Page 19 of Solstice

She dropped to her knees, her hands still over the cauldron; trembling now, she said, “I’m so sorry. I remove every negative emotion I sent to you. I cleanse you of my anger. Of my fears. Of my doubts. I...”

Tears slid silently down her cheeks. This was a powerful thing that was happening here, he thought. More powerful, maybe, than even Dori realized.

Jason lowered himself to his knees behind her. He folded his arms around her, stretching them out alongside her arms, his hands sliding over hers above the cauldron. His fingers extended the length of hers, his thumbs bending around to her palms.

“I cleanse myself in you,” she whispered. “Lady, take this darkness from my soul. I so want to live in the light again.” Her head bowed and she cried softly.

Moved beyond words, and unsure what to do, Jason felt her relax back against him as she wept. He wrapped her in his arms, held her there. Then, without knowing why, he reached for the incense. He brought it close to her and used his hand to waft the smoke over her. He couldn’t quite remember her words. “Cleansed by Air,” he said softly. “Let it blow away the darkness, Dori.”

He saw her head rise, her brows bend. Sitting on the floor with her legs folded under her, she slid around to face him, searching his eyes. He set the incense down and picked up the candle, moved it under her chin, up and around her body. “Cleansed by Fire, everything bad is burned away.”

She closed her eyes, and more tears spilled over. Her shoulders trembled. He put the candle down, dipped his fingers into the water, then drew them out, dripping, to her face and wiped the hot tears from her cheeks. “Cleansed by water, everything sad is washed away.”

Then he reached for the bowl of salt, gathered a bit in his palm. “Cleansed by...” He hesitated. “Salt?”

“Earth,” she told him.

“Right. Earth. Cleansed by Earth—solid, dependable Earth—everything that hurt you in the past is gone. And you’re starting over, right here, tonight.” He grinned as he sprinkled some of the salt over her head.

“You’re amazing, Jason.”

“Yeah, we’ll get to that.” He sat down, glad to see the tears had stopped welling up in her eyes. “Finish this first.”

She nodded, and then she got to her knees again to remove the sculpture from the cauldron and bring it to her lips. She whispered thanks to the powers of the Universe, and then walked around her circle, in the opposite direction this time. When she finished, she knelt and pressed her palms to the floor, eyes closed, and sat silent for a moment.

Finally, with a deep breath, she lifted her head, opened her eyes. “It’s done.”

“It was something,” he said. “No eye of newt or testicles of a righteous man.”

She smiled slowly. “I’m saving those for your second ritual.”

“Right.”

Her smile died. “What you did for me, that was—”

“That was nothing. I haven’t got a clue what I’m doing. I’m not even sure what made me try.”

“It was perfect. It was…wonderful.” She leaned closer and pressed her lips softly against his, for just a moment.

Jason thought his insides were going to shake themselves apart. Somewhere deep down a little voice was warning him not to let himself fall too hard, too fast. She could walk away and destroy him again.

“Thank you for that, Jason.”

He took a deep breath. “It was the least I could do.” He reached for the cooling cocoa and handed it to her, just to put some distance and perspective between them. Otherwise, he was going to sweep her into his arms and—

Best not to think about that.

“Are you feeling better?”

She nodded. “A little.”

And now he had to tell her what he had come here to tell her. “I hate to bring you down,” he said. “I can’t believe how much I hate it. I felt like we...oh, hell.” He closed his eyes.

“Jason, what’s wrong?”

“I have to be honest with you, Dori.” He opened his eyes, gazed into hers. “That research I did on your background?”

“Yeah?” She looked worried now.

---