Page 37 of Last Gift: Supernatural Battle

I opened my center to the spiraling bond and took a spiritual step onto it. I could sense Wild at the other end. I felt the vibrating through the bond as he took the same step.

I kept walking, moving from one strand to another.

Languidness spread through my body and mind like a soft, heavy blanket, and a humming overtook my very soul as I moved toward Wild’s energy.

The center. I stopped there, sensing I should go no further.

He was here too.

We were at the center of our centers, the middle of our bond where we were in the calmest and most aligned state of magic. I’d never been to this place with anyone. I hadn’t known such a state or place existed.

This was… certain.

I didn’t want to disturb the lulling security, but we’d come here for a reason.

With no other idea, I sent out a pulse of intention—of my yearning for the mating ritual I’d loathed until recent weeks to restart. To spark.

I felt the intention ripple outward and disappear into the abyss surrounding us. Wild sent out a ripple, too, which disappeared.

We remained there for a time before I stepped back the way I’d come. Never turning from Wild, I drew into myself once more. There was a coldness to it—a return of uncertainty. At the center of centers, things were simple.

There, only we had existed.

I opened my eyes and lifted my head to find Wild watching me. Waiting.

“Anything?” he asked.

I glanced down at his chest. Not glowing. “No. No change.”

Sorrow whispered through me at his disappointment, but he forced a smile. “A nice place to discover, though.”

I smiled back. “Nice isn’t the word I’d choose. But yes, I’m glad we found it.”

I was fresh out of ideas, and I could tell that Wild had made the same decision as me to drop the matter until another time. And yet Wild was losing control to the urge of the mating ritual. The glow of my magic had started to send him into a trance. And his growing desire was to devour my magic.

To not consider what might happen to our bond, or to Wild, if I wasn’t able to get my demon back was impossible.

How ironic that the very things I’d wanted gone since this began were all I wanted back.

11

I was starving, more so than usual, and I had a feeling the trip down Bond Land with Wild and my time with the quipu were to blame.

“High Esteemed.”

Barrow. I paused and waited for him to catch up. “Good morning, Barrow. Did you enjoy the dawn walk?”

I’d been pleased to see the advisors here this morning, aside from Wild, who was on sentry duty. The coven numbers at the dawn walk had increased since my talk. Even if we hadn’t been under threat from the demons, the sight of so many magus walking as the light of the moon and sun met would elate me. That was when the Mother’s presence was strongest, and I always felt better for it myself.

“I did. I haven’t done them in so long.” His watery eyes were serious. “Maybe there’s something in what you say. If demon magic wants us divided, then maybe that’s what we were becoming, more and more. I can’t fathom why I stopped walking at dawn in the first place.” He frowned. “I can’t fathom why I stopped purifying before esbat and important events. Why my gems have remained untouched for decades.” He glanced at me. “Maybe there’s truth to this, no matter how impossible it seems.”

I smiled. “If there’s truth to it, then you’re doing the right things to counter the effects of the demons’ magic.”

Barrow nodded, then held up a letter. “This just arrived.”

I’d come to realize that Barrow was my postman. For some reason, letters went to him first. When I’d joked about calling him Postman Barrow, he’d been entirely confused. I’d spent half an hour trying to explain the human postal system to him.

A mistake I wouldn’t make again.

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