Page 27 of Dragon Fires Everywhere
His gaze shoots to mine, onyx with very little gold, but too much heat.
With great reluctance, he puts his hand in Frost’s.
And I swear the heat between our hands grows then, his and mine. One more connection.
Complication, I correct myself.
We whisper the words of protection, of shrouding the room from the Joywood and any who would wish us harm. A spell we canall do on our own, but when it matters most, we do it together to make the protectionthat much moreairtight.
When the room is protected and fully shrouded from anything without, our familiars hold the bubble of safety around us, obscuringour magic from any passerby.
And then we begin the ancient spell. Together. As one.
“Moon above, earth below, grant us your strength and your power in this uncertain hour.”
Magic swirls around us, in ways I can see and feel and even taste.
“Hide the dragon’s intensity, shroud his immensity, give all the propensity to see only a man. A threat to none. Overlookedby all.”
Iseebands of black and gray swirling around Azrael, while his eyes glow gold. I can see the dragon he really is, like a projectionbehind him.
We’ve done powerful, amazing things in the past year, but this feels different. Not bigger, not more important. Saving theconfluence, saving ourselves, surviving the Undine—these were allbiggerthings, but there’s somethingsettledabout this magic.
Ancient.
Powerful.
A true coven, Azrael whispers inside me.
With careful words, we close the spell.
“With our words as one, our magic hold, to all who see.”
And when the last word shimmers in the space between us, then disappears, we all sit in a reverent kind of quiet. The spelltook a lot of energy, and we’re tired, but I suspect we’re all thinking the same thing.
It will be impossible to know if itreallyworked until we test it around the Joywood. Not a fun thought.
But something in me feels as ancient and powerful as the spell. Something in me knows it worked, the same way I know Azrael.Something in me insists that atrue covenis a force the Joywood never wanted to reckon with.
After all, if they don’t have a magical creature—if they killed or cursed their own, if Happy is truly dead—that means they’renot acting as a true coven in this period between us winning the ascension trials and us fully ascending on the solstice.
Emerson is the first to speak. “Us shop owners have a big day tomorrow. We should get some rest.”
She gets to her feet and Jacob goes to her, slinging an arm across her shoulders. She smiles up at him, and that’s how itgoes. Rebekah and Frost swirl off, looking at each other in a way that reminds me that they are both far freer spirits thanI’ve ever been. Ellowyn grumbles her way to the bathroom, muttering about hergiant belly, but Zander makes her laugh when she comes back, then takes her hand and magicks them away.
The couples pair off, back to their lives together. Something that has become regular and a little depressing... exceptthis time, I’m not left alone.
Because Azrael stays here with me, as if he’s mine.
We should rest, I tell myself piously, even though neither one of us is a shop owner. I should tell him what room to sleepin so I can have mine back, so I can give my crystals a good cleanse and figure out what’s going on there.
Instead, he turns that dragon smile on me, and I feel it like his mouth all over my heated skin. “It’s very dark, Georgina. No moon to be seen. How about a ride?”
And I should say no. I should scold him. I’m not convinced the spell shrouding his magic works if he’s off flying around inhis dragon form, and I certainly shouldn’tencouragethat kind of behavior, especially when there’s a gossipy ancient raven wandering about keeping tabs on such things.
But I don’t.
9
