Page 54 of Witchbane
When I woke a few hours later, feeling a bit like my limbs were jelly, I still had a smile on my face. At least until I realized Liam was not in bed with me. Wrapped up in the blankets like a burrito, I hadn’t noticed him missing. Being thoroughly driven over the edge of several orgasms probably didn’t help my awareness. But the room was dark and the bed cold beside me. His pile of clothes, which had been folded and set on a nearby chaise beside mine, was gone.
Alarm bells of worry went off in my head, but I could still feel our bond. He wasn’t far. Maybe the library?
Since it didn’t appear morning had arrived yet, I thought he should still be in bed with me. I made my way to the small bathroom, cleaned up a little, and tugged my clothes back on. If we were here much longer, we’d have to ask Nick about options to change clothes or wash them.
When I made my way across the hall to the library to find several candles glowing, and both Kiran and Nick standing around my mate, I immediately stalked to their side expecting a fight. Liam was sitting in a circle drawn in chalk on the floor, shirtless, while Nick appeared to be drawing symbols on his arms, back and chest. Kiran stood outside the circle, several feet away, arms folded over his chest like he was irritated to be awake, leaning against a bookcase.
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
“You didn’t have to get up yet,” Liam said. “I was hoping you’d get more rest.”
I stared at the intricate lines Nick was drawing. A handful of symbols I recognized from some of Nick’s teaching and the books we’d been looking through.
“Did you get real rest? You didn’t seem to be having nightmares,” Liam asked.
“Did I open any portals?”
“Not that we’ve seen,” Liam said.
“I have to finish all of Liam’s lines before I can start on you,” Nick said.
“If Sebastian had control of his magic, he could have etched them on himself,” Kiran growled.
“Sorry I’m not all powerful and great,” I sniped at him. “Guess you dodged the bullet not having me as your scion.”
“Enough,” Nick said, not looking at either of us. “We have a common goal. Get out of Underhill. Can we focus on that?”
I made my way to the circle’s edge and sat down beside where Nick squatted, careful not to mess up any lines. Liam’s gaze fell on me and it was oddly cautious.
“Do you hate them?” he asked softly.
Hate what? The elaborate lines?
“They will be permanent,” Nick said. “No way around it that I can find. But they will mostly be hidden under your clothes. Except the final ones on your hands.” It was then that I actually noticed thin lines on the backs of Nick’s hands. Not the thick chunk of writing like some people did on their knuckles, but more a delicate swirl.
Since Kiran’s hands were folded to his chest, I couldn’t see if he had them too. “He could cover them with glamour.”
I didn’t have glamour. Not really. I guess a few of my wards could act that way with their “look away” spells. But it wasn’t a glamour in the idea of making people see some sort of illusion. If I had that I’d have used it lots to not be short, with dark skin and bright rusty-red hair. Blending in would have been nice most of my life.
The delicate curves of the lines, thin and precise reminded me a bit of Arabic writings, or even elvish as featured in an old epic fantasy novel. “It doesn’t say anything about a ring to rule them all, right?” I quipped.
Nick paused as though thinking.
“No rings,” Liam said. “Binding in a lot of other ways, but no giant eyes drawing us toward evil.” He’d gotten the reference even if no one else did. He gave me an amused smile.
“Oh,” Nick said as though suddenly catching on. “There’s a copy of those books in here somewhere.”
“Are elves a thing?” I wondered.
“The human perception of elves comes from their many sightings of the sidhe,” Kiran said.
“Pointed ears and pretty…” I looked back at him. He didn’t have pointed ears. Was that glamour? Not that I thought to ear shame him, it was more a curiosity.
“Pretty?” Liam asked, bringing my attention back to him. He’d caught me gazing at Kiran.
“You’re pretty,” I told my mate. “Magic tattoos and all.” I frowned at them. It was one of the things I’d always disliked about my own art, the lack of color. I could imagine Liam covered in colorful designs, and cake. He looked good covered in cake too. I’d have to do that when we got home.
His lips curved up in a smile, obviously he was catching some of my thoughts. “Cake and color.”
