Page 12 of The Coveted
It felt like I was floating. All of my senses were alive and finely tuned in to everything beautiful. Like psychological, rose-tinted glasses.
“Stop that, Áine,” Daelon said in a hushed whisper.
I frowned. “Stop what?”
In that moment, I realized that the candles in their ornate crystal holders lining the hallway were spinning, not attached to the walls at all. They were floating, and their light was casting a beautiful show of kaleidoscope patterns all around us.
“Oh, oops,” I giggled. No one was around us though, so I wasn’t sure what the big deal was.
Daelon’s grip around my waist tightened. I was positive that if he wasn’t holding onto me, I would simply float away. “All right, we’ve made it. Good job.” He glanced over at me and then seemed to fight back a smile, shaking his head slightly.
He led me into an apartment of sorts. Candles smelling of rosewood flickered, illuminating a deep blue, gray, and black accented room. A fireplace rested against the far wall, faced by leather furniture. Tall windows flanked either side, the blue curtains drawn. It seemed like Daelon’s style—similar to his cabin in the mountains.
“Is this your place?” I asked as I took in the textures and scents of the room. It smelled like fresh air and warm spices.
“Yes.” He moved to the right side of the vast space, where there was a small kitchen. “Sit wherever you’d like. I’m getting you some water.”
My whole body felt warm and very alive, and visions of everything good in the world flitted through my mind. I wanted to do magick. I wanted everyone to feel the way I did, right now. In a flash, I teleported myself to stand before one of the tall windows.
“Forget how to walk?” Daelon asked, his tone humored.
I looked out below, realizing we were overlooking gardens. More castle lay beyond, its dark towers twisting up toward the clouds. All of the flowers and plants were dead or dying. I could feel my own magick reflected back to me, and now I understood what Lucius was complaining about.
“Drink.” Daelon was beside me now, handing me a glass. “Come sit down.”
I closed my eyes, my fingers pressing against the cool glass of the window. As I exhaled, I expanded my power out with my breath, letting the magick saturate the ground below.The gardens are alive, I said in my mind, tapping into that frequency. Daelon taught me that the key to all spells was envisioning and believing the desired reality already existed.
When I opened my eyes, the gardens matched my vision, sprung to life with color and vibrancy. The trees were green, the flowers were blooming, and the grass and shrubs grew tall.
“That’s enough,” Daelon said softly, his hand at my waist once more. He was staring down below, his lips slightly parted. “You make everything in this world beautiful again.”
I let him guide me to the black leather couch, where I laid back against its tall arm, facing Daelon as he sat leaning against the back. I took a large gulp of water, delighted that it glided down the back of my throat like silk. I crossed my legs, aware that my breathtaking red dress risked showing a lot more than I was comfortable with at this angle. My stomach did flip-flops as I realized Daelon was also staring at my body, his gaze intense and lingering.
“So, what’s really in the drinks?” I asked. “MDMA?”
Daelon shook his head, meeting my eyes. “No human drug is as powerful as liquified magick. It’s spelled to recreate the feeling that makes you the happiest. It’s like pure pleasure for most, or connection, relaxation, creativity, and so on. The problem is, for most people the effects are mild because it uses the power that’s already within them. For you, it’s much more powerful. It amplifies your own feelings, but also the feelings you’re reading from everyone around you.”
“Every happiness that ever was or ever will be,” I said, remembering how deep and vast my power truly was when it was in full swing. It connected me to everything natural in the world. “How must it affecthim?” I wondered aloud. Did Lucius even feel pleasure?
Daelon’s eyes darkened. “Not well. He grew curious once, and once was all it took. It made him, well, murderous.”
“Because his greatest pleasure is in hurting people,” I said simply, troubled but unable to feel the full brunt of how that disturbed me.
Daelon nodded and he moved closer, tentatively. When I didn’t protest or pull away, he positioned my legs in his lap, undoing my strappy silver heels one by one.
I sighed in relief. I hadn’t realized how much discomfort I was in until it was gone. Taryn’s feet were a bit smaller than mine. My stomach lurched again as I met Daelon’s eyes, which were alight and yearning. I wanted him; I missed him so much my heart broke every single day. This wasn’t something I had admitted to myself yet, but the drinks summoned this truth from the core of my being.
“I can’t ever drink that stuff again, can I?” I sighed, more than a little disappointed at the thought. I’d spent so much of my life grieving, so much of it unsatisfied, lost, confused, and disconnected. There was so much pain in this world, and I had the burden of feeling every last drop of it. It was nice to only feel the good for once.
Daelon shook his head, his eyes softening. “No. But Áine, the feelings that elixir induces are already inside of you. It only draws them out. You have so much warmth and light. More than any of us. Unfortunately, that just means you have to feel more of the pain too. Elixir is a distraction—it keeps us from finding the real source of that magick. What’s inside of us, and what we feel from each other. It keeps people from digging underneath the beauty of this place, and into the darkness and death it was built upon.”
“I won’t lose myself in it,” I promised us both. I was going to discover the past that no one could speak aloud. I was going to restore this realm to the place my mothers described. “I have work to do,” I said vaguely, at least able to censor myself through the haze of elixir. I still had no idea how much Daelon was on my side.
“I’m ready to help when you are ready to have me back,” he said, absentmindedly stroking my calves. His touch sent waves of pleasurable tingles across my entire body. His eyes were probing now, desperate. “You know I only did what I had to do, don’t you?”
I know. I know, I know, I know.I could feel it, so real and so pure, but the part of my brain that was still clinging to anger and hurt was having none of it, still. I didn’t think it was fair that he was using my altered mental state against me. I was having a really hard time feeling the anger I knew awaited me. There was just warmth.
“Will you at least let me explain more to you, after the elixir wears off? Please? I just need you to understand the whole picture before you judge me.”
