“There is a continuous circle that runs around your clitoral network. The stream goes from smooth to bumpy—presumably the bumps are what keep stimulating you.”
“Is there color?” She held on to his loose jacket, uncaring that she was supposed to be conversing with him.
“Red. Very, very red. Fire-engine red.”
“Can you detect any runes running in the stream? They might be disguised as something else, some small movement within the stream of red.”
“Yes. They look almost like the stream runs over rocks.”
“That bastard actually added in a protection spell. That’s why I haven’t been able to get rid of it or figure it out. It was hidden, protected and—”
“Julija, beloved, we have an audience. I love to hear you call that man names, but I would much rather remove these spells from your body. The more time we have to find and destroy the book all in one go, the better off we are.”
She took another deep cleansing breath.
That which was hidden so long in dark to conceal,
I now seek to reopen, reverse and reveal.
I call to the spirit of fire to trace,
Tracking each root of this evil’s embrace.
I command fire to burn each line of this dark,
Removing all traces of evil to charm.
Light to dark, dark to light,
I bring forth that which has been hidden from sight.
“Do you see any more runes? Any little waves like before? We can’t miss a single one.”
“No, they appear to be gone.” His tone dripped with disappointment.
She hid a smile, but she thumped his chest with her fist. She didn’t want to get overconfident, but if she could really break Barnabas’s spell after all this time, she would be overjoyed. The relief would be tremendous.
Lust, desire, sexual need,
That which runs through my body without thought or heed.
I call to my soul child to help me undo,
These thoughts that were planted to harm and abuse.
I call to the moon mother to join with my spell,
Following the bloodstream, I now cast out and dispel.
Remove from my body this continual need,
So that which remains is only heartfelt needs.
She waited a moment, holding her breath, sending up a silent prayer that it worked. For the first time in as long as she could remember, that terrible need was gone. Really gone. She wanted to dance. Instead, she looked up at him, beaming.
“We did it. Do you know how incredible it is to have actually destroyed a spell that a high mage put on me? I can’t believe that we could do that.”
“We can do anything. I told you, Julija, you are extraordinary. You should have all the confidence in the world.” He stepped back away from her and took her hand, once more gesturing that they continue their loop around the lake. “Hopefully, we find Iulian’s psychic print sooner rather than later.”
“I was kind of hoping we didn’t find it at all,” she said truthfully.
He smiled down at the top of her head. “We would leave this place and you know what would happen? You would say to me that we had to return.”
She started to protest, but she knew he was right. As much as she didn’t want to face Anatolie or Barnabas, she knew the dangers of that book. “When you think about it in terms of being just a book, it seems so ridiculous that it could cause this much worry.”
“I had little to do with mages, other than the obligatory training period of spells. Most of what I learned throughout the centuries, I took from those I met along the way. Most of those born mage that I came across were good people as far as I could discern. Later, when they were scattered after it came to light what Xavier was doing, most I heard of were ashamed.”
“How did you hear of them?”
“Carpathians shared mage knowledge with me.” He shrugged. “Even in the monastery, Fane would come across Carpathians, get all the news and bring it back to us. Other times, a few would come to the monastery looking for a little respite and they would bring news and more information.”
“You have a good network.”
“We have to. There are not many of us left in this world.”
As they neared the lake and once again began to circle it, Julija picked up various energies of campers and hikers, even those on horseback who’d visited the lake. The temperature dropped even more, so that the wind coming off the surface of the lake seemed to