Indigo Spell

by Rachel Carrington

  She flopped back against the cushion and draped one arm over her eyes. “I’m dreaming. I didn’t really wake up to a hurricane. I’m still dreaming. I still have a good eighteen hours to get out of Charleston before the hurricane hits. I’ve got plenty of time. I’m going to close my eyes now and this, all of this,” she swept out a hand, “will disappear.” She closed her eyes, squeezed them tightly.

  “I’m not going to go away,” Jaxon warned.

  She cracked open one eye. “Couldn’t you humor me?”

  His lips twitched and he brushed his knuckles down her cheek. “I wish I could but you’ve already seen too much.”

  She began to shake, the terrors of the night accompanied by the incomprehensible journey to this new place—wherever it was—were too much for her to grasp. Her teeth chattered and she tugged her hand free from his grasp to wrap her arms around her body.

  Jaxon waved a hand over her length and a thick afghan provided warmth. Tess’ mouth fell open but she didn’t give voice to the question in her mind.

  “You need to sleep. When you wake up, we can talk.”

  “You’re right. I should sleep. Maybe then I could pretend this is all some weird dream caused by too much pasta last night. And even if it isn’t a dream, I don’t really want to know how you did all that.” She paused and dragged a hand through her tangled hair. Somewhere in the midst of the journey, she’d lost her ponytail holder. She didn’t know why she thought about something so mundane. Maybe it helped to keep her grounded to reality. All of this really wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. Peering up at Jaxon, she continued in an almost inaudible voice. “You stopped the rain and that wall of water, well, I don’t even know where to begin with that one.”

  “You’re tired.” He brushed away her hands and pushed her hair back behind her ears. “Sleep now.”

  Tess shook her head. “No, I don’t think I want to sleep…at least not until you answer one question.”

  Jaxon’s hand hovered near her face, his fingertips lightly brushing her skin. “Just one.”

  “Okay, but before I ask, please don’t try to tell me what happened a few minutes ago was just a magic trick you learned in high school because frankly I don’t even think Houdini could have pulled that one off. So I’m asking you to answer me honestly.”

  He didn’t look away and as his silver eyes met her face, she knew his answer wasn’t going to be a simple one. “I wouldn’t think of answering you any other way.”

  “What are you?” Her voice broke on a croak.

  “I’m a wizard.” The three simple words were enough to send Tess into a dark, unconscious sleep.

  * * * * *

  “Wizard. As in Merlin?” Tess came awake slowly, blinking groggily while Jaxon stood across the room watching her.

  He moved to her side instantly, tucked the blankets back around her body. A few minutes after she’d fallen asleep, he’d changed her into a nightgown with a blink and moved her to the king-size bed in his bedroom. And there he’d sat watching her sleep, fear compelling him to stay near her. He’d come close to losing her. Had he gotten to her house a minute later, he would have missed her, lost her forever. The thought terrified him. The power of their connection scared him even more.

  He sat down on the edge of the bed, needing to be near her. “Something like that, yes.”

  “So you do magic tricks?”

  The confusion in her voice made him smile. “Not tricks. Just magic.”

  “And that thing you did with the water and the rain, that’s the type of stuff you do?”

  “Only when necessary. It was necessary to save your life. Had I been able to save you without magic, I would have.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you aren’t supposed to know about me.”

  “I thought wizards had long white hair and beards.” Tess reached up to touch his face.

  He caught her hand and held it pressed against his cheek. “Only those who have chosen to grow old.”

  “You can choose not to grow old? I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at that.”

  “Actually you should. I’m sure there will be more surprises before the day is through.”

  “I always knew there was something different about you.” Tess propped herself up on her elbows and took a look around the room. “So if I’m not in South Carolina, where am I?”

  “One surprise at a time.” Jaxon pushed her back down against the pillows with gentle hands on her shoulders. “You need to get some more rest. I’m going to make you something to eat.”

  “Make as in cook it over a stove or make as in conjure something up out of thin air?” She huddled beneath the blankets, her eyes filled with suspicion.

  This was going to be interesting. He sighed and stood up. “The magic isn’t all of who I am. Yes, I am a wizard but I am also a man.”

  “A man with extraordinary abilities.”

  “True, but you are safe with me. I would never harm you or attempt to frighten you in any way.”

  “It’s too late for that. You took twenty years off my life with that magic stunt of yours.”

  Jaxon wanted to tell her he could give her back those years but now wasn’t the time. The summons just arrived. He’d been expecting it. The Assembly waited for him. And he had no doubt he would be subjected to a verbal spanking. He bent down, kissed her cheek and backed away from the bed. “I’ll be back shortly. Get some more sleep.”

  * * * * *

  It had been a long time since Jaxon had seen all the members of the Assembly congregated together and now, seated around the large oval table, they all wore matching frowns and indigo robes. And from the silence in the room, he could only assume this wouldn’t be a pleasant meeting.

  “Did you think we would not know what you had done?” Andion, a powerful member of the Assembly with little compassion for those wizards who stepped across the invisible lines in the sand, posed the first question.

  Jaxon didn’t sit. He stood with his back pressed against the heavy wooden door, his eyes scanning the room. He noticed his father sitting to Falcon’s right, his mother to his left. Besides Andion, the room held Braeden, Jaxon’s older brother by a century, Rane, his younger brother, Nexon, a wily wizard who much preferred to hold his tongue than to voice any dissenting opinion, and Jeridan, his father’s brother. It would appear his entire family had been assembled to witness his public reprimand.

  “I knew.” Jaxon kept his voice quiet, yet it disturbed the members of the Assembly. Some shifted, trading glances with one another. There could be no mistaking the hardness of his tone. He would not back down, which would make their task much more difficult.

  “I had asked you not to see this woman anymore,” Falcon inserted, his fingers pressed together in a gesture of disapproval.

  “And I told you I would see her again.” Jaxon walked toward the table. “She would have died had I not intervened.”

  “Perhaps that would have been for the best.” Andion drew Jaxon’s attention once more.

  His eyes narrowed, he approached, coming within a few feet of the disapproving wizard. “You would have let her die.”

  “We are not discussing what I would have done, Jaxon. We are discussing what you have done. You have made this woman aware of what you truly are. To that end, you have affected us all.”

  Jaxon swept a hand around the room and an arc of fire circled his head. “That is what this is all about? I have opened myself up to a mortal and it is the beginning of the end? Is that what you think? Tess is not just a mortal to me.” Tempers flared and the flames sizzled across the marble floors. Not a wizard in the room could miss the palpable tension on Jaxon’s face.

  Falcon raised his hand to quiet the dissenting voices in the room. “You are in love with her. So you have said.”

  The urge to snap back was strong. “It is true.”

  “We did not just bring you here to discuss your involvement with this woman,” the Assembly’s leader continued.
r />   “Her name is Tess Montgomery.” Jaxon locked eyes with his mentor, refusing to back down.

  Falcon accepted the resistance with a short inclination of his head. “Be seated. We have much to discuss.”

  Uneasiness crowded the features of his family and friends. A dark urgency swarmed the room and in an instant, Jaxon knew. His jaw hardened, his eyes narrowed. “The Coven of Allesandra is about to rise again.”

  His mother and father stared at their son, speaking in unison, “How could you know that?”

  “I am not sure how I know. I feel it. I feel them. Did I guess correctly then?” He directed the question toward the leader.

  “It is true. They have gained power as evidenced by the hurricane.”

  The hurricane? “What are you saying?” Though his voice was whisper-quiet, no one could miss the underlying steel.

  Falcon didn’t look away from Jaxon’s glower. “Did you really think the hurricane’s rapid approach was without assistance?”

  Jaxon hadn’t considered it. His only thought had been protecting Tess. His jaw tightened. “Why would they try to kill her? They don’t even know her.”

  Andion snorted, a most undignified act for such a pompous wizard. “Perhaps you would be wise to focus on the situation at hand, Jaxon. The witches cared not about your girlfriend. They wanted to flaunt their renewed strength.”

  Before Jaxon could spin around to direct his wrath at the older wizard, Falcon raised his hand and continued, “As well you know, their last attempt to gain supremacy was a difficult battle. This one will be the ultimate test of our power. We must focus, combine our strength for the war ahead. Your involvement with this…Tess,” Falcon caught himself, “will only make things more difficult for you.”

  Jaxon sifted through the truth of what the leader said. He hadn’t forgotten the last battle with the Coven. Five powerful witches with more knowledge and power than any other witch they’d ever encountered had challenged the Assembly to a majestic duel of sorts. And while the Assembly had managed to overthrow the witches, the casualties had been vast. Human lives had been lost as the witches didn’t hesitate to use every means at their disposal in their attempt to oust the wizards from power.

  “I understand, but Tess has already been exposed.” He pinned a look at Andion’s pinched face. “And I will not change what she has learned.”

  “You want her to know about you, about us. How completely selfish of you.” The aged wizard pounced to his feet, his shoulders thrust forward in an intimidating stance. “Did you not think of anyone but yourself when you saved this woman? Or were you allowing the sexual pleasure you found in this woman’s arms to outweigh your duty to your people?”

  The mental counting didn’t help. Jaxon took a step closer, his eyes blazing. “What is between Tess and me is not your concern.”

  “I beg to differ since I am one of the Assembly. You have challenged my right to retain my privacy. Some of us,” Andion sniffed, “choose not to live among the mortals. You have a duty to protect those of us who desire our secrecy.”

  “Tess only knows of me. She knows nothing of the rest of you.”

  “And you believe she won’t ask more questions, want more information?” Andion’s voice thickened with sarcasm. “You are quite the fool, young Jaxon.”

  Fire sizzled from the points of Jaxon’s fingertips. “Do not make the mistake of assuming I am still a child, Andion. You might not like what you reap for such an assumption.”

  “You would dare challenge a wizard with more years on this earth than you, someone with more power than you could ever hope to attain in a lifetime?” Andion’s eyes glazed, his hands clenched into fists. “And you attempt to scare me with the paltry fireworks a mortal magician could accomplish? You have not yet seen true power.” The white-haired wizard whirled and chopped the air with a sweep of his hand. Blue flames sizzled and spiked, shaping themselves as daggers and, with another wave of his hand, they sped toward Jaxon, aimed at his chest.

  Jaxon didn’t flinch as the flames bounced off an invisible protective wall that now surrounded him. He merely arched an eyebrow and inquired in a polite tone of voice. “If that is all you have, I have no need to worry.”

  Fury sparked from Andion’s eyes and his arms began to circle, creating twin maelstroms that sucked the oxygen from the room and rippled the air with dark, violent rage.

  “Andion, stop this at once!” Jensen leaped to his feet, rounding the table to stand beside his son. “You will not challenge my son! I forbid it! And what you discuss is of no importance now. We have to work together if we are to subdue the Coven once more.”

  “Jensen is right.” Falcon inserted himself between Jaxon and Andion. “Andion, take your seat. Jaxon, sit. The night grows shorter and we have to discuss our next step.”

  Instincts putting him on the alert, Jaxon’s head lifted. “I cannot. Tess is awake. I must go to her. I will return once—” he broke off. “I shall return.”

  * * * * *

  Tess sat on the edge of the bed, testing the strength of her legs when Jaxon entered the bedroom once more. “Where am I?” she asked the question politely as if preparing to discuss the weather. She tugged the comforter over her legs, shielding her body from his view.

  Jaxon gave a sigh and handed her a silk burgundy robe. “In my home.”

  “But not your home in South Carolina. I would appreciate more specifics, please.”

  He rubbed his upper lip with his index finger and tilted his head to one side, observing her wobbly effort to stand. “Do you need some help?”

  With some maneuvering, she managed to slide her arms into the sleeves of the robe and belt the sash around her waist while remaining seated. “What I need are answers. That’s all you can give me right now.”

  “We are in the Himalayan Mountains.”

  “Himalayan Mountains.” She finally pushed herself to her feet. “I might have known. It couldn’t have been someplace simple like Kansas or Arizona. No, it would have to be the Himalayan Mountains because that makes things even more difficult. How am I supposed to get a flight out of here?”

  Jaxon watched her erect the wall, a defense mechanism. He resisted the urge to go to her, to pull her into his arms, to comfort her. He doubted she would appreciate the effort. She had a desire to hate him and he had no choice but to allow it. “You aren’t ready to leave yet, Tess.”

  “I was scared. Not hurt.” Her arms folded over her chest, protective, defensive.

  “And you’re still scared.”

  A spark flashed in her eyes. Jaxon recognized the battle signal. Okay, so he’d been a little wrong. She didn’t just want to hate him right now. She wanted to hurt him. “I’m sure you can’t be surprised by that.” The words shot out like tiny daggers.

  Jaxon took a few steps toward her, stopped to survey her warning posture and took two more steps, which put him at her side. He wrapped his arm around her waist, ignored the stiffening of her spine and guided her toward the window. “Look out here. What do you see?”

  “I see mountains and I’m not interested in a history lesson.” She held up one hand and visibly collected herself. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to snap at you. I haven’t thanked you for saving my life.”

  “There’s no need.”

  “You risked a lot to save me.”

  “The risk was minimal.” He deflected her gratitude.

  “Well, regardless, thank you. And I hope this doesn’t sound ungrateful but I would like to know when I can get out of here.”

  He brushed her hair with his palm. “We have to talk first.”

  “Actually I’ve decided we don’t. In fact you can keep all your secrets to yourself. I’m not interested. Not at all. It’s better this way. I can go about my life and you can do whatever it is you do when I’m not around. I presume when you left me, you were with the other wizards.” Tess stopped, angled her body so she could get a better look at his face. “One can only assume there are more of you. I can’t imagin
e you would be the only one remaining.”

  He hated that Andion was right. He had known this would come but it didn’t make it any easier to deal with. Tess deserved the truth but it wasn’t going to do her any favors. “There are more like me, yes.”

  “How many more?”

  “I haven’t counted.”

  She pulled away from him. “These mountains, they’re where you go to hide when you can’t deal with the outside world, right?”

  “This is my home.” The words were simply stated. Jaxon didn’t defend who he was. There was no need.

  “And what about South Carolina. What is that?”