Worth a shot. I may have to pull on your magic to do so, though, as that’s how the spell was created.
Take what you need.
Right. She took another deep breath. Let’s do this. You first.
I crossed my arms and studied the gentle pulse of wild magic, following its long, twisting thread. When I found the beginning, I reached out magically and carefully pulled it free from the threads of magic it was fueling. It pulsed in response and quickly unspooled from the main spell, but it didn’t disintegrate, as I’d half expected. Instead, it traveled back up the magical line and became part of me again. It felt weird… and yet somehow right.
But with its light gone, the rest of the spell was finally revealed. It was hard to tell Belle’s magic from mine; the connection between us really had been deep when she’d performed the spell.
Can we just take a second to admire the beauty of that spell? came Belle’s comment. Because, damn, it’s good.
A smile twitched my lips. I don’t think Clayton would agree.
Clayton can go fuck himself. Are you sure we can’t leave a parting gift behind? Her mental tones were somewhat wistful. After all, we only promised to remove this spell—we never said anything about not replacing it.
I wish we could, but with my father outside…
Belle sighed. Fine. Let’s undo the damn spell and unleash future hell.
With that, she deepened our connection then pulled my magic into hers and began the process of picking the spell apart. It was an even tougher process than I’d first presumed, because not only had the spell been embedded deep, but some of its threads had latched around the two main arteries that ran the length of his penis. Their removal was tricky—especially given he had his back to us.
By the time the last traces of the spell had been removed, Belle was shaking with fatigue. She took a deep breath and then said, “It’s done.”
Clayton turned around. “Life stirs where none has existed for thirteen years.”
I didn’t want to think about life stirring. Not now. Not ever. Not when it came to him, anyway.
“Thank you for keeping to the deal.” Though his tone was genuine enough, there was something in his eyes that said she was a fool. That if the circumstances had been reversed, he wouldn’t have.
The door opened, and my father stepped in. “That was an interesting experience. Perhaps I should study the use of magic from behind closed doors more often.”
His gaze briefly fell on me, and I knew then that he was now aware just how deep the connection between Belle and me was—and what it meant for us magically.
“Clayton,” he continued, “let’s go. Elizabeth, I’ll be in contact to arrange the audit.”
“Fine.” My voice was surprisingly even given the tumultuous state of my stomach. “But after that, don’t bother. I don’t want to see you; I don’t want to hear from you.”
A cool smile touched his lips, but he didn’t actually reply. He simply gave me a somewhat mocking bow and then followed Clayton from the room.
Relief hit so hard my legs went to water. I would have collapsed had Aiden not caught me. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “It’s over—done.”
He was a good enough judge of people and situations to know that it wasn’t, but I didn’t say anything. I simply enjoyed his embrace while I could.
“Well,” Monty said into the silence. “That went way better than I thought it would.”
“Aye,” Ashworth agreed, his tone dry. “None of us are dead.”
“Clayton’s furious, not insane,” Monty retorted. “He won’t break the threefold rule.”
“That rule doesn’t apply to physical attack,” Belle said quietly. “And that’s what’s still coming.”
“Then we need to get you somewhere safe.” Monty paused. “Both of you, I mean.”
“Of course you did.” My voice was dry. I pulled free from Aiden and turned around. “And we have a plan for that.”
“No, we really don’t,” Belle said. “Not unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“I think it will be.”
“And I think you’d better enlighten the rest of us,” Monty said.
I waved a hand. “Later. For now, can we get the hell out of here? Clayton’s stink lingers, and my stomach is threatening to revolt.”
Ashworth’s gaze sharpened. “I’ve got a good nose for cologne, lassie, and he wasn’t wearing any.”
I hesitated, but he deserved the truth. Or at least part of it. Neither he nor Monty knew about the second wellspring and had no idea Katie’s spirit controlled it, and I really wanted to keep it that way. The fewer people who knew what Gabe had done, the better—especially when it came to people like my father, who cared for nothing except power and its uses.
“It appears the wild magic is sharpening some of my senses.”
Ashworth frowned. “Why would it be doing that? It’s a force—a form of magical energy from deep within the earth. It can kill, but it can’t alter.”
“I know, and I don’t understand why it’s happening. It just is.”
Which was totally the truth, and yet his expression suggested he knew there was more I wasn’t saying.
“Once the current problem has been dealt with, I might take a trip up to Canberra,” he commented. “The Society has an archive of old magics—there might be something on wild magic there.”
“They have?” Monty’s eyebrows rose. “I don’t suppose you need a research assistant, do you?”
“No, laddie, I do not.”
“You’re reservation witch,” Belle said, voice dry. “You can’t be flitting about willy-nilly.”
“Even a reservation witch gets holidays.”
“Not when they’ve only been in the job a few months.”
“There is such a thing as pro-rata,” he commented, amusement crinkling the corners of his eyes. “Truth is, you just want to keep me close.”
A smile touched her lips. “Well, you are handy when it comes to psychos wanting to punch me out.”
“If you’ve finished flirting with each other,” Aiden said, his voice dry, “how about we get on the
