Ch 23: The Tethering Spell

As much as they longed for it, willed it, time would not stand still. It passed as the moon overhead as they made love again and again, shared stories of their time apart, and reminisced about memories of their time together before Calder had left on his journey. They refused to allow sleep to take them, not wanting to miss a single second of the time they had left together.

Naked and curled up in each other's arms on the bed, Calder ran his fingers through Astasha's hair. Her eyes were fixed on the little window in her ceiling.

“The light will be here soon."

Cal pulled her closer to him and kissed her forehead. "Don't think of that yet my love."

Astasha's mind had been working overtime, thinking of the way their scars reached out to each other each time they were in the throes of passion, hers a flickering gold, his an icy blue. She kept thinking of the feeling she had had when Cal had sent out the blast of energy in the healing ward. What did it all mean? What was happening?

She sat up suddenly, taking Calder by surprise.

"I want to try something."

He raised a curious eyebrow at her, but his gaze became distracted. Her hair was cascading down her chest and back, her breasts peeking out through the waves of red. She was the most beautiful creature in the world to him, especially in that moment.

Heat rose in Astasha's cheeks. "Cal, stop, you're gonna make me blush. I can feel your desire."

He smiled up at her. "How do you know it's not your own?"

That smile. She would face all the demons of the afterlife for that smile.

"You really are insatiable." She giggled. It had been so long since she had felt joy like she had this night.

"If only you could see yourself right now through my eyes you would understand." He smirked.

She blushed again. "Come on, I want to try something." She pulled on his arm to make him sit up across from her.

"If you're wanting to try another position, I think we've done them all."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I have a theory about something and I want to see if it'll work."

Each time they had made love, Astasha had felt the power inside her grow. Even now she could feel it pulsing through her. But more so, she could feel power emanating from Calder. If what Helia had said was true, her magic was inside him now. It might be possible for him to harness it and use it to do magic himself.

"Do you remember the first night of your return celebration, how I lured you into the woods?"

Calder's face went dark. Of course he remembered, the demon had made sure he was aware of everything it was doing with Tasha. His Tasha. "Aside from how beautiful you looked, that's not a night I wish to remember."

Astasha grasped his hand with her own, trying to send soothing energy towards him. "I know, I'm sorry. The only reason I brought it up was that earlier that night, right before, I performed a tethering spell, tying you to me. I could sense where you were at all times, knew you were following me, knew the moment you entered the woods. It’s like a string attached from your wrist to mine but only the caster can sense it. It's fairly simple magic. I want to do it again, only this time, I want you to try it back as well."

The Prince blanched at her. "Tasha, I'm not a sorcerer, you know I can’t—“

"I know you can feel it, Cal." She saw a slight fear behind his eyes, could feel a light pulse of it coming off him. She raised his hand up, holding it over her scar, raising her own over his. "Don't you feel that? Concentrate on the energy. Breath it in."

"Tasha..." There was uncertainty on his face.

"Close your eyes." She urged.

After a moment, he obliged. He trusted her more than anyone in the world. If she believed he could feel something, he would at least try.

"Breath." Astasha watched him as he took a deep breath. She could sense him relax. "Focus on your fingertips. Reach out through them. Try to connect to the energy outside of them. Breath."

Calder concentrated on the air around his hand, searching for something he had no clue what it felt like. Just when he was about to give up, he felt a cold heat, like electricity.

Astasha's eyes went wide as she felt a pull coming from within herself and looked down to see tiny tendrils of fire reaching out from her scar, changing to blue flame as they reached Cal's fingertips.

His eyes opened to see the same thing and he gasped, yanking his hand away. Immediately, the pulling sensation in Tasha stopped and the wisps of power dissipated.

"Holy shit." Calder was staring at his hand, Astasha at him.

"It worked. I knew it.” She breathed.

Cal looked up at her. "Does this mean...?"

She shook her head. "I don't know for sure. I need to look more into it, but, for now, let's see if you can do the spell."

There was uncertainty on his face but he nodded. "Ok."

"Give me your hand." Astasha lightly clasped Calder's hand in her own. "I'll do it first so you can learn the words, but it's more about the energy. You have to focus on wrapping it around my wrist and tying it to your own. Picture it as a string that connects us."

He was nervous, they could both feel it. But his face was set and he watched her intently as she muttered the foreign words and turned her hand ever so slightly around his. Astasha could feel the tether form easily. For a seasoned witch, it was one of the easiest spells. But for someone who had never felt nor performed magic, it seemed impossible.

"Is that it?" He asked.

She nodded. "Your turn. Close your eyes. Breath. Just like you did earlier, sense the energy, only this time, feel the energy in your hand. Pull it out like a thread and wrap it around my wrist and then your own."

Cal closed his eyes. This was insane. He loved watching Tasha perform spells when they first met, watching her discover her powers and what all they could do. But he was a warrior. Swords and bows were what his hands knew how to use. All of this was so unfamiliar. He had to try though.

Tasha watched him intently as he took a couple of breaths and focused. The sensation of something being pulled from within her began again as Calder repeated the words she had spoken and gently turned his hand around hers.

The two gasped in unison. If she hadn't explained it to him, Calder wouldn't have believed it. But as he turned his hand, focusing on the energy he was pulling from it, he could feel it wrap around Tasha's wrist and then his own, a small tugging sensation pulling at him from where she sat across from him.

Astasha didn't know why she could feel the string of energy slide around her wrist, only the caster should be able to feel it, but she knew it meant the spell had worked.

"I... I can feel it pulling towards you." whispered Calder.

Astasha watched him, her eyes wide, mouth open.

He looked up from their hands to see her shocked face. "I don't know what to think."

Tasha shook her head. "I don't either, not yet at least. The one thing I do know is that Errant cannot know of this."

Cal nodded in agreement. "He'd have me on that table trying to rip it out of me so fast my head would spin, no matter the consequences.”

Astasha absentmindedly touched the wound on her chest. She didn't know if she'd ever be able to be near that table again with clear energy. Her trauma and memories would cloud her ability to perform even the simplest rituals properly. Then again, she didn't even know if she was still a part of the Magic Advisory. Everything had been happening so fast, in such chaos, nothing was clear anymore.

"Hey," Cal whispered, his hand cupping her face. "You know I'll never let them take you near there again right?"

She looked into his eyes and knew that to be true. Cal would die before letting that happen to her.

"I don't know what's going to happen anymore." She said honestly.

"So long as I know you're alright, I don't care." He rubbed his thumb along her cheek. "Whatever fresh hell awaits us tomorrow, and the day after that, even if I can't be with you like this, I'll make it through knowing you're here, by my side."

Astasha looked at her Prince, her heart torn between being whole with him here in this moment, and shattering into a million pieces knowing this was the last time she would be with him. "I will always be by your side."

She could feel the energy beginning to change outside the skylight. Morning was coming, and soon, their little piece of forever would end. Her memories drifted to a similar time, five years ago, when she and Cal had watched the sky change from deep black to navy blue, knowing they would be saying goodbye, not knowing when they would see each other again, or when she would feel his strong arms around her, or his lips on hers.

"Do you remember what you told me in the woods just before you left on your journey?"

Cal looked deep into her eyes. "That I loved you."

Astasha smiled. "Before that."

Confusion flashed behind his eyes before a faint smile of the memory crossed his lips. "I told you to kiss me with every fiber of the fire within you so the flames would linger on my lips till I returned to you.” Calder chuckled “Gods, it sounds so ridiculous now, don’t know why that was what I decided to say, I can’t believe you didn’t just laugh at me—“

Astasha shook her head as Calder sputtered on, the smile still on her face. “Cal, shut the fuck up and kiss me.”

Astasha lunged forward, her hands wrapping into his hair, her lips attacking his, pulling every drop of energy from within her and pouring it into their kiss.

Cal grabbed her and pulled her down onto the bed with him, his passion matching hers. Instantly entangled in the moment, neither of them noticed the flames immediately reaching from one scar to the other, drifting from gold to blue and back again, connected as one, joining them together in a single entity of power.