Page 26 of Carnal Magic
I pushed up to my feet, staggering a little as if I’d drunk a glass or two of wine. My head spun. My knees trembled as I stepped closer to the cliff. To the dark cleft in the rock. A narrow crack the moonlight didn’t penetrate.
I took a deep, calming breath to steady myself. Then I stepped into the dark side of the mountain.
17
As in the dream from my first night on Redwine Mountain, I passed through thick, heavy steam. Too heavy to breathe. A sense of all-consuming darkness closing in, tightening… And then I was through. Steam still curled around me, but I drew in a deep, shaking breath. Rock curved around a bowled pool. Moonlight danced across the surface of the spring, illuminating the grotto.
Which was empty.
No negligent lord sat on a rocky throne. No hot men waited in the hot spring.
“Courage,” I whispered to myself as I gingerly stepped into the steaming pool.
The water was just as hot as I remembered. I eased a bit deeper, waiting for my skin to adjust. Sweat dripped down my face and neck in rivulets. My hair clung to my face and neck. The odor of minerals burned in my nose. Deeper. My foot slipped on a rock, dipping me another six inches deeper. Gasp. So hot. I breathed through the stinging heat. Another step. Another. One foot in front of the other.
With steamy water licking at the bottom of my jaw, I paused. I inched my toes forward, but I couldn’t feel any rocks, as if the ground opened up into a bottomless hole. I looked up at the midnight sky one last time. The sprinkling of stars across black velvet, dimmed by the brilliance of the gleaming moon. So beautiful.
“I’m Arwena Redwine,” I said aloud. My words bounced and echoed off the cliff walls. “Daughter of Layla, daughter of Rebekah, daughter of Martha, daughter of Katherine, daughter of Sara, daughter of Polly Redwine. She embraced you and walked as your goddess on this earth. I wish to follow in her footsteps.”
I hauled in a deep breath, straining my lungs. Then I pushed off the ledge and sank into the hot spring, letting water close over my head.
18
Ihung suspended, surrounded by wet heat. Just inches below the surface, moonlight streamed down through the water.
Then something latched on to my ankle and yanked me down.
Darkness closed in. Hot and tight and heavy. It didn’t feel like water any longer. So hot, like lava. Molten rock. The lifeblood of the mountain. It burned me alive, searing the flesh off my bones. Involuntarily, I opened my mouth to scream. Liquid filled my mouth, scalding hot and viscous, copper and iron and minerals. My ears ached as pressure built around me. My lungs burned. For air. For relief from the blistering liquid filling my throat.
So hot. Goddess. I didn’t want to die this way. Cooked alive.
I slipped free of crushing pressure. Floating, I slowly tumbled upright. Or the world turned upside down beneath me. My head swam and rolled, struggling to find my equilibrium. It was so dark that I couldn’t see anything. At least I didn’t hurt any longer, though my body felt light and unsubstantial.
Whatever had pulled me down still gripped my ankle, anchoring me so I didn’t float away into nothing. I swept my hands out around me, trying to tell if I was still in water or lava or something else entirely. If I still had skin, I couldn’t feel anything. Just emptiness. As if I passed through oblivion to the other side of eternity.
“Open your eyes now, Arwena.”
Hisvoice came from a great distance, a thin, low rumble. Thunder on the horizon. A storm slowly approaching, boiling and building with intensity high above the earth. Filled with lightning and furious winds, waiting to be unleashed. The tone of voice you didn’t hesitate to obey, no matter its volume.
I opened my eyes. The full moon gleamed in the circular disc of the midnight sky carved out by the dark cliff of the mountain. Confused, I lifted my hand, surprised that my skin wasn’t blistered and falling off the steamed flesh of my fingers. Water glistened on my arm. Wisps of steam curled around me, but the water wasn’t boiling hot any longer.
“You made it to me. You’re safe in my embrace.”
I turned my head toward his voice, but I couldn’t see him in the shadowed darkness beneath the cliff. Though I could feel arms beneath me. Supporting my back in the water. Arms beneath my feet and calves. My hips and lower back. My neck and shoulders. I rolled my head the opposite direction but couldn’t see anyone or anything through billowing steam.
“Are you real?”
“Yes,” echoed all around me.
“Give them shape,” he commanded in a low, silky voice that made me shiver. “Order them to prepare you.”
My voice trembled. “For what?”
He laughed, a deep, wicked chuckle. “For me.”
Despite floating in a hot spring surrounded by water, my throat was bone dry. I couldn’t seem to think. My skull had been blasted by heat, emptied out of every reasonable thought. Something moved inside me, making me twitch hard enough that water sloshed up in my face. It took me a moment to realize that was my own heartbeat.
What did I want them to look like? Do? What was my fantasy?
