far younger, and he made certain you had no idea what a little powerhouse you really are.”
She found herself smiling. She didn’t understand how that could be possible, not under the circumstances, when they were in the midst of unseen enemies, but Isai had a way of making her feel confident in herself. In him. In anything they did.
“Get rid of this pesky spell and any other hold Barnabas may have put on you. Then we can find this book. I am ready to destroy it and take you back to the compound to meet the others. If we are very lucky, my brethren have heeded my call.”
“Your call?”
“I sent for them last rising. They are a great distance from here, but I believe one or two will come. I did not tell you because we must count only on each other.”
“One or two?” she echoed. “I was thinking an army.”
“That is an army.”
She laughed and reached up for him. He obliged immediately, leaning down to kiss her. The moment he did, the world was right. He could kiss like sin, but it felt like heaven. There was something so perfect about the way he held her. About the way his mouth moved over hers. It didn’t matter if he was gentle or demanding, she felt love. She felt it. When he lifted his head and smiled down at her, her heart did a little curious shift.
“You ready to get this done?”
She nodded.
“Stay facing me as if we are still talking. Discussing what to do. Every now and then look toward the lake. I will be doing the same, following your lead. At the same time, I will be able to tell you what your throat looks like and if there are any other places Barnabas has left a command for you.”
Julija took a deep cleansing breath and murmured the revealing spell.
Light of life, help me to see,
That which was left behind to do harm to me.
She waited, her heart beating a little too fast. It was never a good thing to have a spell left behind by a high mage. Once entrenched, they could be difficult to remove. She’d been having panic attacks for quite some time.
“I can see small trails of what looks like blue running in tiny streams down your throat. Almost wispy, but definitely blue. The threads are so thin they are barely there, but there are several.”
Julija frowned. “Blue? That’s odd. What the heck did he use?” She thought about it for a moment. Isai didn’t hurry her in the least. She loved him for that. It took a moment to remember to look toward the lake and gesture.
Immediately Isai followed her lead, looking in the direction she indicated, shaking his head and murmuring nonsense to her. “If the lake was not so cold and we did not have such an audience, I would suggest we swim there together. You naked of course.”
She burst out laughing. He was wonderful. He had a way of freeing the lock on her brain, allowing her to think. Blue.
Time to remember that which has been forgot,
Show me the way to that which was lost.
It took a moment before she remembered the drink composed of blue flowers. She was certain the poisonous effect was what was blocking her fifth chakra.
Vishhuddha, center of communication, element of Aether, color of blue,
Deadly wolfsbane, I call to you.
I seek to reopen that which lies in repose,
Establishing balance to that which can close.
Power of Akasha, remove this blight,
Replacing it with healing light.
“Perfect. No more blue.” Isai sounded admiring.
Julija felt much better having removed the high mage’s spell. She should have suspected. “Any others?”
“Only the one on your sex.”
“Are you going to describe what you see?”
“I am giving that a lot of thought. This particular spell benefits me.”
She glared up at him. “I would have thought a man such as yourself would never need such a thing as a spell. In any case, if we really needed one, I could provide it for you.”
“You think I need a spell to keep up?”
She pretended to think it over and then nodded slowly. “I fight this particular spell and have gotten rather good at it, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to fight my natural attraction to you and you would have no choice but to try to keep up. You’d beg me to put a spell on you.”
This time it was Isai who laughed. She loved the sound of it. He sounded as