His answering laughter was genuine, and as it echoed through the cold night, I felt the faintest stirrings of something I hadn’t expected: hope. I pushed myself off the log. “Don’t forget to feed tonight. You need your strength.”
Tyson nodded but otherwise remained thankfully silent. I stalked back to my tent, desperate to see my wife.
Chapter 16
L’Invocation
CLAIRE
The following night came too quickly.
I never thought I’d be on my knees—in the snow, no less—preparing to ask a demon for power. Yet here I was, preparing the ritual circle under lantern light. Every sound seemed amplified: the crunch of snow under my knees, the howl of wind slicing through the trees, the hiss of my own breath. Nerves and anticipation had my hands shaking, barely able to grasp the thin wand Devlinn had fashioned for me. The winter chill had stolen the feeling from my fingers, but I wasn’t cold. Heat was burning beneath my skin like I was lit from within.
My vampire mate had insisted on attending the spell and wouldn’t hear otherwise, no matter how many times I insisted his duty was with the army. He was hovering just beyond the circle, beside Tansy, like an inkblot in the snowy clearing. The only observers besides my wolves, my friends, and my husband were the guards stationed nearby.
Bastien still didn’t know that I intended to open a channel to a demon. I hoped his ignorance of dark magick rituals would make it easy to explain this away. Perhaps I should’ve just told him the truth about my intentions, but he was onedge already. And I feared that if I told him what we planned, we’d already be making the long, cold march through the graveyard.
“Are you wearing anything that conducts magick?” Devlinn asked through chattering teeth from just outside the circle. I shook my head. “What about an amulet?”
I stilled, my gaze finding Bastien’s. I wasn’t wearing an amulet, but I was wearing something else of great importance. My bloodstone.
“Yes.”
“Then it has to come off,” Devlinn insisted. “It could interfere with the spell.”
I didn’t want to take it off, but I’d already come too far. Carefully, I set down the wand and went to pull my hair back.
“Stop.”
It was Bastien.
And while he didn’t agree with any of this, he came to stand behind me with the rigidity of a man performing a task he wished belonged to someone else. Someone who didn’t know the taste of my mouth or the sound I made when he touched the back of my knees. Someone who hadn’t whisperedI love youagainst my belly in the dark quiet of our bed. Or who hadn’t vowed to spend his life keeping me safe.
When he brushed my hair to the side, cold air kissed the back of my neck. A soft, involuntary shudder swept over me. The wind was so cold, even his fingers felt warm as they found the clasp on the chain. I had to fight the urge to lean back into him, and I had the sense he was fighting the urge to pull me into his arms and carry me back to our tent.
But we both resisted temptation. Carefully, he removed the chain he’d given me. As soon as it was off, an emptiness settled in my heart.
“Shall I keep this secured for you?” he asked. His wordsheld a dozen meanings only I could hear.Tell me when I can give this back. Tell me when I can breathe again.
I nodded once, and he coiled the gold chain into his fist. I went to touch the empty place where the bloodstone had sat against my chest, but I stopped myself when I saw the way Devlinn and Tansy were watching us.
I told myself it would all be worth it when the spell worked.
“Kindly take a step back from the circle, Your Grace,” Devlinn requested.
Bastien glared murderously at the red-haired witch.
“Please,”I said through our bond. He drew in a long breath, then took a measured step back. Still close enough that he could lean forward and grab me if needed.
“You know what to do now,” Devlinn reassured me.
We’d rehearsed the spell dozens of times. It was now or never.
Tansy gave me an encouraging smile. “You’ve got this.”
I blew out a nervous breath, then lifted the horn into the air. “This circle is open. Let none disturb it.” Then I slammed the horn against the frozen earth, embracing the very darkness I had once prayed would die out of the world.
A wave of energy reverberated through the air. And the wind began to pick up speed, circling around me, lifting my hair.
