morning they would be at Haven. Despite their flagging magical strength, Torin was tempted to continue on, get this business done. But he didn’t dare chance it.
If Shea needed him, he must have his full powers to draw on.
“I know,” she said, deliberately avoiding looking at the Artifact.
Torin understood. He too felt the pull of the dark reaching for him and she must feel it even more so. Shea was a direct descendant of its creators. A single link in a long chain. It reacted to her presence like a living thing and maybe, he thought, that was exactly what it was. Created from the breath and magic of the original coven, it was brought to life by the powers of the universe. Was it so hard to imagine that over time, it would grow stronger?
Become something else?
That thought was more disturbing than he liked.
Shea’s gaze moved over open fields and a lake where the reflection of the nearly full moon shone like a spotlight from the heavens. Then she lifted her eyes to the sky and the moon itself, high overhead. “It’s almost full now. Tomorrow, our month is gone.”
“And we’ve succeeded.”
“Have we?” She flicked an uneasy glance at the Artifact and worry glittered in her green eyes. Rubbing her hands up and down her arms as if to fight off a soul-deep chill, she reminded him, “That thing is still here. Its temptation is still buzzing around us. We haven’t gotten it to Haven yet. Anything could happen. For all we know, there’s another ambush aimed at us right this minute.”
“We’re safe here, Shea.”
She looked at him. “How do you know?”
He moved around the fire to sit beside her, then drew her onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her. Leaning back against the gnarled trunk of one of the centuriesold yew trees, he said, “We set up wards, remember? No one can see us. No one will find us. Between both of our magics, we’re safe.”
“But that thing,” she argued, refusing to look toward the Artifact again, “it doesn’t want to be locked up, Torin. I can feel it.”
“Whatever it is, it won’t beat us,” he said, tipping her chin up to look directly into her eyes. “Not if we stand together.”
“How can you even trust me?” she asked. “I touched it and changed.”
“As did I,” he reminded her.
“Yes, but you didn’t want the change. That’s the difference—I did,” she admitted. “At least, a part of me did. The same part that still wants to grab that thing and use it as it was meant to be used.”
He shook his head and slid one hand beneath the hem of her shirt. His fingers unerringly found the tattoo encircling her breast. She shivered as he stroked each individual flame and teased her nipple until she wanted to squirm in need.
“How can I not trust you?” he countered. “You felt the pull of it. Your body and heart changed beneath its magics and still you resisted. You turned your back on what it promised. You chose atonement. You chose to do the right thing and you always will.”
“I wish I were that sure,” she admitted.
“You should be,” he insisted. “You’re not the witch you were so long ago. You’ve grown through the centuries. Your soul has been tested time and again and always you have met the challenges you faced with your head high and your honor intact.”
She smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder while his fingers continued to caress her branding tattoo. “If I remember those past lives correctly, it was pretty close a time or two. I didn’t always want to do the right thing.”
“True,” he acknowledged. “But you did, whether you wanted to or not. I was there, remember. Even when we weren’t physically together, I was there, watching over you. And I saw your growth. I saw you fight to become the soul you are today. I have no doubts about your heart, Shea. How can I?”
She sighed softly and felt just a tiny bit of the weight on her shoulders slide free. “You make me feel as if it’s all going to work out. As if I really am who you believe me to be.”
“Trust me in this, Shea. You are a part of me.” He nudged her face up so that he could look into her eyes and she could read the truth of his words shining out at her. “You are the best part of me. We are one and