Chapter Eighteen – I give you this ring
We spent the next few hours going through different options for Cadence before we shifted to Tayvion, who was excelling.
My heart warmed as we listened to her chatter about work and skirt over the twinkle in her eye when the topic of relationships came up.
There was something happening with her, but Cadence and I silently agreed to give her time.
If it was something real, this would be a first for Tayvion, who rarely allowed herself to get serious about anyone.
If I was the serial commitment girl, Tayvion would be the complete opposite.
Try to lock her down, and she’d run screaming.
Typically, my friends would have stayed in the same room with me.
We loved a good sleepover, but as soon as they went to sleep, their barriers dropped, and their emotions pummeled me.
I woke their asses up immediately and kicked them out!
Cadence muttered about me having the nerve to kick her out of her own spot, but she understood and directed me to the bedroom.
I woke up the next morning still feeling unlike myself, but better than before.
The conversations from the night before made me question what I really wanted with my life.
Thankfully, I felt even more committed to my plans, for my business and for myself, but there was a lingering question in my mind about her.
The enigma wrapped in pink who had entered my world.
Rolling over, I stared out the picturesque windows and saw an even better view of the mountains. In the distance, birds flew, and I thought about Sire. She’d been so peaceful since we got there, barely a peep out of her. This was where she belonged, not tucked away in my house in the city.
“How soon can I move up my plans for that countryside home?” I sighed. “Maybe it’s time to let her live with Cadence. She would love living out here.”
“Who would?” the melodic voice spoke, and my body responded with excitement.
I rolled over to see Likosa standing in the doorway.
“You're back.” I sat up, pulling the blanket with me just in case I had a tit out.
As if you don’t want her to see your tits!
“It took longer than I expected.” She held up a small box. “But I’m here.”
“Is that going to fix me?” I pointed at the box. “What’s in it?”
“It's a temporary patch,” she said, crossing the room to me.
“I'll take what I can get at this point.”
“We can do it now, if you're ready.” She eyed the box.
“Can you give me a moment to clean up first?” I asked, suddenly aware of my possible morning breath.
“Of course.” She nodded and then strolled over to the window. I watched her carefully, noting the sway of her hips and the way she appeared to float across the floor. When I hadn’t moved, she looked back at me with a raised brow. “Did you want to do that now?”
“Oh, shit, yes.” I hopped out of bed, grabbed my bag, and darted into the bathroom.
Instead of just quickly washing my face and brushing my teeth, I took my time.
Cowardly, I didn’t want to face Likosa, and besides, that bathroom was a spa-like experience.
If I had more time, I would have filled the freestanding tub and soaked my body.
Instead, I opted to enjoy the shower, complete with four shower columns.
I felt like I was walking through a car wash!
When I got out, I dressed in shorts and a tank top underneath a thin bathrobe. I came back out and found Likosa sitting next to the window overlooking the mountain.
“It's beautiful here. I’ve found very few places on Earth that give me quite this feeling.”
“So you're not from Earth?” I asked, Tayvion’s alien coming to mind.
“No, I'm not.” She looked back at me.
“I guess Tay was right. She said you might be an alien.” I chuckled.
“She's not too far off, though I wouldn't classify myself as alien, at least in the way humans look at them. I don't have your fictional green skin, weird scaling, or oddly oversized head.” She touched the side of her face. “Do you think my head is too big for this world?”
“Your head is perfectly sized.” I chuckled. “But hey, there are several variations of aliens in our lore. Not all look like that.”
“You’d be surprised to find out how many variations of this world exist. The inhabitants all look like they belong right here. Anything identifiable wouldn’t stand out to the human eye. They could come and live here, and you would never even know it.” Likosa’s eyes sparkled as she spoke.
“Really. Have you seen these worlds?”
She’s seen them, and she’s gonna snatch your ass up and take you to one if you’re not careful!
“I've seen a lot of them,” Likosa confirmed my inner voice. “For a long time, I was searching for… something. I hoped one of them would have it.”
“Did you find what you were looking for?” I asked, and my heart fluttered. Something in me wanted to be the thing she searched for.
“Yeah, I think I have.” Her eyes lit up with a bright pink flare before calming into a deep magenta.
“Well, that's good.”
“Maybe.” She stood from her seat. “That’s of no concern now. We need to get your magic working again.”
“Right, of course.” I nodded. “So how does this work?”
Likosa held her hand out to me, and the same box sat in her palm. I realized then that it looked like a ring box, one that would be used in an engagement.
Your heart just fluttered again. You want it to be an engagement ring, don’t you? You want to be with Likosa!
There were times when I wished my inner voice wasn’t like a damn child, taunting me at every turn. This was one of those times. Couldn’t I just process my emotions like an adult?
“Remember, this is a temporary fix. But as long as you wear it,” she opened the box to reveal what was thankfully not an engagement ring, “it will stabilize your energy and allow you to control your abilities again.”
“That is beautiful.” I stared at the band, peering at the odd stone in the center. The longer I looked at it, the more it seemed to be moving. “What kind of stone is this?”
“It is a teardrop flame frozen in shadows. Nothing you would find here on Earth. But it will do two things: absorb your chaotic energy and release calm and controllable energy. It will also prevent any further complications while we seek a more permanent fix. I will need to work my magic on you again.”
“About that—how does your magic work?” I looked back up at her.
“I have an elemental base magic, so I need to use it in order to perform what I want. I can do pretty much anything as long as I have a little water.”
“Water?” My mind immediately went back to our first meeting when she handed me the cup, and it drove me crazy. “Can you manipulate water to affect how people feel?”
“If you're asking about when I offered you the cup of water…” She clocked me instantly! “Yeah. Sorry, I'm just having a little fun with you.”
“So you can alter how people feel?”
“Not exactly. I can only enhance what's already there, which means whatever you felt after drinking the water already existed. The water simply brought it to the surface. You, however, can make people feel things you want them to. You can coax them into deep slumbers or rally them up for great battles.”
“I see.” Was that what she wanted me to do for her? Make people fight for her?
“I will not alter any part of you, Shontae. What I will do is use the water to penetrate whatever barrier exists.” She lifted her empty hand to run her finger along my jawline.
“Think of it as patching. We’ll have to do this twice.
The first time will let me see what is missing, what we need for a permanent solution.
Then, you must continue to wear the ring until we can solve for whatever I find. ”
“And how long would it last?” I looked down at the ring. “Will the flame inside die?”
“I'm not sure about that. They usually last for decades, if not longer, but this one is under extreme pressure to make it fit in the ring.
Maybe a few weeks, maybe a few months. So, whatever happens next, we'll have to figure it out quickly.” She took the ring from the box and held it between us. “Are you ready?”
She positioned the ring for me to slip it on my finger, and I did. Damn it if my pulse didn’t race. This wasn’t me making a promise to live my life with her, so why did it feel just as intense?
Can’t put this one in your pocket!
With the ring in place, Likosa produced another little bottle of liquid, which she coated her hands in just as she did before. Again, she cradled my face, but this time, her hands moved away from my face and down my neck to my chest.
The liquid expanded, moving from her hand and coating the surface of my chest. I shivered as it moved and then gasped when I noticed what was happening.
Likosa’s eyes were focused on her hand, and they glowed as droplets formed around her.
It was as if she was pulling the moisture straight from the air.
They traveled across the space between us and blended with what was on my chest. Then, outside the window, snow lifted from the mountaintops. It turned into water and moved through the air to the window, stopping for just a moment before moving through the windowpane.
I expected it to join what coated my chest, but it didn’t. The water pooled around us, a gentle embrace that soon covered our bodies in a watery glove.
It swirled around us slowly, humming, and when it sealed us in, I could feel Likosa.
Her emotions were all over the place, but what started as chaotic noise settled into a soft lull as she worked on me.
I could feel it, the fractured pieces of myself being stitched together by her magic.
It felt like listening to ASMR; the tingles in my head both unsettling and comforting.