Page 12 of First Ritual

The silence in the wake of my comments was furious. Roaring. Whipping. A storm in its own right.

Perfect.

I hurried after the other magus while attempting to reclaim the deep calm that had fled me during the encounter with Wild. He fell into step not far behind, and heightened with fury, energy rolled off him in crushing waves. By the time I exited a knoll behind a group of middle-aged women, my teeth were grinding together.

I’d spent hours getting to that place of peace.

Anyone who ruined my esbat preparation earned a place on my shitlist.

So far, only one name was on that list.

I peered back at the exit. To the unmagical eye, nothing interrupted the grassy surface of the mound. To the magic eye, a ripple signified the entrance to the caves. I wasn’t sure why they bothered masking the entrance when no human could get past the first barrier, but I supposed there were other supernatural creatures who could.

Wild exited the knoll. Ugh.

Tuning out the flurry of flirty whispers that had erupted, I walked toward the largest collection of female energy in the knolls. Many curious looks were thrown my way, but nobody approached.

“Dammit, Tempest,” I muttered. How the hell did I manage to kiss a council member before reaching the coven? Hopefully Wild didn’t recall what I’d said at the bar either. Regardless, our exchange just now would have put an end to anything romantic.

I paused at the bottom of the knoll to tip my face to the full moon. A soft sigh fell from my lips as the silvery light bathed me, restoring some lost calm. Tempest, you have an important thing to do.

My new tether belonged to someone, and odds were that person was in the Buried Knolls. Unfortunately for me, a tether gave no more information than family, lover, or friend. I could discount the last two and assume the person was family. Direct family, no less, for the tether to appear without forging a prior relationship. So I could discount extended family like my mother’s brother, for instance. This person had to be a sibling, parent, or grandparent.

My only remaining family.

How? That question had occupied me for four weeks. I could only gain bonds to magus I’d never met through my mother’s line. To be a sibling, they must’ve been born before mother passed, yet the tether only appeared a month ago. I’d considered any number of possibilities. That their magic had been put under lock. That there was a binding of sorts on me. These things weren’t untraceable though. A binding could be felt by the possessor. Locked magic was easy to sense. The entire coven would know if a magus’s magic was locked, for instance. All I could assume was that this person had gained a familial tether to me one month ago, too, and that when I touched them, we would both know.

They had to be here.

I needed them so damn bad. The mere appearance of the tether had pulled me from the latest precipice of chaos, and I’d felt more alive searching for them than I had in a long time. I was meant to find this person. Without them, the chaos would claim me in the end. I’d lose the fight one day. I felt that truth like the promise of a storm.

One month ago, the mother sent me a gift, a reason to keep going, if only I had the strength to accept it.

I had the strength—or the desperation at least.

I scanned the meadow, seeing everything I expected of an esbat. A roaring bonfire. Tables of drinks and food that currently remain untouched. Stone circles dotted around the place.

Some things weren’t expected. Chiefly, the massive split down the middle of the magus. They weren’t divided into female and male energies as grandmother had always said kept our energies uncomplicated before the healing of our souls. Yet female and male energies were on either side of the divide. Even the council was split in two, though Wild was off with some magus his age.

Was this about the selection process for the new leader?

I didn’t care. I couldn’t care.

I just needed to find this person like I needed air.

Walking straight, I searched for the table of supplies that mother always put out as esbat. Salt. Gemstones. Oh, drat. Were we meant to bring our own?

No matter.

Pushing magic through all three of my affinities, I moved forward, attuned to the ground, the surrounding magic, and the pulsing, tidal energy from the storm moon high above. I traversed the exact energetic middle between the divided coven, then retreated to the point of best balance between the ground and moon.

Yes. This spot. This would do me just fine.

Holding my palms up, I summoned my salt from the caves, then drew a circle just big enough for me. Until I was a coven member, I wouldn’t be included in group-healing rituals. Banishing my salt, I considered the feeling of the night and what I wanted to achieve, then summoned the pink opal that once belonged to my twin. Syera should be with me tonight. If she were with me… I swallowed and stopped those thoughts in their tracks. The what-ifs still got me. Often.

Maybe if I found this magus, then I wouldn’t feel that way as much.

Setting the gemstone in direct line to the moon, I charged my salt circle with magic to seal it, feeling hundreds of sets of eyes on me as I did so. Smiling, I got to my feet and widened my stance, tilting my face upward and holding my palms out either side.

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