how to weave spells from one of Ursula Shipton’s apprentices.” Sarah’s voice held a note of real respect.
“Then we haven’t lost everything,” Vivian said softly, “so long as we don’t lose you.”
Abby and Caleb packed their van with chairs, leftovers, and children. I was on the driveway, waving good-bye, when Vivian approached me, a container of potato salad in one hand.
“If you want Sarah to snap out of her funk and stop staring at that tree, tell her more about weaving.
Show her how you do it—insofar as you can.”
“I’m still not very good at it, Vivian.”
“All the more reason to enlist Sarah’s help. She may not be a weaver, but Sarah knows more about the architecture of spells than any witch I’ve ever met. It will give her a purpose, now that Emily is gone.” Vivian gave my hand an encouraging squeeze.
“And the coven?”
“Caleb says this is a test,” she replied. “Let’s see if we can pass it.”
Vivian pulled down the driveway, her car’s headlights sweeping the old fence. I returned to the house, turned off the lights, and climbed the stairs to my husband.
“Did you lock the front door?” Matthew asked, putting down his book. He was stretched out on the bed, which was barely long enough to contain him.
“I couldn’t. It’s a dead bolt, and Sarah lost the key.” My eyes strayed to the key to our bedroom door, which the house had helpfully supplied on an earlier occasion. The memories of that night pushed my lips up into a smile.
“Dr. Bishop, are you feeling wanton?” Matthew’s tone was as seductive as a caress.
“We’re married.” I shucked off my shoes and reached for the top button on my seersucker shirt.
“It’s my wifely duty to have carnal desires where you’re concerned.”
“And it’s my husbandly obligation to satisfy them.” Matthew moved from the bed to the bureau at the speed of light. He gently replaced my fingers with his own and slid the button through its hole. Then he moved on to the next, and the next. Each inch of revealed flesh earned a kiss, a soft press of teeth.
Five buttons later I was shivering slightly in the humid summer air.
“How strange that you’re shivering,” he murmured, sliding his hands around to release the clasp on my bra. Matthew brushed his lips over the crescent-shaped scar near my heart. “You don’t feel cold.”
“It’s all relative, vampire.” I tightened my fingers in his hair, and he chuckled. “Now, are you going to love me, or do you just want to take my temperature?”
Later I held my hand up before me, turning it this way and that in the silver light. The middle and ring fingers on my left hand each bore a colored line, one the shade of a moonbeam and the other as gold as the sun. The vestiges of the other cords had faded slightly, though a pearly knot was still barely visible on the pale flesh of each wrist.
“What do you think it all means?” Matthew asked, his lips moving against my hair while his fingers traced figure eights and circles on my shoulders.
“That you’ve married the tattooed lady—or someone possessed by aliens.” Between the new lives rooting within me, Corra, and now my weaver’s cords, I was beginning to feel crowded inside my own skin.
“I was proud of you tonight. You thought of a way to save Grace so quickly.”
“I didn’t think at all. When Grace screamed, it flipped some switch in me. I was all instinct then.” I twisted in his arms. “Is that dragon thing still on my back?”
“Yes. And it’s darker than it was before.” Matthew’s hands slid around my waist, and he turned me back to face him. “Any theories as to why?”
“Not yet.” The answer was just out of my reach. I could feel it, waiting for me.
“Perhaps it has something to do with your power. It’s stronger now than it’s ever been.” Matthew carried my wrist to his mouth. He drank in my scent, then pressed his lips to my veins. “You still give off the scent of summer lightning, but now there’s also a note like dynamite when the lit fuse first touches the powder.”
“I have enough power. I don’t want any more,” I said, burrowing into Matthew.
But since we’d returned to Madison, a dark desire was stirring in my blood.
Liar, whispered a familiar voice.
My skin prickled as if a thousand witches were looking at me. But it was only one creature who watched me now: the goddess.