Authors: Cyndi Friberg
Summoning the metaphysical plane, Tal sent out a pulse, searching desperately. Joon controlled the visualization. His distorted energy vibrated through Tal, making his head pound and his stomach heave.
Sulfuric vapor clouded his vision, stinging his nose.
Where were they?
“Tal, don’t come any closer. Stay back!”
The mist parted and Tal staggered to a stop.
Charlotte stood hip-deep in the sucking mire of a mystic trap. Tal’s chest heaved and his hair snapped then coiled tightly around his waist.
Calm down
. This wasn’t helping her. His fear would escalate hers and she must remain calm—she must remain still.
He hunched down and extended his hands toward her.
“Don’t move!”
“He’s draining my energy. When I struggle, it pulls me deeper.”
“We will fight this thing together! Link with me.”
“It would only make him stronger.” The defeat in her tone fueled his determination.
I will not stand here and watch her die!
She shook her head. “If I stay still, it’s more gradual, but I can still feel…” Her voice caught on a sob.
He scrubbed his face with his hands. “I will summon the others Mystics—”
“No!” she shouted. “Don’t you understand? That’s what he wants. He knows how Mystics think, how we bind together in times of trouble. He’s counting on it.
If the Mystics link and pour their energy into me, it will wipe out the entire Conservatory.”
It was forbidden.
It was suicide.
But it was the only option left to them.
Squaring his shoulders, he resolutely met her gaze.
“Then I will purge the metaphysical plane.”
“What does that mean?” She unconsciously shifted and cried out. The trap sucked her down, pulling until she stopped moving.
Tal roared in exasperated fury. All the love pounding through his being and he could not even touch her! The trap now held her immobile to the middle of her chest. Her features twisted and she wheezed. “I—can’t breathe.”
“Listen to me and do exactly what I say. Do you understand?”
She nodded.
He hid his feelings from her. She must be strong.
She must be brave. She must not realize…
“I will Summon the Storm here. I will open a portal and it will purge the metaphysical plane. Like opening an airlock on a spaceship. Do you understand? The moment before I unleash its power, you must strengthen your shields with the catalyst or you will be sucked through the portal.”
Her beautiful eyes filled with terror and fresh tears washed her cheeks. “What about you?” she sobbed.
“If it will purge… How will
you
survive?”
“This is your mind. It cannot harm me,” he lied.
“I’ll simply sever the link. Do you think you can do this? The Storm will be catastrophic. Will your shields hold?”
“I will make them hold.”
Tal spread his arms, his gaze never leaving her terrified face. Grief ate at him, tore through him, but he allowed only tenderness into his expression.
“Are you ready?” he asked, praying she hadn’t noticed the catch in his voice.
She nodded almost imperceptibly. He drained himself, drawing all his energy into the center of his being. He gathered the Storm, pulling it to him, building its pressure and intensity. No one knew where the portal led when it was opened on the metaphysical plane because no one had ever survived.
“I love you, Charlotte. I will always love you,” he said, and Summoned the Storm.
The world exploded and Charlotte screamed.
Flung back to physical reality like a leaf driven before a hurricane, she clutched her head with both hands and rocked back and forth, moaning. Searing pain blinded her, deafened her and robbed her of thought.
Pain.
“Tal?” she whispered, her voice dry and choked.
Nothing.
Forcing herself to move, she pushed her hair out of her eyes and gingerly lifted her head. Someone had cleared the council chambers. Only Vee, Trey and Mage Gerr remained.
Joon’s body lay in a crumpled heap. Tal sprawled limp and still across her lap, his hair tangled all around them.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
“Tal,” she tried again, her heartbeat adding to the pounding in her head. “Sweetheart, we’re back. You did it.”
Struggling to her knees, she knelt beside him on the cold stone floor. She brushed the hair off his face and anguish crashed in upon her. No breath stirred against her skin.
She shook him, rubbed his cheeks briskly. No response. She sobbed as fear twisted through her.
This couldn’t be happening!
She sealed her mouth over his, preparing to breathe into his lungs, but her heightened senses revealed a hollow shell, devoid of life and Mystic energy. “No!” The one word tore from her with all the torment in her soul. “My love, don’t leave me. Please, don’t leave me. I can’t do this alone. I can’t—not again.”
Burying her face in his lifeless hair, she wept. For just a moment, her lungs rejected breath and her heart refused to beat. Without the other half of her soul, there was no point in continuing the journey.
Vee touched her shoulder gently but she twisted away.
Her spirit rebelled.
Anger spread through her like wildfire.
You are the phoenix
. Her heart pounded.
You are
made stronger by the fire
. She dragged a deep cleansing breath into her lungs and focused entirely on solutions.
We will fight this thing together!
Tal’s words echoed back to her.
She dragged him into her lap, cradling him as he had often cradled her.
“I love you, Tal Aune.” She spoke into his ear.
“Feel how much I love you, find the feeling—come back to me.”
Feathering kisses across his motionless features, she rubbed her hand over his chest. “This is wrong. It was not meant to end like this. We were meant to…” Tears choked her, stealing her words. She opened her mind, transmitting her devotion and her tenderness. Communicating her need, her desire.
Clutching him to her heart, she channeled her love for her soul’s mate through the catalyst and poured it into his body.
“Come back to me,” she whispered.
Nothing happened.
Intensifying the power of the catalyst, she made the signal stronger, more passionate.
Tears burned her throat and doubt hovered on the edge of her consciousness, waiting, mocking.
“I am the High Queen of Ontariese. I will not live without my true mate. I command you, come back to me!”
The
Sah Keeta Narri
. The true bonding.
They hadn’t performed the ceremony but she knew the chant. He’d taught her the chant.
“
Tera meta forlay fontou
Teri forlay meta fortou
.” She formed the words urgently.
Nothing happened.
She tried again, more forcefully.
His body shuddered. Charlotte cried out.
Had she imagined it?
“Tal, come on. You can do it. Listen to the sound of my voice. Know how much I love you.”
She resumed the chant, easing her hold on him so she could see his face. His chest moved and she spoke faster, running the syllables together until it sounded like one long word.
His hand slowly rose and found her hair, but he didn’t caress her. His fingers tangled there and dragged her face down to his.
“
Tera meta forlay fontou
Teri forlay meta fortou
.”
His lips moved against hers as he spoke the words.
Tingles darted throughout her body.
“My love,” she whimpered.
He said the words again.
Their mouths came together, urgent and hungry.
His hair swirled around her and Charlotte felt as if her heart would leap from her chest. He was back. He was really back!
He dragged her to her knees, refusing to relinquish her mouth long enough to speak.
Molding her to his body, he summoned a vortex, transporting them to his bedchamber. Charlotte heard Trey’s happy holler before the conduit closed in on itself.
Tal devoured her mouth, grinding his shaft against her belly. Responding immediately, her core tightened and pulsed in tune to the rhythm of his heart.
She laughed as they went on kissing.
Oh boy, was he back!
His hands moved urgently over her and she gently pushed him away. “Slow down, my love. We have the rest of our lives.”
“I cannot,” he panted. “I burn as I have never burned.”
The catalyst. She had intensified her emotions with the catalyst.
Without pretense or shame, she stripped and lay down on the bed. In one fluid motion, he shifted out of his clothing and knelt between her thighs.
“Say the chant together with me.”
With each word, he entered her a fraction farther, filling her, stretching her until as they spoke the last word they were one.
Complete.
Charlotte sobbed, amazed by the beauty of their joining. He framed her face with his hands, gazing silently into her eyes. Pulling back slowly, he filled her again and again. Gently at first then faster, more aggressively.
Her eyes started to drift shut and he cried, “No. It will weaken the bond.”
So she watched his face as he took her and saw herself reflected in his eyes. Unity. They rode the storm together, the joining strengthened with each shiver, each sigh.
Charlotte circled his waist with her legs, arching to meet his thrusts, taking him as he took her. Sensations passed back and forth between them, building in intensity with each exchange. She grasped his arms, her nails digging into his flesh.
Tension coiled with brutal concentration. Her entire body shook, vibrating with an energy she didn’t quite understand.
“I’m frightened,” she gasped.
“Trust me.”
She surrendered herself to the tempest, reveling in the storm. Energy flowed around and through them in sizzling currents. She cried out and he soothed her.
She found release and he roared.
The storm coalesced, solidified with peals of thunder that shook the bed. Charlotte looked at Tal, only at Tal as heated wind whipped their naked flesh.
Time paused. A brief moment of peaceful silence then lightning struck all around them, creating a visible circle of energy. They clung to each other, trembling and glowing, flushed from head to toe.
“What was that?” she asked, still panting. “Did you Summon the Storm again?”
He shook his head, his hair clinging to their damp skin. “This is different. I’m afraid I lost control.”
“Is that a bad thing?” She chuckled. “I don’t know that I want lightning striking every time we make love but that was pretty spectacular.”
He pulled her to her knees and slowly extended his hand toward the circle of energy. His hand jerked then eased completely into the flow. “Go ahead. It won’t hurt you.”
Charlotte ran her fingers along his arm until their hands joined within the shimmering circle. Light and color danced through her mind. She gasped. She swayed into Tal’s arms.
“Do you see them?” His voice was hushed, almost reverent.
Chubby cheeks, identical faces, wide, smoky violet eyes. “They’re beautiful.”
He chuckled and pulled her hand to his lips. “Of course they are. They’re ours.”
Charlotte’s abdomen tingled and heat swept through her in a slow, intense wave. “Ours?
That’s
how you lost control.”
His gaze searched her features, love glowing in his smoke-colored eyes. “Are you upset?”
“Surprised, not upset.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him tenderly. “I’m thrilled, my love. This was one heck of a wedding day.”
Charlotte’s presentation to the TSC resumed three days later. She glanced at the spot where she had last seen Joon’s body and felt remarkably at ease. It was over. It was finally over. Vee and Mage Garr had dispersed Joon’s energy and incinerated his remains, leaving nothing to chance.
She sat across from Prefect Aune, but his sons now sat at her side, Tal on her right, Trey on her left.
“I’m not sure how to begin.” She folded her hands on top of the table, carefully choosing her words. “But I think the incident three days ago proves how imperative it is that we move forward with my plan.”
“Incident?” Roe Aune echoed, his eyes round with disbelief. “That lunatic tried to assassinate me and you two nearly died.”
“My point exactly. We’ve lost too many to this war, Prefect Aune. It has to end and we must be the ones to take the first step.”
His eyes narrowed, his gaze boring into hers. “If you extend a hand toward the Joons, they will likely lop it off. Did what happen here teach you nothing?”
“We have a lot of work to do before we ever approach the Reformation Sect,” she said calmly.
“We do, do we?” His voice raised a notch. “And what work would that be?”
“It’s time, Prefect Aune. The Clarifications have been allowed to accumulate and molder for generations. It’s time to rework them, to create a realistic standard by which the Traditionalist Sect can operate.”
He laughed, pushing back far enough from the table that he could cross his legs. “Even if the council had a mind to undertake such a task, how do you propose we do so?”
“I’ve already begun.” Sliding a packet of papers across the table, she explained, “This is a list of every Clarification that directly contradicts another Clarification. The next list indicates Clarifications that are so old they have little or no relevance. I had just begun a list highlighting those that unfairly benefit one group of people over another. With the Symposium’s help to cross-reference the actual statutes, it’s not as daunting as it sounds.” No one spoke for a long time. Charlotte glanced at the other council members but they seemed to be waiting for Prefect Aune to react.
“What do you think about all this?” Roe Aune asked Trey.
“There are a lot of Clarifications that seem foolish in this day and age,” he said.
“Including the one insisting the High Queen choose a life mate from the heirs of the Great Houses?” Roe’s gaze moved back to Charlotte.
“That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? You’re in love with the wrong son.”