“Is that what you’re afraid of?” I ask, the words quiet. “That I make you weak?”
He looks at me then, an intensity in his eyes that sends a chill down my spine. His jaw is tight, his mouth a hard line. “I would set the world on fire just to see your face. That’s what I’m afraid of.”
I slowly lean into him, my lips brushing against his. “Then we can burn together.”
He takes my face in his hands and kisses me with desperation, like we will never have to leave the safety of this room if he kisses me long enough, deep enough, fervently enough. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him into me, shifting to get closer, angling myself so I can reach more of him.
My robe slides off my shoulder, and Wolfe moves his fingers down my jaw, my neck, my collarbone. I lie on my back and pull him down with me, his lips following the trail his fingers left. He pauses when he’s at my sternum, lets his head rest against my chest. His eyes close.
“I can hear your heartbeat.”
His mouth finds my rib cage, and he kisses the bones around my heart as if they’re sacred, as if they’re guarding the most precious thing in the world. I slowly undo my belt and let the robe fall open.
Wolfe hovers over me. I lie perfectly still as his eyes follow the curves of my body, committing them to memory.
“Mortana,” he says, his voice like gravel. “You will be the end of me.”
His lips are back on mine before I can tell him that he is my beginning, brilliant, beautiful, and new.
* * *
The manor looms behind us as Wolfe and I walk down to the shore. I’m wearing a borrowed nightdress and one of his sweaters, but I might never give it back. It smells like him, and I love being wrapped up in it.
Several witches are crowded around a grimoire in the greenhouse, but otherwise we are the only ones out here. The full moon casts enough light for me to see where I’m walking, and magic stirs in my belly, waiting to see what I’ll ask of it.
I’m no longer willing to dump my magic into the sea, unused and dangerous, killing our animals and harming our island. But it has to get out somehow. It might as well be tonight, beneath the glorious moon, next to the boy who changed everything.
“What’s your favorite place?” Wolfe asks when we get to the beach.
“The sea.”
“Why?”
“Because of its silence. I like the way nothing above the surface matters when I’m submerged in water. I like the way the silence is louder than my thoughts. It’s peaceful and slow. It calms me.”
“Close your eyes,” Wolfe says.
And I do.
Within seconds, the air around me shifts. It gets heavier, in a way. Denser. The sound of the lapping waves recedes into the background until there’s perfect silence.
My skin gets cold, and my mind gets quiet. I feel weightless. A thick calm surrounds me, so real I could roll around in it, touch it. My hair floats out around me, and my clothes cling to my skin. Everything feels slower: my movements, my breathing, my heartbeat.
I feel like I’m under the water, fully submerged in my favorite place.
My eyes snap open, and the setting is torn away. I’m back on the beach with Wolfe under a cloudless sky.
“How did you do that?” I ask, breathless.
“I altered your senses until you believed you were someplace else. It’s a perception spell.”
“Like the one you use when you have to go into town? That makes people think you’re a tourist?”
“Exactly.”
“Unbelievable,” I say. My clothing is dry and my skin is warm, but there’s still a part of me that believes I was under the water just seconds ago. “Teach me.”
“Our connection to the natural world is what’s most powerful about us—it enables everything we do. Just as we have a heightened sensitivity to the world around us, the world has a heightened sensitivity to us. Your intent matters more than anything else in magic. That’s why you were able to save Ivy’s life using a spell you’d never used before. Think of it like a veil that’s woven from your experiences, desires, and understanding of the physical world. That veil can cover anything you choose.”
“Even another person,” I say.
“Even another person. I created a veil of the sea and covered you in it.”
“Amazing,” I say.
“Your turn.”
I smile. I’ve been waiting for this since the last time I saw him, aching to discover more of the magic that’s living inside me. We use the sea again for my first time, a setting I could recreate over and over.