Page 10 of Faeheart
She handed one to each of us. The moment the chain dropped into my palm, I felt a jolt of energy that made my teeth ache. The crystal was warm, almost hot, and it seemed to pulse in rhythm with my heartbeat.
Wild whistled low. “These things are illegal in most realms, aren’t they?”
“They’re restricted,” Professor Blackwood corrected. “For good reason. Wild magic amplified through these stones can be unpredictable, dangerous, and...” She paused, her eyes glinting. “Extraordinarily powerful.”
Caden held his pendant gingerly, as if it might explode. “What exactly are we supposed to do with them?”
“Learn,” the professor said simply. “These stones will help you access magical practices that predate modern witchcraft by centuries. Magic that doesn’t follow rules or formulas. Magic that responds to emotion, instinct, and raw will.”
I stared down at the crystal in my palm, feeling it grow warmer by the second. Everything in my upbringing screamed that this was wrong, dangerous, improper. But underneath that voice was another one, quieter but growing stronger, the same voice that had been awakened by my grandmother’s journal.
“Your first exercise,” Professor Blackwood continued, “is to establish a magical connection with your partners. Not a formal bond, but a resonance that will allow you to work together effectively.”
“How do we do that?” I asked, my voice coming out smaller than I’d intended.
Wild grinned, already fastening his chain around his neck. “Easy. We just?—”
The moment the crystal touched his skin, the room exploded with light. Not the clean, controlled illumination of proper spell work, but something wild and chaotic that seemed to dance with a life of its own. The air crackled with energy, and I felt my own pendant grow scorching hot in response.
“Wild!” Caden gasped, his pendant beginning to glow as well.
I looked down at my own stone just as it burst into brilliant white light. The three crystals seemed to be calling to each other,their energies reaching across the space between us like invisible threads.
And then something went horribly wrong.
The threads of energy snapped taut, and suddenly I was drowning in a sensation that wasn’t my own. Wild’s reckless joy crashed into me like a tidal wave, followed immediately by Caden’s gentle warmth and nervous energy. But more than that, I could feel their magic, raw and unfiltered, pouring into me as mine poured into them.
The room spun around me as foreign emotions and sensations overwhelmed my carefully constructed mental barriers. Wild’s memories of summer freedom, the taste of sweet dryad’s cum still lingering on his tongue, the feeling of grass beneath naked skin. Caden’s recent awakening to power, the intoxicating rush of discovering he was more than he’d ever believed possible, the solid comfort of Atlas’s arms around him.
And underneath it all, something deeper. A connection, raw and primal, that had no place in the structured magic I’d been taught. The three of us were being bound together by these ancient stones in ways I couldn’t comprehend or control.
“Stop!” I gasped, trying to yank the pendant from my neck, but my fingers wouldn’t obey. The crystal seemed fused to my skin, burning white-hot against my chest.
Wild was on his knees now, his face contorted in a mixture of pain and ecstasy. “Holy fuck,” he breathed, his eyes glowing with an unearthly light. “This is?—”
“Too much,” Caden finished, his voice strained as he clutched the edge of his chair. His pendant pulsed with a rhythm that matched my racing heartbeat.
Professor Blackwood moved quickly, her hands weaving complex patterns in the air. “This shouldn’t be happening,” she muttered, her usual composure slipping. “The resonance shouldn’t be this strong.”
But her magic seemed to bounce harmlessly off the energy field that now surrounded us. The threads connecting our pendants had become visible, glowing cords of raw power that twisted and knotted together in the center of our triangle.
I could feel my carefully constructed mental walls crumbling as Wild’s chaos poured into me. His memories of bodies tangled in forest clearings, of magic used for pleasure rather than purpose, of freedom I’d never known. Alongside it came Caden’s newfound power, vine-like and growing, stretching toward sunlight after years in shadow.
And to my horror, I felt my own rigid upbringing, my secrets, my hidden longings all spilling out to them in return.
“Make it stop,” I pleaded, no longer caring how I sounded. This wasn’t the controlled, dignified magic of the Thorne family. This was something ancient and terrifying.
Wild’s eyes locked with mine across the maelstrom of energy as he stepped closer. “Don’t fight it,” he called, his voice somehow inside my head rather than carried by air and his hands outstretched. “Surrender to it.”
“I can’t,” I gasped, feeling my magic straining against the bonds of my training, wanting to break free and join with theirs.
Wild rushed forward, grabbing me by the hand. “Let go!”
The moment we connected, the knot of energy between us pulsed once, twice, and then exploded outward. Books flew from shelves, windows rattled in their frames, and the very foundations of the building seemed to shake. Professor Blackwood was thrown backward against her desk, her protective wards shattering like glass. Caden was thrown backward as well, crashing against the far wall with a thud.
And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped.
I found myself on the floor, my limbs tangled with Wild’s, both of us panting as if we’d run for miles. The pendants hadgone dark, but I could stillfeel himin my mind, his distinct fae presence that hadn’t been there before.
