Page 27 of Hexes & Hearts


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What did I write on that candle to cause all of this?

I reach for the candle with a shaking hand; I caused this. It is all my fault.

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Clarity & Truth Spell

When intuition fails you and you’re desperate for answers do the following:

You’ll need a purple candle first. Purple for wisdom and psychic abilities. Lapis or clear quartz will work well as a crystal to provide energy. Lapis for truth and spiritual awareness.

Light your candle, write a petition on paper that will burn. Whatever truth you seek, ask for it to reveal itself to you. Hold the crystal in your left hand, the paper with your petition in the right. Stare at your flame, envisioning the light getting brighter and brighter. Your world is filled with bright white light shining down on you. Feel it on your skin. Know that you are surrounded by this light.

Chant the incantation: The truth comes to me and surrounds me. I know exactly where it is.

Then burn your petition and have gratitude knowing the clarity and truth will seek you out as you blow out the flame. Put the crystal under your pillow and in your dreams you’ll see the truth. So mote it be.

Chapter Ten

Ryker

The peace is only disturbed by my shock at such peace. I sleep and sleep, deeper than I have in years. I don’t know that I’ve known comfort like this.

The witch is powerful…but the sleep itself stirred my wolf and his own needs. Several times, I become aware that I’m dreaming. In my dreams, I’m walking across the field outside Idalis’s cottage in the early morning, the dew still wet on the grass and the air fresh and clean in my face. In some of the dreams, I have my pack on my back, its weight a comforting presence. In others, I don’t have it, and I can tell from the feel of my clothes that they are not my uniform and leather armor.

Sometimes, Idalis walks next to me, a quiet smile on her beautiful face. She laughs at what I say, though I do not truly understand the words that come out of my mouth. It’s a bewitching sound. A sound that soothes the depths of my soul. There is no fighting, no war, only peace with her beside me.

Sometimes, she is not there, and I’m determined to find her. Nothing will stop me from reaching the place where she has gone. I do not have a map, and I do not know where it is, but I know nothing that appears before me will prevent me from finding her again. It may slow me, or hurt me, but it cannot overcome me. The fear is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. We must find her. My wolf howls in pain without her.

When I drift closer to wakefulness, the creaking of the cottage surrounds me. The gentle hiss of the wind and the pitter-patter of the rain on the roof. It’s a quiet place when the storm settles. Birds cry in the sky as they pass.

Though I am not entirely used to the sounds, none of them alarm me. I’m still so tired that I simply drift off again.

At some point, there is a new heaviness on my body. It covers me like the blankets, and I sink into an even deeper sleep—one in which I do not dream. I am not aware of the world at all.

It is true rest, something I have not experienced since I was a child. I must’ve rested deeply then—I was a child, after all, and children cannot be kept from their rest. But as an adult and a soldier, there has never been a time when I did not have to keep one ear pricked for approaching danger or the footsteps of a commander or a call to battle. I’ve always been on alert, waiting for orders. My lone wolf scarred but at attention and waiting for purpose. I’ve spent so long in readiness for the next task set before me that I had forgotten what it was like to rest like this. To feel so complete. To be with her.

The most beautiful witch. Who soothes my soul. Who accompanies my wolf.

Idalis’s spell must have been a good one, because even her presence does not pull me from the bed. I never forget that she is there—unless I am in that dreamless sleep—but my wolf is satisfied that she is close, and even he curls up to rest and does not grow impatient.

In one dream, I’m crossing the fields, but Idalis is not with me. Her scent is on the air, strong and pure, and I let my wolf nose it as much as he wants, following his lead on which way to go.

Her cottage is ahead of me, somewhere in the moonlight, and my wolf howls with the joy of an impending hunt. My muscles are warm and loose, and my heart thrums with anticipation. She’s there. She’s there. My mate.

The love, the desire, the need to be beside her… it’s all-consuming.

I’m so sure of it in the dream. Idalis is my mate, made for me and I her. So mote it be. The dark skies are clear above me, filled with moons and stars, and I can see for miles across the field.

Finally, I see it, there in the distance. The cottage is a dark shadow against the darker tree line, as it was the night of the storm, but light glows from behind the shutters, outlining each window and the door.

The wind stirs, carrying the sound of Idalis’s laughter. I adjust my pack on my back. This is one of the dreams where I have it, then. That single touch tells me that it is heavy with the florals, rolled up into bundles. I have collected twice as many as I need for my wedding.

I’ve gathered the florals for Idalis so that we have abundant power for our ceremony.