“Can I interrupt this unbearably tense moment?” Finnegan cut in, his brows arched as he looked between us. “You two seem like you’re about to eat each other, but I’m trying to enjoy this food table.”
Reagan answered him through clenched teeth, “So leave.”
Finn chuckled. “I would, except that you’re being called to start the Rite.”
Reagan couldn’t have appeared more disinterested in the Rite if he tried. With a heavy inhale, he drained the rest of his drink in one long gulp, setting the glass down. “I’ll be back soon.”
Something inside me stirred, resisting the thought of parting from him, as if it would be painful. I wanted to slap myself at the thought. The elven dust must have been ruling my system for me to be this unhinged. I bit my lip to keep myself from asking him to stay. He caught that too, and his fingers found my chin, freeing my lip from my teeth before he leaned down and captured it with his mouth.
“Bleeding skies,” Finnegan muttered, rolling his neck.
Reagan broke the touch, his lips brushing mine as he pulled away.
“You’d better be free of that dust before I come back.”
Without another word, he turned and strode toward the centre of the courtyard.
???
People gathered around the oak tree.
A woman walked in front of me, her cerulean silk robe adorned with odd symbols sewn into the hem. A vertical line that trifurcated in different directions was repeated several times,distributed between an inverted square U and another symbol with two horizontal lines zigzagging across each other.
The memory of a book in the study rose to my mind, and I tried to remember its title. It was something with the letter R that was on the tip of my tongue.
A few men wore long robes, and I noticed the strange symbols again. They appeared in other forms, branded in the texture and embroidered on the fabrics.
Barracus, who was now closer to the centre, observing as the Mage Lord positioned himself next to the tree, also wore a long black robe with a high collar and strings connecting at the middle of his chest, secured by metal clasps on both sides. Cerridwen was near him and another woman. She wore a maroon gown with a high collar of feathers that opened on both sides of her face.
“The best part of the night.” Her voice reached me before I saw her.
Alameda settled next to me, Coriander on her heels, both of them staring at the tree. Reagan placed his hand on the trunk, his mouth moving.
One glance to my side showed me exactly what he must have seen in my eyes. Alameda’s brown irises were circled by a thin gold line.
“How is the elven dust for you, Jane?” Coriander asked, looking enlivened.
“It’s more intense than I’m used to,” I answered, remembering the strong urge to dance and tear at Reagan’s clothes. Both urges had already been there, but somehow intensified.
The Mage Lord chuckled. “Yes, your senses are heightened, and your inhibitions lowered. It’s quite normal.”
As if I had only noticed now, I surveyed the courtyard with a different sight, a better one. The keen scent of frost and forestwas stronger, feeding my sense of awareness of being around nature.
From a significant distance, I could clearly see the glowing veins in Reagan’s hand, connected with the trunk, illuminating the cracks between the wood and forming pale blue pathways that slowly reached the leaves.
“He’s calling on the lights.” Alameda beamed, eyes locked on the tree that was now illuminated by the wisps from within.
Coriander placed his hands on Alameda’s shoulders.
In a second, those wisps that covered almost every surface of branches and leaves dimmed like closing eyelids. We were left in the dark with only the moonlight and the centre tree brightening the space. I was still able to find the half-illuminated faces of Gwinifer and Finnegan between the shadowed heads of the others. They were next to someone whom I recognised as a battle mage.
A beam of pale light broke through the top of the tree, cutting through the night. The beam slowly turned into a ray, its brightness becoming stronger and clearer. I could see small, almost imperceptible pinpricks of light flowing inside the opaque beam.
I watched almost without blinking as the light shifted and changed again. Green, violet, and teal colours streaked through the white. The black shapes of trees and heads contrasted with the marvellous sight of the aurora lights shining over the peaks of the mountains and the snow.
Alameda held her palm out, facing the ground, with Coriander following suit. Luminous lights emerged across the entire courtyard, radiating from every mage.
It was beautiful, charged.
