Blaize and the Maven: The Energetics Book 1 (26 page)

The binding ceremony had been magical. And white certainly suited Cuinn. He’d looked so … powerful. Masculine.
 

She winced as she hit the start of the scratch.
Ouch.
 

The door burst open and Cuinn rushed through, Cara and Tierra following at a more sedate pace. Cuinn sat in the chair by the bed, and took her hand.

“Blaize.” He dropped a kiss on her palm.

Blaize felt something warm and liquid flare in her at the touch, but at the same time wanted to pull her arm away. She didn’t want a relationship, and she didn’t want him to think she did. There was nothing wrong with healthy sex between consenting adults—
lots of amazing, healthy sex—
but relationships led to trouble. She need look no further than her mother and father to see that. She was attracted to him, sure—
wanted him, badly—
but that didn’t mean they were going to date, let alone get married. She needed to step back.

“How do you feel?” Cuinn asked.

“Stiff and achy, but not too bad. Not bad enough to need a drip.” She looked at Cara. “Can you take it out?”
 

“After we’ve gotten a bit more food and liquid into you. Not long.”

“Blaize, can you tell us what happened?” Cuinn leaned towards her, his focus locked on her as if she was something precious that was his to protect. His voice held a world of worry.

She found herself both wanting to soothe him, and at the same time, annoyed and guilty that her actions could be responsible for the pain in his voice.
I don’t need this.

“I’m not sure. I stepped forward to follow you through the gate, and instead of it taking a few seconds like the first time, something seemed to—to catch hold of me, and pull me in a different direction. I fought it—I’m not sure exactly how, or with what, and even though I know it must have been in the astral world, I felt it physically. But …” She focused on Cuinn, puzzled. “How did I get these injuries? I thought that what happened on the astral plane wasn’t real on the physical plane?”

Cuinn’s weary gaze told her he knew her question also referred to what had happened between them.

“No. What happens in the astral plane is as real as what happens on this plane."

Well, that explained the need for the condom.

"It doesn’t always translate into action on the physical plane, as it depends on the strength of the energy, but it’s no less real either way.” He put her hand down and sat back. “In your case, the Rogue, which is what we’re assuming it was, was strong. Strong enough for your injuries to show up here too. But that may also come from your own strength. You were almost drained when you came through the portal, and unconscious. You must have expended a lot of energy in a short time to have that happen.”

“I don’t remember much more. I don’t know how I managed to get through the portal. I tried to focus on my Haven, but it was blurry. I focused on you as well. I could sense your energy.”

Tierra and Cara exchanged a surprised look.

“That’s because we’re bound as Maven and Adherent. It’s rare that we won’t be able to find each other.” He frowned at the other women. Blaize made a note to ask Tierra what that was about next time they were alone together. But Blaize had other priorities right now.

“Was I really out for days?”

“Yes. And you seemed to be having bad dreams,” Cuinn said. “Do you remember any of them? The dreams might help us with the prophecy. Or even just with what actually happened.”

“The prophecy!” Blaize half sat up, then winced as her muscles protested. “I’m injured—this must be the prophecy that you saw fulfilled. And I’m fine.”

She felt a sense of dread lift that she hadn’t been aware of.
One thing less to worry about.

Cuinn didn’t say anything.

“Cuinn? I’m out of the water now. You can stop worrying.” She stretched out her good hand to him, touching him lightly on the forearm.

“Maybe. I'm not sure. There may still be more danger. It doesn't match what I saw exactly—I need to do more research.” Cuinn didn’t move.

“You always need to do more research.” Tierra came over to him and put her arms around him. “Right now, you need to take a nap. What with checking on Blaize and your own dreamwalks, as well as research, you’ve barely had any sleep in three days. Or a shower. Go, take a nap, and Cara and I will put some food together for us all.”
 

Cara glided over to the two of them, and placed her hand on Cuinn’s shoulder. Blaize was surprised by a bitter taste in her mouth. She drew her own hand quickly back.
 

“As your Healer, I agree,” said Cara. She was elegant, composed, and feminine. “You need rest. If Blaize remembers anything about the dreams, she can write it down and we can share it later.”

The advice was sensible, but Blaize was distracted. Really distracted. An annoying thought had lodged in her brain, and wouldn’t get out.
 

Had Cuinn and Cara ever been lovers?

Blaize wanted to be out tracking Indigo. Instead, Cuinn had disappeared, and she was under orders from Cara to rest.

Three days after waking, she was reading through prophecies in the library when a car drew up outside. Her heart lurched uncomfortably, and she walked downstairs, where she found an athletic blond with amused eyes, whose stubble-kissed look added to the overall picture of a surfer on his day off.
 

“Fintan!” Blaize smiled a real smile and gave Fintan an enthusiastic hug.
 

“Hey, Sparks.” A friend of her Uncle’s, Fintan had called her that since she was a teenager, as she’d loved the sparkles he’d created for her in the tropical night, distracting her from her nightmares soon after her parents had died. Her own personal fireworks show.
 

Cuinn followed a little way behind the others, looking bone-weary, and as if he’d lost another seven pounds since she had last seen him.

She stood awkwardly in front of him, Fintan’s arm loosely around her shoulders. Cuinn looked at the two of them and smiled grimly.

“It’s been a long few days, but I think we have a way forward. Fintan, you might as well fill Blaize in. I need a shower.”

He didn’t wait for an answer but disappeared back out of the door. Blaize took a half-step after him, and then shrugged, and turned back to Fintan. “Want to fight?”

***

Blaize squatted and kicked out with a low roundhouse sweep, and Fintan jumped back just in time.

“Nice.”

“So what’s the plan? Are you and I going hunting?” Blaize was eager to hear what Cuinn had agreed as a way forward with Minh, the Ajna-Muladhara Minor Circle member. Anything was better than hanging around the house. Thank Source Cara had agreed Blaize could train again, as long as she didn’t overdo it.
Though it’s possible we have different ideas of what overdoing it means.

“Not exactly. You’re going to be bait.” Fintan sent a right hook towards Blaize’s head. They were both sweating now, even though Blaize had turned the AC up high as soon as they’d hit the house’s gym.

Blaize smiled as she darted backwards. “Sounds like my kind of plan.”

“Cuinn’s been at the books pretty hard since your attack. He found some references that seem relevant in an ancient prophecy that goes back to the fall of Atlantis, where a great evil was predicted that would upset the balance of the world and threaten our race. The prophecy says ‘a full complement of Chakras’ is needed to fight the evil.”

Blaize struck him in the side of the leg with a kick, but he caught her foot and twisted, throwing her hard to the ground.
Ouch.
She landed face down and flipped herself, fast, to face him and at the same time kicked out with both legs. She hooked his ankle with one foot and slammed him in the knee with the other, and brought him down to the ground with a thud.

But he was quick to recover and scrambled up Blaize’s body to sit on her in a Jiu-Jitsu mount.

“How can we use a full complement of Chakras when we only represent six? How would we include the Crown Chakra?” Blaize panted only slightly as he sat on top of her chest, his legs pinning her arms, his hands at her throat.
 

“The prophecy was put aside as incomplete centuries ago because of that very concern.” Finn shifted to sit more firmly on her lungs, making it harder for her to breathe. “Whatever Cuinn’s dusty books say, we need to capture the Rogue.”
 

He put a bit more pressure on her throat, and she felt the blood build up in her head. Her cheeks heated, and tiny spots appeared in front of her eyes.

“For some reason, the Rogue wants you.” He smirked. “Though if she could see you right now, she’d probably change her mind.”
 

Blaize hefted her lower body, and dislodged Fintan enough so that he slipped slightly. It was enough for her to shift her hips again and twist her body so that he was knocked to the side, his hands away from her throat. She heaved a breath and coughed.

“Enough?” he asked from a prone position next to her. They’d been sparring for an hour now, and both were sweating with exertion.
 

She shook her head and pushed herself off the floor. She loved this. “Let’s add energy. Protect the room.”

He stood, and after a moment, a wall of fire caged them. It would keep any energy they used between them. She spooled a little Manipura energy, cautious.
 

“The plan is to get you to shine in the dreamscape like the tasty morsel of energy you are. When the Rogue comes for you, Cuinn will capture her on the astral plane, will find her out where her physical body is, and Cara and I will go find it and take it to the Rehab centre. Simple.”

Blaize frowned. “I need more time to learn about Ajna. She kicked my butt the other day. It was embarrassing.”

Fintan’s torso burst into flame. Out of the inferno, a handful of tiny daggers of fire flew through the air towards her. She dodged one and spread energy in front of her to absorb the rest. She created her own defensive fire and began to heat the ground under Fintan’s bare feet.

His voice came from behind the wall of fire. “You have two days. We don’t want to wait too long.”

Her frown deepened. “Fine.”
 

She’d be ready.
 

Fintan’s flames disappeared and he danced on the spot as the heat seeped into his bare feet. “Tierra doesn’t like it.”

He ducked and rolled past Blaize and threw a fireball at her back from the floor.
 

She fell forward, the heat absorbed, but the strength of the hit pushed her to the floor, and her defensive fire flickered and went out. Her voice was muffled. “What?”

Fintan came up behind her fast, and before she could push herself up, he grabbed one of her arms and wrenched it up her back.
Ouch.
 

“Using you as bait.”

Blaize tried to shrug, but her arm was tight up against her back and she couldn’t move. She heated up her own body hoping to dislodge Fintan.
 

“We can’t leave the Rogue out there, or every time I draw power the Rogue could attack,” she said. “And who knows what damage it might be doing at the moment? We can’t leave it out there to ruin another family’s lives.”

“I agree.”

The pain in her arm brought tears to her eyes. She used her feet against the ground to move her body forward, which took the pressure off for a moment, and was all she needed to twist her body around. She was still on the floor, but her arm was no longer trapped.

Fintan made a grab for her. “How are you getting along with Cuinn?”

She hesitated for a second, and he used the moment to catch her and pin her, one knee on her arm, the other arm secured by his hand.

“Fine. We’re fine.” She struggled to free herself, but he was well-built and drove all his weight down. She couldn’t move either arm.

“And the binding went well?” He smirked at her.

She stopped struggling and scowled at him. “What did he tell you?”
 

“Nothing. But you just did.” His bright blue eyes sparked with mischief.
 

His weight was high up her body, and her legs were free. She scissor-kicked, bending her body at a right angle, and caught his head between her feet. She yanked backwards, and he tipped back off her chest though he didn’t let go of the wrist he’d been holding.

“There’s nothing going on. We slept together, it was fine, he wants a relationship. I don’t do relationships, you know that.”

There was a brief struggle until they were both on the floor, limbs entwined. Fintan was on top, though by a slim margin. Neither of them had much wiggle room. The wall of fire around the room had gone.

“Maybe you should.” Fintan sounded a bit out of breath.

She scowled harder and shoved her fingers into the notch in the centre of his collar bone, at the bottom of his throat, and forced him back.

“Not. Going. To. Happen.” She struck him with each word, each blow driving him back off her. She kept hold of one of his arms, and stretched it tight, until he laughed and yielded defeat, tapping the floor with his free hand.