Page 66 of A Touch Charmed

“Yeah.” I glanced at the tree line, to the pockets of darkness that formed between the stark white branches. It was too quiet. I didn’t trust it. “I wanted to know how the curse was formed and how he became the host for it, what had really happened back then, so maybe we’d get a better idea of how to fight it.”

I told Finn what happened when Nirah brought me to the edge of the forest and about the memory he’d pulled me into. Though I hadn’t seen nearly enough. The curse interfered before I could learn anything useful.

The real Nirah, the man beneath the curse, had tried to warn me. He wanted me to run. Which made me think he wasn’t in full control of his actions. He was more of a puppet. If the curse was the opposite of magic, it wouldn’t work with its host. It would use him and push him and drain him, but keep him alive. That would explain why he was immortal.

Finn tensed when something snapped in the distance, but it was too far away from the dead zone to be another attack. “You think the curse is controlling Nirah?”

“Yeah.” Something had happened to him. The memory he pulled me into had been clogged with so much grief, I could taste it in the air. There was so much more to the story, though. So much information we were missing. “I’m sorry.”

The sadness and regret that permeated Nirah’s memory served as a bitter reminder that life moved fast. Holding onto doubt only wasted the precious little time we had together. I’d already promised myself I’d be loud where I needed to be this time around with Finn, but seeing just a glimpse of where Nirah had come from solidified that for me.

Finn tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “What are you sorry for?”

“I’m sorry I ran when I found that ring.” The insecure, silent side that still lived within me wanted to avert my gaze, but the stronger, more confident person I’d become took responsibility when she screwed up and met it head on. “I put all of us in danger by being careless. It doesn’t matter who you bought it for. You’re with me now.”

A soft light touched his dark blue eyes. “I bought that ring for you. Seven years ago.”

My heart took a flying leap off the end of a steep cliff. I’d hoped, but I didn’t know.

I should’ve known.

We’d never talked about marriage in concrete terms back then. We both made references to the future, but nothing solid or planned out. My fault for making assumptions. Especially when there was nothing Finn liked more than surprises.

“I fucked up in more ways than one that night everything went down.” He cupped my neck, as if touching me anchored him for what he needed to say. “When you said you weren’t coming home for winter break, I got scared I was losing you.”

“Finn.” I rubbed my hands over his chest. “You’ve never lost me. Not once in the last seven years. My heart has been with you the whole time.”

“I’m sorry too.” He tugged me against him, plunging his hand into my hair as he held me against his rapidly beating heart. “I should’ve said that seven years ago. Instead of walking away, I should’ve stayed and apologized.”

“And I should’ve fought for us, instead of letting my insecurities speak for me.” Never again would I believe the word of others before talking to Finn. Never again would I let doubt steal my joy. Never again would I let this man go. “I won’t go quiet again.”

“I won’t walk away again. I’m here for the hard shit, not just the easy times.” He traced my cheek with his fingers. “I love you, Thora.”

“I love you, Finn.” I plunged my hands into his silky hair, letting the strands slip between my fingers as I pulled him closer. “With everything that I have and everything that I am.”

Pushing up on my toes, I kissed him. As his breezy blue energy flowed into me, my magic tangled with his. Clear and pearlescent light surrounded us in a whirlwind. It lit up the clearing, bathing it in a warm glow as it swooped in and around the space between our bodies. My hair lifted, swirling over me like a crown of auburn as our light began to meld together. A tight braid of clear and pearlescent overlapped each other. It shot into the night sky and burst over our heads before raining down tiny diamonds with a rainbow hue.

I raised my hands to the air and let the sparkles touch my fingertips. The beam of light reversed. Magic flowed back into our palms. I felt more solid, more whole, like my missing half had finally clicked into place. I let out a laugh, light and airy and full of joy, and within a blink, I moved to the other side of the dead zone.

I now had Finn’s speed power.

“It’s so weird.” I danced around Finn, who’d also let his speed power go, as a blade of grass I’d tossed into the air hung suspended, still making its slow descent to the ground. “You weren’t kidding about that feeling.”

I pressed a hand to my stomach. My magic went wild inside of me as my new powers blended with my old, enhancing each other. It felt like I was at the top of a rollercoaster, frozen there, forever trapped on that edge of anticipation. Dragging time to a near standstill would take some getting used to. It threw the rest of my senses off.

“At least now I can take the pain for you.” Finn had scraped his hand on a branch and watched in fascination as it healed. “No more standing between me and poison arrows.”

Having two of us on the island who had speed and healing powers would change everything. We only needed a five-minute charge to make it anywhere on the island without each other. That meant we could split up and heal more than one person at a time. It pretty much rendered the curse’s physical attacks useless.

“Let’s see what else our magic can do, since we’re here,” I said.

We held hands and our palms gleamed with a pearly clear light as we pushed our magic against each other. A swift wind whipped across the clearing, rippling the dead grass like waves across the ocean. The twinkling diamonds that hung suspended in the air glowed brighter, but otherwise, nothing new happened.

“Huh.” I pursed my lips. “I was kind of expecting more than that.”

Finn pulled me against him. “Remember what we had to do the night on the beach?”

I gave him a wry grin. “I think you just want to kiss me.”

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