17. Andrea
17
Andrea
“ G ood, light it again.” A quick flick of Salem’s hand has all the candles around the room I just lit with my mind left smoking.
“I have been lighting candles and levitating things for three weeks now! Can we start something new?” My head falls to my arms crossed on the desk I’ve sat at every day, reading grimoires and memorizing as many incantations as I can. I don’t think I even studied this much in college.
We have tried a locator spell every single day to find the person linked to Brielle, but her blood on the map never moves. I’m practically a pro at that spell now. Salem says the powerful witch that must have created the bond is shielding the other person so they aren’t found.
“I wish we could. Do you need a reminder of you almost burning down the left wing of this manor last week? Or when you threw a hundred-year-old piece of furniture out of the third-story window with your mind. I think we should keep practicing with small objects.” Raising my head, I’m met with Salem’s pointed stare. I let out a loud sigh.
To be fair, I didn’t realize how little force it took for magic to carry a large armoire and how much fire is too much fire when it’s all in my head.
I shake my hands and focus on the charred wick. I summon images of fire, seeing the candles lit in my mind before it happens in reality, a trick Salem taught me after the incident. I silently chant the incantation to light the fire.
I feel the heat rolling over my body before each wick flicks with a beginning flame.
“See. Easy.” I cross my arms against my chest and lean back with a quirked brow. It hasn’t always been this easy, though. Salem has been reassuring me that I am learning faster than any witch she has taught before, but that first week was rough. The headaches were like no other and the phantom feelings around my body are still taking some getting used to.
The first time I lit a candle, I nearly passed out from the strain I was putting on my body. Everyone was so encouraging that day, even the shadows around Ash seemed to still as his perfect lips pulled into a smirk before walking away.
The pull to Ash is an entirely different feeling. A yearning that aches even my bones. I’ve barely seen him in these past six weeks and when I did, he made sure I had no chance to talk to him. I can still feel the burn on my palm from that night. I would be lying if I said I didn’t use that same hand to run along my body as if it were his.
I feel like I should be ashamed of these thoughts, but I’m not. Not when it feels so good.
I’m not sure if I should be thankful that I haven’t had the time to really process the things that are happening to me and around me. Just a month and a half ago, I was normal and coming to visit my best friend. Or maybe I was convincing myself that I was normal when deep, deep down, I knew I wasn’t.
This, though, is something I never thought could be. It’ll all come crashing down on me one day, the weight of this knowledge, but that day will have to wait until I know Brielle is safe.
“Once you get a hang of your magic, everything should come easy. It’s a part of you. All of this is a part of you. It’s similar to learning how to ride a bike. You are capable and you possess the skills needed to do it. It just takes practice.” Salem’s voice snaps me out of my thoughts, “And if you can’t control a skill as simple as lighting a candle, you will struggle to perform the spell to break the bond tied to your friend.” Her thick brown eyebrows knit together with worry.
“I know,” I mutter, releasing a long breath and letting my head fall back behind the chair I have been occupying for so long my ass is numb.
The doors to the library fly open. I immediately force my head upright at the loud bang of them on the wall.
“Kai is looking for you. I have to return you now.” Torin’s voice is rugged, annoyed even. Kai doesn’t know she has been working with us. It’s best to keep it that way so he doesn’t think she is being disloyal and harm her.
I’ve noticed the difference in which Torin speaks to Salem compared to all of us. When Brielle pressed him about this realization, he only cut her a side-eye and worked us both harder in the ring that day. Brielle suggested I start training as well, to prepare for anything she had said.
I don’t mind the extra exercise. It’s more entertaining than the light jog I would go on every morning back in Crowlyn.
Brielle has become such a fragile version of herself. She puts up a strong front, but I know her. I see her lost in a daze more than she is present. I notice the way she only pushes her food around at dinner every night.
Azra’s eyes are always filled with pleading and helplessness as he watches the love of his life wither away with each passing day. It kills him that there is nothing he can do to fix it in an instant. He is gone every single day, from sun up to sun down, searching for a way to break this bond.
“Keep lighting these candles and keep reading through the grimoire I gave you.” Salem throws me a pointed stare as she steps beside Torin, the latter going rigid at her proximity. My brow flicks up as he rolls his eyes and vanishes from the library.
My head falls back on the armed chair again and a large sigh escapes my mouth. The sun went down hours ago and I am utterly exhausted. I have read The Grimoire for Baby Witches so many times I might conveniently lose it just to get new reading material. Salem said it’s the best because she put it together herself.
Faint music begins to fill the surrounding air. A smile tugs at my lips from the memory of the last time I heard this melody. Like a trance, my body moves almost on its own in the direction of the sound, leading me to the hidden door beneath the grand stairs.
Slowly opening the door, I hold my breath just so he doesn’t hear me and stop his beautiful playing. Ash’s marked hands, adorned with metal rings, so gently glide over each key. Unfathomably beautiful in this state, he isn’t scowling or building his wall brick by brick in my presence like usual. He is just… at peace.
I sigh as my body relaxes at the symphony he is playing. It wouldn’t surprise me if this is the exact sound you hear when you enter Heaven’s gates.
The silence is piercing when his hands halt. “Did I wake you?” Ash’s husky voice has me swallowing down the small whimper that wanted to escape. My stomach swirls slightly as he turns, and his mesmerizing blue eyes lock on mine. I have been kind of glad he has been avoiding me lately. Just so I didn’t have to confront him on this whole coincidence with Caroline.
“No, I was in the library. Long session today.” I tear my eyes away from his to calm my rambunctious heart.
“My apologies, I will just go?—”
“No,” I blurt out as he stands. A heavy silence fills the air as I search for the words to say. “I—I mean, don’t stop playing because of me. I can go.” Throwing my thumb at the door behind me, I regret the suggestion immediately. I would love to stay but every time he is near, my mind and my body scramble to have a normal thought or feeling.
He continues to stare at me like he is scanning my soul. His eyes roam over me as if I’m completely naked in front of him—at least that’s how I feel at this moment.
Before I turn to leave from the overwhelming feeling of wanting to jump out of my skin from his stare, he turns and sits back down. My body noticeably sags at the relief of his attention off me. Then the most beautiful melody begins all around us.
Ash’s muscles ripple under his black cotton shirt as he plays so elegantly it almost looks wrong compared to his hard exterior. His black wings are relaxed behind him.
Only a few moments of his playing pass and I’m sure I could sit here and listen for hours. Tears sting my eyes as I approach him. It was almost painful to be as far as across the room. My body has never had a reaction like this to anyone, ever.
Get it together
I repeat over and over as I blink away the tears brimming my eyes but I can sense the emotion in the symphony he is playing. The anguish, the longing, the love, I can barely breathe. Before I realize what I am doing, the music stops and my eyes open to him staring at my outstretched hand, inches from touching his shoulder.
The pain in his eyes as he stares at my small hand compared to his has my heart cracking inside my chest. Going against every logical instinct to pull away and run, I slowly move my hand closer.
“Stop.” His deep voice almost falters as he stands and stiffens the closer I get. My hand is now level with his stomach. I crane my head back to look at him. His eyes never leave my hand, which is so close to touching him.
“Let me,” I whisper, this burning need in the core of my existence fully taking over now. Ash’s hands ball into fists so tight that his knuckles are completely white under his silver rings black ink.
“I can’t,” he forces out through gritted teeth, his eyes brightening in the dim light the fireplace is giving off. They finally peer into mine and my breath catches in my throat.
“Please,” I whisper. As soon as the word leaves my lips, it’s as if all restraint he has pops in that instant. His large hands cup my face. His lips crash into mine so hard I can taste blood. Heat floods my body and pools in my middle. My hands grip his shirt as his mouth claims mine.
His rough hands slide down, one snaking to the back of my neck as he holds me still and slips his tongue between my lips, his other slowly running along the front of my body. His touch burns my skin in its wake. My nails are digging into my palms through the fabric of his shirt I want to rip off.
His grip tightens on my hip and my neck almost as an answer to that thought. Before I can make any other move, both of his strong hands are at my waist, hoisting me up, his mouth never leaving mine. I let him set me down on the piano lid and I wrap my legs around his waist. I didn’t care where he was bringing me, as long as he was still touching me.
He is similar to stone under these clothes. Not to mention the large bulge pressed between my legs right now. A whimper escapes and his lips pull into a smile against mine.
It feels so right. He feels so right. There aren’t words to explain it. Maybe it’s just the first time I have felt a strong attraction to someone else like this. Maybe it’s something else.
That doesn’t matter right now. All of those stolen glances, those feelings that someone was watching me, have led me here and that’s all that matters.
“You like what you feel, little bird?” As if his deep voice could be any sexier, my insides melt at his words. His mouth claims mine again before I have a chance to answer. His kiss is ravenous as his hands grip my ass and scoot me closer to the edge of the piano.
My body feels as if it might combust as he pushes my dress up my thighs until it’s bunched around my waist.
What a perfect day to wear the short floral dress Celeste gave me.
Never breaking our kiss, he slips his hand into the front of my underwear, immediately finding that sensitive spot. My head falls back as the pleasure surges through my body with each circle of his fingers.
“I’m flattered by how wet you are for me, little bird.” Ash’s fingers leave my clit and travel down until they slip right into me. My hands fist his smooth black hair as he bites and kisses my neck with each pump of his fingers. Those fingers dragging up to circle my clit torturously slow every few moments.
My orgasm builds and builds to a point it has never gotten to before.
“Come for me, little bird.” His words completely unravel me, sending me over the edge he had been dragging me along. “That’s it, you’re doing so fucking well, baby.” The pleasure doesn’t stop as his fingers still circle lazily in my underwear. The wave of my orgasm crashes into me relentlessly. After what seems like the longest orgasm I have ever had, my body finally relaxes against him. He whispers, “Look at you, being such a good girl.”
Everywhere he touches me sets a flame from within. My chest burns as he pushes me back until I am lying in front of him on top of the wooden piano. The brush of his calloused hands on my skin sends goosebumps all over my body as he kneels before me. His lips part as he takes in a breath when his eyes land between my legs. His hands still resting on my thighs grip hard enough that I know will leave a mark.
“You have soaked your underwear, baby girl.” My cheeks heat at how truly exposed I am to him. Ash leans forward and begins kissing my inner thighs so gently, the ache building becomes nearly unbearable. Small moans fall off my lips and I can sense his little smirk at each one.
Every bite he leaves on my inner thighs, he soothes with a kiss.
Bite. Kiss. Bite. Kiss.
Until I am writhing in front of him. The pain from his bites is minuscule compared to the ache I have for his mouth to be somewhere else.
Ash’s fingers hook into my cotton underwear. He pulls them down at such a slow pace it’s hard to endure.
“Please,” I whisper as the cold air hits my very soaked middle. A low growl rumbles from his throat as he slips my underwear into his pocket.
“You are devastatingly beautiful when you beg, little bird.” His smile takes my labored breath away. It’s a smile I haven’t seen on him before. A true smile.
I barely have time to enjoy it before he finally kneels before me. I lift my head to see him as he stares at my most vulnerable part.
“Oh fuck, you are magnificent.” His eyes never leave my middle. I can hear the smirk in his voice a moment before his tongue slowly glides over my clit.
My head falls back and thumps against the piano beneath me. Electricity jolts through my body as he does it again. His sound of approval vibrates my clit as he sucks it into his mouth now, causing me to nearly see stars from the pleasure.
“Oh God,” A small chuckle comes from Ash’s mouth as he peeks up at me between my legs. A strand of black hair is perfectly out of place and resting on his forehead.
“I’ve met him and he can’t fathom the things I will do to you, so if you need to say a holy name, mine will do.” Before I can answer, my mind goes blank as he shoves his face back between my legs. Shadows begin to swirl from his dark wings and snake around my body. A familiar cool breeze brushes my arms. I suddenly can’t move them as the shadows tighten, pinning my limbs to the piano.
My body tightens as he continues to feast on me as if he hasn’t eaten in years. My nails dig into the wood beneath me as my back arches from the piano as my pleasure pulses through me over and over. My cries only make him hungrier as another orgasm takes over.
Stars form in the pitch-black of my squeezed-shut eyelids as I savor every lick and hum of his own pleasure.
My heavy breathing is the only sound in this room when the lingering pulses stop. The air in place of his mouth as he stands is startling. The cool sensation from his shadowy tendrils disappears quickly.
Sitting up and pulling my dress down, I watch as he walks over to the small table with liquor and glasses. He pours two, downing one and walking the other to me without saying a word. My heart sinks at the anger evident on his face.
“Did I do something wrong?”
Ash huffs a laugh before throwing his glass into the fire. I jolt at the way it roars from the second glass of alcohol he had poured himself and didn’t quite finish before throwing it. He sits and runs his hands through his hair. It feels like a metal ball drops in my stomach.
“I’m sorry?—”
“For fuck's sake, stop apologizing to me, Andrea! Do I look like someone who deserves your apologies?” His wings flare from his back. His shadows begin whirling again.
“I just don’t understand what I did wrong. I’m sick of the hot and cold with you! How can you say my heart will belong to you, but you treat me as if I have the plague?” I slide off the piano and walk toward him, his glowing eyes following my every move. Once before, I would have thought this was fear turning my gut but it’s sadness, pity, and anger.
Another fake laugh.
“ I am what’s wrong, Andrea. I wish I would have left when you came in here. I wish I had just an ounce of control around you, so I never had to touch you.”
Tears sting my eyes at his words. The disgust on his face as he speaks of touching me tightens my chest. As if I am the one who disgusts him.
My arms cross my chest to hide my body as much as I can. Maybe my body isn’t as attractive as the ones he’s used to. I have only seen half of the species that live here and their beauty is incomparable to a human like me. Was this just to add another notch in his belt? To see how far I would let him go with me?
“I hate you.” A single tear rolls down my cheek. I quickly swipe it away.
“You hate me?” He laughs another cold laugh as tears stream down my face. “Are you sure that’s the word you’re looking for while my face is still dripping with you?” His mockery heats my entire body with anger. A familiar heat.
I storm past him and out of the door before I set him on fucking fire.