shared in that ecclesiastic connection, but no more. But here, with Killian, she was herself again, dancing and laughing and celebrating the beauty of being young and alive forever.
The water swelled and rose, erupting in a playful fountain that shone with dazzling light, her magic expanding as her joy grew, Killian laughing and smiling in wonderment. The very earth seemed to bless them, the grass wet and dewy, the sound of the wind whistling a complementary melody through the trees. She dove into the water and swam to the deepest part of the pond, and when she came up again Killian put his arms around her waist and pulled her toward him. She kissed him back and felt the deep passion of his kisses. Her heart beat faster and faster, as his hands traced circles around her body, over her breasts, between her legs. He brought her up on the riverbank and lay on top of her.
She closed her eyes and began to consecrate the circle, calling up the earth and water elementals to bear witness to their union. She began to chant and sing under her breath. The woods were alive with magic; every living thing, from the blade of grass to the graceful canopy of oak trees above, thrummed with a celebration of their love.
"I give . . ." I give myself to you, she would have said, except she was not able to finish the sentence, as the skies broke with a crash of thunder and lightning, and Killian was pulled away from her body; the hot electricity between them instantly cooled. The magic ended. The elementals vanished. Killian was gone.
Freya opened her eyes. She was back in her bedroom and her phone was ringing. She picked it up. "Darling?" a concerned voice asked.
"Bran!" Her relief was overwhelming. She fell back against her pillows and heaved a sigh. She was saved - saved from herself again, and from Killian.
"I missed you - I have a few minutes before my connection to Oslo so I thought I'd call," he said. "I'm sorry to wake you."
"I'm so glad you did," Freya said, shaking. What just happened? What had she done? She had almost gone and married Killian for god's sake. If she had been able to say the words, it was over - what the gods have wrought no one could tear asunder - that was the rule, that was how it worked, how it always had been. . . . She would have been his and only his always and forever. It would have been the end of everything.
She clung to the phone and Bran's voice, willing the last vestiges of the dream away, until her heart stopped pounding and she fell asleep once again to the sound of the ocean waves lapping against the shore.
Chapter eighteen
The Patron Saint of Lost Causes
Why her daughter had promised this miracle Joanna did not know. She knew, of course, that Ingrid had set up something of a clinic in the library, doling out her brand of practical charms and domestic talismans while Freya was now offering her custom concoctions in a brand-new cocktail menu at the North Inn Bar. Both endeavors were clearly against the restriction, and yet Joanna could not find it in her heart to scold her daughters for their actions or demand that they stop. As she had overheard the girls say to each other the other day, it wasn't as if she were completely innocent of the matter either. Already someone had reported a UFO sighting in the area after she had taken off to the skies the other day - Joanna hadn't been as careful with the cloud cover as she had thought. UFOs indeed! She had not gained that much weight, had she?
At first she had told Ingrid there was no way she was going to do it; it was simply out of the question. She was still unnerved by her experience after the benefit; at night she could feel the vines begin to slide around her legs and suffocate her mouth. Joanna had performed a check of the seam, which she discovered had frayed in certain places. She refrained from mentioning anything to her daughters, since she did not want to worry them until she knew what it was.
Also, it was one thing to make toy soldiers run around and fix a burned pie; it was quite another to perform the Lazarus-like undertaking her eldest was asking her to do. This was resurrection they