Page 38 of The Coveted
“When are you going to drop this?” Daelon was speaking to Nathaniel, who had taken up an aggressive stance.
“When Lucius sees what a lying, traitorous, heretic you are and have always been,” Nathaniel spat, his lip curled. “Because while you’re disappearing at odd hours, no doubt to go off and fuck the enemy some more, I’m always at Lucius’s side. I do everything asked of me and more. No one understands why you rose to your station, with everything handed to you on an undeserving platter. Lucius is blinded by loyalty. But the rest of us see how none of it adds up.”
“Lucius is our Lord and King. If he doesn’t see something, then it doesn’t exist. This delusion of yours will cost you everything if it continues.” His voice was level, which only aggravated Nathaniel more.
Nathaniel’s energy was even more visible in the astrals, like a storm cloud of gray, black, and murky, deep red looming over his head and around the outline of his form. There was a great deal of power concentrated around him, but it was polluted with Lucius’s perverse magick. He raised a finger. “It is you who will lose everything. Lucius will soon come to his senses and kill the girl, and I am confident you’ll show your true colors then.”
Even though Daelon’s aura was guarded, I saw a flicker of light above his head to signal intensity. He didn’t show it though. Nathaniel stepped forward, and from my vantage point I could see a dark energy pooling in his palms.
I bristled, and soon the lights above us began to flicker and then glow ten times their usual brightness.
Both men looked up in confusion, then back to each other.
Oops. My bad.
“Think and do whatever you want, Nathaniel. I’m going to join the party.”
I watched Daelon leave, but Nathaniel lingered for a moment, glancing around. He shook his head slightly and then stalked off in the other direction, his energy heeling to him like a dog.
I knew it was too risky to visit the throne room, since Lucius seemed to be able to detect my astral body, so I ventured down toward Amos’s room. The lights around me flickered and dimmed, and when I reached his door, I realized knocking wasn’t exactly an option. I shrugged. Here went nothing.
I shoved an arm right through the dense physical matter. It sort of tickled. The rest of my body followed suit, and soon I was face to face with the mystical witch guru himself.
“Áine! What a delight.” He frowned, stroking his white beard. “It’s not safe to spy in the witch realm for long. Your physical body is vulnerable if anyone were to sense your astral form. I advise traveling up to the pure astrals, or going down to the human realm, to be safe.”
But we must discuss the Akashic Records, and Daelon said it wasn’t safe to do so in the physical until he returns…
“I see. I love a clever loophole.” Like a blind dog he glanced around the room, never quite landing on me. “Help me out of my physical body, and we may talk. I’m afraid I’ve used up too much of my psychic energy today already.”
Okay. How?
“Learning for oneself is empowering.”
I would’ve rolled my eyes if I was in the physical. But it was an intriguing challenge, nonetheless.
I floated closer to him, delighted by the clear lavender, golden, and white hues of his energy. It shone out of his third eye, rather than the crown of his head as mine did. He held out an arm, palm up, and closed his eyes.
I focused on his palm, drawing some of my power forth.He is freed from his physical body so that he may travel with his mind.I envisioned his astral body already separated, and soon his palm was glowing ever so slightly blue. I could see a distinction now, like two bodies overlapping just as Aradia overlapped with Earth.
I took his hand and pulled. Amos followed my effort and rose to his feet, and at the same time he also stayed in his chair by the window, unmoving.
“I did it,” I said aloud, now that he was in the same realm as I was.
His features echoed my delight, and we both turned away from his physical body. “Where to?”
“The pure astrals?” I guessed, and no sooner than I’d conceived the thought, we flashed through space and time.
I gasped. We stood on soft grass, a shade of green that didn’t even exist in the lower realms. Actually, all the colors around us were otherworldly. They were bright and fluid and all-consuming, so beautiful I could’ve broken down into tears.
“You’ve never been to the high astrals?” Amos asked. He bent down to run his hands across the grass, and it sent a ripple out across the horizon.
“No. Only the parts that overlap with Aradia,” I said. “Well, maybe once. Just for a moment. When I was up in space with the stars and planets… but even then, I’m not sure.”
“The cosmos is the same everywhere,” he murmured. “Humans wish to explain or conquer it with their mathematical laws and technology. Witches seek to understand it with their magick and expanded sight. But I don’t believe either will succeed.”
The sky above was a deep blue, with a huge, ringed yellow planet looming eerily close-by. It was like a setting from a science fiction novel come to life. Other than the grass, however, it was awfully barren. I thought it would look a lot more complete with trees, flowers, streams…
I almost lost my balance as the earth beneath us creaked and shifted. I began to draw upon my power on instinct, bracing for another astral battle. I stopped when I realized what was actually happening.
