Page 8 of The Witch and The Blood Oath

Freya took a steadying breath. When she spoke, it was with the voice of the Coven Mother. “Your magic. We’ve got to figure out how to control it.”

Heartburn and responding magic heated my chest. I rubbed it and pulled away from Freya.

“I know,” I said in a rough voice. “I just…”

I just don’t know how the hell to do it.

I hated myself for it. Every time I slipped up, I put Cadence, Freya—hell, the whole coven who’d saved me—at risk.

You’ve always been a protector,Dad had told me. Now, I couldn’t protect anyone. Not even from myself.

“Distracting you works,” Freya said with an almost shy smile, “and it’s fun, but the Elders want to see a more concrete solution put into place.”

“I could go back in the cuffs,” I suggested even though my stomach rolled at the thought.

That had been the first answer to keeping my magic under restraint. The damned things, however, didn’t just soothe your magic like I’d thought. It still heated your veins, but it had nowhere to go.

I’d sweated through two shirts and my pants, until Freya finally saidenough.

“No,” Freya said. “We need something more permanent. We need a way to get through to you. It shouldn’t be this hard for me to figure out. It’switchmagic inside you.”

“Yeah,” I clipped. “This is definitely all on you.”

“It’s on us,” she emphasized. “You’re coven now, cowboy.”

I ran a hand through my hair. Myhatlesshair. I searched the ground in a panic, and Freya laughed. She pointed her finger at my hat, on the ground outside the gazebo, and carried it to me on a light breeze.

“I was wondering how long it would take you,” she said, “to realize it’s gone.”

I snatched it out of the air and rolled my eyes. “If only I could carry it back to me on a nice, controlled wind. No, I couldn’t do something like that, but I probably could’ve struck it with lightning. Well, if that lightning took out the rest of the forest too.”

Freya crossed her arms. “Are you done?”

I mimicked her pose. “Done with what?”

“Feeling sorry for yourself,” she replied. “Walker, you haveincrediblemagic. More than anyone could’ve expected. We just have to figure out how to control it. I have some theories.”

I sighed and relaxed in my seat. “Let’s hear them.”

“Your magic is obviously tied to your emotions,” she explained.

I nodded.

“Everyone’s is," Freya continued, "but yours seems particularly linked. Well, I think it’s because of who you are. Your heart—goddessdamn me, I hate clichés—but it’s always been on your sleeve.”

I smiled. Freya didn’t know how to deliver a compliment unless it involved cussing.

“So I need to become less emotional?” I asked. One thing about hanging with Freya, you had to be really confident in your manhood.

“No,cowboy.” She said cowboy like one would saydumbass.“We simply need to separate your magic from your heart. Think of it like muscle isolation. Both exist inside you, but they can’t be allowed to have a domino effect.”

“Makes sense,” I said. “Like being aware that you’re on an unbroke horse but not letting your body show your awareness.”

“Negative emotions obviously impact you worse,” she said and gave methatlook. The one that made me wake up in the night covered in sweat and aching in ways I never had before. “But we could always practice with more pleasurable ones. What do you think?”

“Judging by the look on your face,” I said, “the answer is yes.”

Freya swung her legs over me, until she straddled my lap. Her body was so strong but so soft. Pliant. As heat traveled towhere her hips met mine, magic danced on my skin and crackled in the air.

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