Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
Tess came in the next morning, looking no worse for the wear.
Ash was still nowhere to be found. I had an email from him telling me he planned to be off until Monday, and he’d call if he needed more time.
“Morning, Tess,” Moira called, sipping from a cup of fragrant tea. “Nice to have you back.”
Tess waved and set her purse down behind the register. “Thanks. I can close today if you want to take off early.” She grimaced. “I could use the extra hours since I’ve been off.”
“Are you doing okay?” I asked.
Tess nodded. “A breakup is weird, isn’t it? It’s a small death. An ending of something even if both parties are still alive.”
Unsurprised she’d compared a breakup to death, I was nonetheless impressed at her logic. “Did you know they call an orgasm la petite mort?”
The banshee blinked. “No. How interesting. Why do they call it that?”
Moira snorted, and I wondered if I’d made the wrong move with that fun fact. Apparently, she and Ash had not taken the final step in their physical relationship. “It means the little death and refers to the feeling that overtakes your body during an orgasm.”
“You die?” Tess frowned. “That doesn’t seem fun.”
Moira hid her grin behind her mug and widened her eyes dramatically at me.
“You don’t physically die, but the feeling is…indescribable.” I shook my head. “Perhaps it was a poor way to explain. Many things in our lives are akin to death. There are many endings, but there are even more beginnings we experience. That’s what makes life worth living.”
A thoughtful expression crossed her face. “Maybe I should find someone to help me orgasm.”
A bark of laughter from Moira’s corner.
I winced and waved my hands. “No. Tess. No. That’s not what I’m saying. Sex is important, especially your first time.”
Moira rose and stretched her lean frame. “Tess.”
The banshee turned.
Moira popped her head into her hands and leaned on the register desk.
“Listen. Evie is right. Sex is important, but it’s not the end all be all.
Your first time should be special, but you don’t have to do anything the traditional way.
You don’t need a boyfriend. You don’t even need a first date.
Hell, you could put an ad in the paper and—”
I gasped. “Moira! Don’t you dare tell her to take a Craigslist ad out for her virginity.”
Moira rolled her eyes. “I’m simply saying she could do it.”
“You should definitely not do that,” I urged Tess, who watched us like she was at a tennis match.
“I could auction it,” Tess said thoughtfully.
Moira cackled.
I scrubbed a hand over my face.
“That way I wouldn’t have to take out a student loan,” she added, a brilliant smile lighting up her pale face.
This conversation was barreling out of control. “I, um. Tess, I—” Sinking down onto my worktable, I stared at the banshee. “Shit,” I muttered.
“No,” Moira said, her voice thick with amusement, “please keep going.”
“Shut up,” I muttered.
Tess’s eyes widened, pale eyes sparkling as she ran with the idea. “Maybe I could go national with it. See if I can do one of those clock video things—”
“TikTok,” Moira supplied helpfully.
“Yes, and then I could go live and show them the goods.”
I sucked in a breath, suddenly feeling lightheaded, when something occurred to me.
“You’re messing with me!” I accused.
Tess grinned. “You’re so easy sometimes, Evie. Like I would ever take off my clothes on the internet.”
“Or auction your virginity.”
When Tess didn’t respond, I stared. “Or auction your virginity,” I repeated. “Right?”
Tess’s mysterious smile and failure to answer stuck with me the rest of the day.
I was the only one in the shop when pain ripped through my abdomen.
A startled cry of agony tore from my throat as I went to my knees.
No one was around, and my cell phone was up by the register.
Trying to breathe through the sharp spikes of twisting misery took a slight edge off the pain, but it wasn’t relief enough for me to rise and try to drive home.
Slowly I shifted to lay on my side, tears streaming down my face. My abdomen glowed a strange golden color and pulsed in time to my heartbeat.
I squeezed my eyes shut and moaned. A gush of liquid soaked my pants. Moving even an inch set agony tearing down my spine, but I couldn’t stay here. I sent a trickle of magic into the earth, willing it deeper and deeper, sending tendrils out toward the one person I knew would come.
Blissful darkness came seconds later.
Shattering glass and a wrench of metal followed by a grunt of effort jerked me away some time later. A sob of pain tore from me, and I tried to raise my head but couldn’t.
“Evie.” Caelan’s voice was barely human. Gentle, calloused hands touched my abdomen. “What happened?”
Shaking my head took too much effort. “Seed,” I whispered, my dry throat clicking.
His face swam into view, stormy eyes glowing golden around the irises. “I’m taking you back to the Keep.”
I was too tired to argue, but when his hands lowered and lifted me up, stars of agony bloomed behind my eyes.
Darkness swept in once more.
Voices flickered in and out of my senses. The sound of a door opening. Firm but gentle hands under my body.
Agony.
“Ground,” I croaked.
“Evie—”
Caelan. The voice belonged to Caelan. I pushed weakly against his chest. “Ground. Please.”
The sound of more voices raised in argument.
“Get the Keep healer,” Caelan snapped. “And call Ben.”
“No Ben.” My argument was weak and thready. Ben couldn’t stand me and there was nothing worse than a judgmental healer.
“I don’t care if you two don’t like each other. He’s the best healer we have.”
“Ground,” I said again, seeing sparks at the edges of my eyes.
He gently laid me on the ground, his fingers brushing my hair from my face. “Tell me what I can do.”
Tears streamed from my eyes, my nerves on fire. “Stay back,” I whispered.
As I expected, Caelan didn’t budge even when roots crawled from my skin, plunging into the earth, encasing me in the safety of Mother Earth’s arms. My eyes squeezed shut, sobs of pain hissing from between my lips as I forced myself to think past the agony.
Even wounded, I knew the earth would heal me if it could, but I’d never felt anything like this before.
I had a horrible suspicion about what was happening, and if I was right, this might be the end of me.
Or, a terrible thought whispered in the back of my brain, it might be only the beginning.
I grew and grew, my back pressing into the moist earth. The smell of loam and green and life flowed through me as I gave myself to the world, sending my power deep into its eternal heart.