Chapter Twenty-One #3
“There’s one more thing,” Sophia said. She knelt at Oberi’s side, and he panted happily.
“This ritual must be done without the use of magic, as our ancestors did long ago. If we left you here with Charlie’s powers, he’d be able to levitate you back to shore, instead of you two completing the ritual first.”
“Dammit!” Ava cried, as if she’d been thinking of asking me to do that the minute her parents left.
“No cheating,” Liam scolded. “You do this right or not at all. We’re also taking the dog. No help from your Familiar, either.”
“With Charlie’s permission, Oberi should be able to cut off Charlie’s power,” Sophia continued. “Do you consent to this, Charlie?”
I hesitated, because taking away my power was like taking away Ava’s wheelchair. It was an assistive device for my disability. I worried about being able to navigate well enough to care for Ava out here without it.
Ava must’ve been thinking the same thing. “But that’s unfair!” she protested. “Charlie needs his powers. It’s not like he still has a cane to get around.”
“Ava makes a good point, Liam,” Sophia agreed. “You have accessibility aids, too. Not everyone needs to have their disability on hard mode.”
I will leave your connection open enough to navigate your environment, but you will not be able to cast power beyond that. Is that understood? Oberi told me, and I repeated his offer for the others.
Liam grunted, but finally said, “I’ll allow it.”
“I’m fine with that compromise,” I told them. “I don’t need my powers to get Ava off this island.”
Liam squeezed my shoulder. “Great! Then I expect the two of you home for dinner!”
The way he said it told me he absolutely did not expect us home today. My father-in-law probably figured it’d be a week or more since he saw us again.
Like hell. I knew Ava could survive anything— this island included— but I didn’t want her to have to stay here longer than one night.
I was getting her off this island in the next twenty-four hours, or I was signing those divorce papers myself.
She deserved a man who could provide, and provide for her, I would.
Otherwise, I didn’t deserve to have her.
Oberi shoved his nose into my hand, and I stroked the top of his head.
I felt my energy begin to drain, and I allowed my magic to funnel into him.
The power that buzzed down to my bones, which I’d become so used to, faded away, until my senses were dulled.
I was left with the vague awareness of the Air and Earth, but no influence over the elements whatsoever.
Well, that does it! Oberi said, panting happily. Oh, he was just loving this. You two have fun!
He turned away from me to say goodbye to Ava, and his wagging tail smacked me in the leg. He made slobbering noises as he licked Ava all over.
“We’ll see you soon, Oberi,” Ava said, but her tone held an edge I couldn’t quite read.
Wee! I’m going off to get spoiled at grandma and grandpa’s house! Oberi cheered.
The three of them climbed onto the boat, and Oberi gave a few happy barks as they took off. Soon, his voice faded, and Ava turned to me.
“Oberi seems particularly pleased about all this,” she noted. “What’d he say?”
“He wants us to have fun. He’s acting like we’re heading off on our honeymoon to fuck for a week and make more babies.
” I realized what I said after it came out of my mouth.
Ava didn’t seem to want the baby we already had, and I worried bringing it up would just hurt her. “Sorry, that came out wrong.”
Ava scoffed. “I mean, you’re right. We never did get a honeymoon either time we got married, so he probably thinks this stupid island trip will make up for it.”
I noticed she didn’t say anything about the baby comment. I was relieved she’d let it slide. “It doesn’t, though. You deserve more from your honeymoon than being stranded on a beach.”
“It’s fine. Let me see that journal.”
I handed it over. Ava flipped through the pages, before she finally paused to read the spell.
“What’s it say?” I asked.
“It says here we have to look into each other’s hearts to witness your partner’s true intention, but the spell isn’t straightforward,” Ava mused. “I’m not even sure I’d call this a spell. Maybe more of a ritual. There’s no incantation or magic to cast.”
“Well, if we’re going to witness each other’s true intentions, I need to know where you’re coming from,” I suggested. “Why didn’t you tell me you gave up all your stuff?”
Ava drew a deep breath. “I don’t know. It was hard, Charlie.
And scary. Asking you to get my things back is a big deal, because it’s more than just you providing things for me.
This is about me putting my trust in you.
I didn’t feel like my part of it was complete until I was ready to do that.
I wasn’t lying to you. I was waiting until I was ready to trust you again before I put something like that on your shoulders. ”
“Do you really only have one dress?” I asked weakly.
She was basically living in poverty… like I had.
Except she had accepted it willingly. That blew my mind to understand, because coming from it, I couldn’t imagine anyone choosing such a destitute state for themselves.
I never wanted Ava to experience anything close to it.
“I mean, yeah, I don’t have any nightclothes, either, so I’ve been sleeping naked next to you every night for a while. It’s insane you haven’t noticed.”
My mouth went dry at her admission. That did not help keep me on task, because I was getting hard just thinking about it.
My wife had been lying beside me nude for weeks, and I was blissfully unaware.
If I had reached out even a tiny bit and allowed myself to touch her, I would’ve noticed.
Can’t say if things might’ve happened, but maybe if they had, it would’ve brought us closer.
Instead, I’d been so intent on keeping to myself I was widening the canyon between us further.
I told my dick to calm down and stuck to the subject. “When you say you gave up everything… that can’t be it. Surely you kept other things. You’d never give up Monica’s armband.”
Ava’s voice drew on a bitter, aching edge. “Charlie… when I said everything… I meant everything.”
My chest physically hurt. I never wanted her to take things that far. “You really gave up your armband?”
Ava seemed so small. “Yeah. I did. Whatever it takes.”
Holy shit. That armband had meant everything to Ava. It was the last piece of Monica she had, but she’d been willing to part from it just to get a chance at saving this marriage.
I felt so weak in this woman’s stead. No matter how strong I thought myself to be, she was infinitely stronger.
I knelt at her side. “I understand none of this is easy for you. It was wrong of your dad to tell me. He should’ve let you do it when you were ready.”
“He didn’t know.”
“It’s still not fair,” I pressed. “You should’ve had the right to make that call on your own. You don’t trust me, and I don’t expect you to, but if there’s any chance I can earn your trust back, I’m going to do what I have to do.”
Ava cleared her throat. “Thanks, Charlie. It means a lot.”
It was a start. I nodded. “All right. How do we complete the spell and get off this island?”
“It says here we have to lay out your wounds and define your roles.”
I sighed. “So more riddles. This might take longer than we thought.”
Ava’s tone shifted. “If this is going to take a while, we should do what we can to make things more comfortable.”
I stood up tall, ready to take on any challenge. “Tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”
Ava rubbed her arms. “You can start by building me a fire. I’m cold.”
Spring was blooming here in Ilamanthe now, but today was particularly chilly, and without Ava’s Fire magic, she must be freezing. The weather still wasn’t back to normal, since the gods were still fighting.
“Of course. Right away,” I told her.
I hurried off to the tree line and quickly found a bunch of dry sticks and logs I carried back to the beach before running off to find more.
Ava stayed quiet, but I could feel her eyes on me.
I couldn’t tell if she was scrutinizing me or checking out my ass.
I hoped it was the latter. Things were tense between us, but I could tell Ava was trying to connect with me, and I desperately wanted to reconnect with her.
Gathering sticks was easy. I was honestly just relieved I had instruction and didn’t have to guess what I had to do.
I had no problems serving Ava as long as I knew what she wanted, and right now, the princess wanted to be warm.
Simple. I could do that no problem. It was a much easier problem to find a solution for than all the other troubles that plagued her and me.
I returned to the beach with my last pile of wood and got started preparing the tinder and kindling.
Ava and I had never started a fire in the wild before without her magic, but she seemed to know what she was doing regardless, because she instructed me on how to rub two sticks together to spark an ember, which wasn’t as easy as it seemed.
I was sitting in the sand with a log and a stick between my legs, rubbing them vigorously together when Ava started chuckling. “It looks like you’re rubbing one out.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “You’d like to witness that, wouldn’t you?”
“It wouldn’t take as long, that’s for sure.”
“Clearly, I’m edging the log,” I deadpanned. “Sorry I’m not a Koigni who can shoot fire out of my dick. Have you ever tried starting a fire without your magic?”
“That’s what you’re here for.”
I was starting to get frustrated, because I must’ve been at this for half an hour now, and nothing was happening. So much for proving how well I could provide for her. She was going to turn into an ice block before I started this fire.
“I wish we had some flint,” Ava mused. “That would make this easier.”
“Unfortunately we don’t.” My kid was going to be an adult by the time we got off this island.