called out to the energy always bubbling through me, my connection to the earth, my ancestors, and all the powers around us. I was of the water, I was of the ground, I was of the plants, and of the sky. I was fire and sickness, painand destruction, but I was also life, happiness, and the pleasant daydreams of a contented child.
It all simmered through me, filling my body, waiting for me to beckon it toward a task. Once it reached the proper fervor, I sent it out into the charcoal lines of the circle around me.
“Hide what can be seen, obscure what can be felt,” I said, my voice slow and rhythmic. “Muffle what can be heard, cover what can be scent.” It wasn’t necessary for spells to rhyme—this was a common myth—but I’d long found my verbal magic worked better when it had a meter to it.
“A veil upon this union, a veil upon this bond, hide it from the senses, and everything beyond. No magic, no intuition, no insight, no fate, envelop the tie of destiny, of mate.”
My power finished tracing out every charcoal line, and I could feel the entire thing pulse as if it were an extension of myself. I pushed more energy to it, willing it to succeed, to change the laws of nature as I’d asked.
It was when it pulsed again that I released my hold, letting its magic pour into the world around it.
“So, mote it be!”
I clapped my hands, and it was like a bucket of cool water poured over me, letting me know all the simmering energy was traveling farther than I could feel, letting the words sink far into the earth and rise high into the sky.
Taking a breath, I opened my eyes and looked to Darla, trying not to smile expectantly.
“Well?” I said, more than a little hopeful.
“Well, what?” the psychic shot back, sounding surprised.
“Our bond. Can you sense it?”
“Oh, wait, you finished the spell already? I thought this was just the first step.”
“No, that was the long and short of it.”
“Ah, well, um…it’s a little dimmer, but no. I can still tell you aren’t just mates but fated ones.”
Damn.
“Well,” I said with a sigh. “Time for draft number two.”
“So, mote it be!”
I clapped my hands, being emphatic and enthusiastic, even though it was the fourth time we’d tried one of my spells. I wondered if Darla was just a special exception and the spell had worked, but I wasn’t willing to take that chance.
“What about now?” I said to Darla. Our efforts had gone well into the night, and I was exhausted. Every recalculation of my ingredients, every new meter, took quite a while to figure out and balance appropriately.
At least both Kai and Darla were being troopers. They never complained once, even though Kai didn’ttechnicallyneed to be there. I just figured that if our psychic friend couldn’t sense our bond, even when we were standing right next to each other, no one else would get the chance.
“Give me.”
Closing her eyes, Darla stood still, her face impassive. I appreciated that she took things so seriously, but I was buzzing with anticipation. Had it worked? Or was I going to have to try round five?
Otherwise, I felt wiped out. Veiling spells weren’t the most taxing, especially not compared to, say, integrating with a relic and imposing a new tri-fold spell scheme onto it. Besides, my magic always felt a bit bouncier, a bit happier to be of use whenever Kai was around, like his presence made my ownmagical inclinations more bountiful. But that was impossible, so it must have been psychosomatic.
“As long as you didn’t accidentally dissolve your bond,” Darla said finally, pulling me out of my thoughts, “I think you might have done it.”
I looked to Kai with an uncertain smile on my features as I reached out for our bond. Sure enough, it was there, an irresistible pull, like the hold the earth had on the moon, keeping us in each other’s orbit like we were always meant to be there.
“It’s still there,” Kai said, smiling outright.
