Page 6 of Swords and Curses

"You'd better be careful what you try to start, Bal. I'm not exactly trained in my new abilities. I wouldn't want to destroy any of your paintings by accident," Rosa warned breathlessly.

Balthasar leaned down and bit the curve of her neck. "I can always paint more." The blue fabric in her hands ripped, tearing in half like tissue paper, exposing scarred muscle. The grin on Balthasar's face grew savage. "Don't hold back."

Hours later,sitting in front of the glowing embers of his fire, Eldon Blaise searched for answers. The fragile fabric of the spell holding the Aos Si was tearing apart, and there was no way to stop the war that the Autumn Queen would provoke. She would not relinquish her control easily.

Another war. Eldon pinched the bridge of his nose. This place, so different in his memory, still felt the same as it always had. The forest, the mansion, and the lake were pulsing with a magic that none but Eli and himself could feel. The ghosts whispered out to him as he got to his feet and opened the back door of the house.

"You're up late,athair."

Eli sat on a garden seat in his true Unseelie form. His curling black hair hung to his chest, and his suit was put away in favor of a dark green shirt, black pants, and high black boots. His emerald eyes glowed as he got to his feet. Eldon had been expecting this man. Bleddyn, the wolf of the Unseelie, not the banker that had greeted him.

"Nice to see you looking like your old self again." Eldon walked out onto the little path, pausing as Bleddyn got to his feet.

"Walk with me, Merlin," he said in a tone that brokered no argument. "There is much I want to learn about your adventures."

"Lucky we both have eternity then," Eldon joked as they walked from the Wylt gardens and out into the forest.

CHAPTER THREE

Rosa woke to the cloying smell of roses and Balthasar's aftershave. She rolled over, her hands pushing through the vines, thorns cutting her skin as she pulled him close.Vines. Rosa's eyes snapped open, panic seizing her.

"Bal!" she cried, her free hand shoving him.

His dark eyes opened slowly, his sleepy smile freezing. "Rosa, my love, what have you done?"

"I don't know," she gasped, looking around her. Growing out of the wooden frame of the four-poster bed were rose vines that twisted and bloomed around them, covering them in red and white petals.

"It's okay. Don't panic I can fix this," he assured. Balthasar moved his hand from under the cover and gripped the vine hanging closest to his face. Pale blue light filled his palm and spread along the thorny tendrils, but instead of loosening, they tightened.

"Shit! Stop, Bal," Rosa said, and his magic vanished.

"The roses are your magic, not mine," Balthasar said as he carefully moved to touch her hand. "Focus, Rosa. Make them go away."

"I don't know how! I don't even know how they got there to begin with." Rosa shut her eyes and tried to concentrate, tried to feel out the power inside of her, willing the roses to move off them.

Dammit, Eldon, where are you now to help me!she thought angrily.

"Breathe, Rosa," Balthasar soothed. "It will…"

The attic door was kicked open, and Eldon stormed in only a pair of black jeans and unlaced Doc Marten boots. "Rosa Wylt, you had best have a good explanation for waking me." Eldon stopped in front of the bed and started laughing.

"Shut. Up. Blaise. Get me the hell out of here," Rosa demanded.

"Steady now, Rhosyn," he said. Rosa saw a glow of golden light from the corner of her eye, and the vines lifted, slithering back into the bedposts, leaving only the flowers blooming. Eldon offered her a robe. "Still think you have no magic, little one?" He turned his back as she wrapped the robe around herself with trembling hands.

"I don't know… I didn't think…" she mumbled, shaking.

Eldon turned back around and hugged her close. "There now, you're okay. It was a minor mishap, so don't let it worry you."

"It didn't respond to my magic," Balthasar said, tucking a towel around his waist. "It made it worse. Why did yours work?"

"I'm over a thousand years old, and our magic is connected through our blood. No matter how distant the connection, it's still there," Eldon said and let her go.

Rosa took a few steadying breaths. "How did you know I was in trouble?"

"Your panic woke me up. I was halfway here when you started psychically abusing me." Eldon gave her a crooked smile.

"Sorry about disturbing you."

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