Found (Book One of the Castle Coven Series): A Witch and Warlock Romance Novel (7 page)

Hailey hesitated, and Kieran could read the doubt on her face.

“Remember. No one has ever been permanently injured in these experiences. A few were knocked out, but that is because the witches in question were deliberately trying to hurt them. I know that you are not deliberately trying to hurt me at all.”

Hailey warmed at his words, and then she nodded. She had agreed to do this. There was literally no other way to get the kind of power that she needed to test it.

“All right,” she said. “What do you want me to do?”

“Let’s start with what you know. Go easy, and try to send fire into the air.”

He rolled up his sleeve and offered his bare forearm to her. Hailey laid her hand on his wrist, marveling at how warm and muscular he felt for a moment before she started concentrating.

She had done this a few times before, but never with someone with whom she had been intimate. The difference between touching Kieran now and draining him of power a few hours before was vast. Now she could sense his power, his energy. His reserve was vast. In her head, the image that appeared was of gazing out over a vast ocean. She could reach down and scoop some of that water up without ever running out.

Hailey pulled some of that power from him, and in the space of a moment, she sent it straight up into the air in a burst of fire. It was a geyser of red and gold, and she could feel it crisp the ends of her hair slightly. The exhalation of all of that power made her lightheaded, and by the time the flame died down, she found herself laughing.

To her surprise, Kieran was laughing as well, and his eyes lit up like a boy’s.

“That was amazing!” he exclaimed. “Have you ever done anything like that before?”

“I lit a candle flame,” she said between laughs. “I lit a bonfire!”

She sobered suddenly when she thought of how much power it took to send that much fire into the sky.

“Oh, Kieran, are you all right?”

He tilted his head, looking at her quizzically.

“You can see very well that I am, can’t you?”

“I didn’t take too much?”

Kieran frowned, and he held out his own hand. Hailey shivered as the temperature dropped and ice crystals started dancing above his palm. They were beautiful, formed from the moisture in the air. They spun faster and faster, and grew larger and larger. With a sudden movement, almost too fast for her to see, he flung the ice out, embedding them with pinpoint accuracy into the wooden door a hundred paces away.

“I feel fine,” he said after considering it for a moment. “Maybe a little tired? Other than that, just fine. Let’s try it again.”

Hailey eyed him suspiciously.

“Is this some kind of macho thing? I don’t want to do something like that and have you keel over.”

Kieran held up his hands placatingly.

“I’m not much interested in keeling over either. Let’s try it again, and if I feel like I’m about to get knocked over, we’ll give it a rest. This time, let’s try something that you’ve never tried before. Something a little more difficult.”

Hailey thought for a moment.

“What about weather witching?”

“Sounds fantastic. Looks like there’s some clouds over there for you to play with, so try it.”

He offered her his hand again, and this time she took it more readily.

Weather witching was a much more precise form of magic. Some of the members of the Magus Corps would use it for offensive attacks, but other witches who had the power to influence the weather used it for more practical and benevolent purposes. Some of them brought an end to droughts, others quelled floods. It was a type of magic that was very dissimilar from simply shooting fire into the sky. Hailey had never tried it.

Once again, she drew power from Kieran, and once again, she had a dizzying impression of a power supply so vast she could never reach its end. She saw the clouds and thought about what she had read of weather witching. It was all about coaxing the world into the shape that she wanted to see it in. It was about pulling water from the air, like Kieran had done with his ice and about creating a change in the sky.

 
Hailey was beginning to feel a headache forming between her temples, but then she heard it.

There was a patter of rain that started as soft as cat’s feet, and then it sped up. She didn’t feel any droplets however, and in confusion she opened her eyes.

“That’s the kind of thing that used to get you burned,” Kieran remarked.

It was raining, and the rest of the courtyard was getting soundly soaked. However, the spot where Kieran and Hailey stood was dry as a bone. When she reached her hand out into the rain, she shivered at how cold it was and drew back immediately.

“Kieran…”

“This is the work of a powerful and trained weather witch. You said that you’ve never done this kind of work before?”

“No, never in my life.”

Kieran’s look was thoughtful.

“Hmm. Are you up for one more trial?”

“I am. But this time, can I choose?”

There was something immediately gratifying about the way he nodded and offered her his arm again. This time, she had a different idea. She remembered the electric touch of his lips against her palm. Now she did it to him, and the results were immediate and electric.
 

He pulled his breath in at the sensation, but Hailey couldn’t concentrate on it. That power was there. She didn’t need tools. She was the tool, and it was all there for her. The feeling of that much power coursing through her, vibrating through her, becoming a part of her, was intoxicating. Though she’d had vague ideas of what she could do with it, now there was only one thing in her mind. She grabbed hold of Kieran’s hand, and in a moment, they were airborne. She lofted them into the air with a thought, and with dizzying speed, the monastery fell away beneath them.

Kieran shouted with excitement, and they were spiraling up into the sky. From their vantage point, they could see the snow-capped mountains laid out around them, see the dark and craggy faces that were turned to the world.

“This is incredible!” Kieran shouted, and Hailey could only laugh with agreement.

The air was frigid, but that mattered so much less to her than what they were doing. At first she only took them straight up, but when that palled, she began to fly them both in earnest. There was no fear in what she was doing, no worry or pain. All that she could feel was the excitement of flight and of the way the world stretched below them.

She pulled them up through the cloud cover and then down below it again. Then she could see the village at the foot of the hills, and on impulse, she darted closer, tugging Kieran behind.

“Don’t do anything foolish,” Kieran called.

“Wouldn’t dream of it!”

However, there was a tall church steeple on the edge of the village, straight and iron, and she alighted them next to it. There was a ledge that was just wide enough for both of them to stand, and below, the people walking by looked small and far away.

“I certainly hope you have the power to get us down,” Kieran said.

Instead of replying, she wrapped her arms around him and leaned up.

This kiss was different from the ones that they had shared before. It was electric, deep and sustaining. She could feel him so intimately like this. It was almost as intimate as being joined with him physically. She was tapped into him.

When she reached for his power, this time it came rushing up to meet her. She meant to fly them back to the monastery, but then something else occurred, and they both disappeared.

• • • • •

One moment, Kieran had been high above the village and looking down. The next, they were back in the main hall of the monastery, and people around them were shouting with surprise. Kieran, who had had centuries of battle preparation and trial by combat, was only a bit surprised, and looked down at Hailey, grinning like a fool.

To his shock, however, she was looking around her in dismay.

“Hailey? What’s the matter?”

“I… that wasn’t what I was… I meant to
fly
us back.”

“Hailey, love, there’s nothing to be concerned about. Nothing! I’m fine, you’re well, you’re better than well. You’re amazing. Please, look at me.”

Instead of doing that, Hailey stumbled backwards, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

“Kieran, don’t you understand? I completely lost control. I could have drained you dry. I could have seriously hurt you!”

Kieran made an impatient gesture.

“The mountains could rise up and dance. The sky could fall on our heads. Neither of those things happened, Hailey, and you didn’t hurt me either. Come, come and look, just look for yourself.”

He tried to offer her his arm again, but to his shock and his pain, she recoiled from him.

“Hailey?”

“Oh god, Kieran, I can’t! I can’t. You don’t understand. I wasn’t
in control.
I could have done anything.”

“I trust you. I wasn’t afraid at all.”

“
I am!
”
 

The words were torn from her, and seeing the look of pain on her face, Kieran fell silent, completely stunned. Hailey had just accomplished some of the most amazing feats he had ever seen in his long life, and instead of being proud of herself, instead of being exhilarated, she looked horrified.

“Hailey, please, just look?”

She shook her head wildly, backing away from him so quickly she almost fell. When he tried to right her, she jerked away.

“No! No, don’t!”

Hailey turned and fled, leaving Kieran to gaze after her.

His first instinct was to go after her, but rationally, he knew that all that would happen would be the same thing all over again. Instead, he restrained himself, shaking his head. He looked up to see that there were people in the main hall staring at him, and even worse, he could see Donato at the back. Though he wanted nothing better than to go to Hailey and to make sure that she was all right, he grit his teeth and walked up to the coven master instead.

“So you’ve awakened the dragon,” Donato said. Kieran could have struck him.

“I am performing my function as a major in the Magus Corps, coven master,” Kieran said stiffly. “I would thank you to remember that.”

“I don’t question your resolve or your function. I only want to know what you have done to a member of my coven.”

Kieran’s temper boiled at the man’s tone.

“Member of your coven? What it looks like to me is that Hailey is kept wrapped in cotton. You know what her powers are, how amazing she could be, and you keep her locked away from her ability to use it. In times past, that would border on torture.”

Donato’s eyes sharpened, and he stood up straight. He was nowhere near as tall as Kieran, but he had a commanding presence that reminded the major that Donato had ruled the coven for generations.

“Are you truly so naive? Do you think that you can bring a woman with that set of powers here and allow her to merely use them as she saw fit? I would have had a justifiable panic on my hands. If she had looked like she was stepping the least bit out of line. Well. People are afraid of her, Major. There are stories about her kind.”

“Oh yes, those tales of warlocks and witches drained dry? Learn a new story. That’s just a myth. Look at me, for the love of all that’s holy.”

Donato eyed Kieran up and down as the major gestured.

“In a single day, she has used me to throw fire into the sky, to make it rain, to fly and to teleport. Before that, when I menaced a woman––one of your precious coven members––she struck me back. Do I look drawn? Do I look like I’m on the verge of losing what I am?”

Donato snorted inelegantly.

“Why should you? You’re bonded to her.”

Kieran halted, struck to the core. Donato raked Kieran over with disdainful eyes.

“To be perfectly honest, perhaps you could have been a little more subtle than to claim each other in the choir loft, but that is something that I’m willing to overlook. What surprises me, Major, is how you could avoid recognizing what happened.”

Kieran finally found words.

“We’re not bonded. I haven’t initiated her. We used protection.”

Donato’s glance was almost pitying.

“Some bonds don’t need initiation, but I can see it with my own eyes. You’re bonded. You will enhance each other’s powers whether you know it or not. Just don’t expect anyone else to offer themselves up, Major.” Donato shook his head. “Work it out for yourself, and leave the rest of my coven out of it. Things are difficult enough with Beatrice going missing.”

The name seemed to ring a bell, but he nodded icily at Donato, and the two men parted ways.

Now that he had time away to think, he could reflect on Donato’s words, and slowly, he recognized them for nothing but the honest truth. Witches and warlocks that had a special bond could do far more together than they could do apart.

What Hailey had done was impressive, and when he thought about it, it should have been impossible. The amount of power it took to send two Wiccans flying through the air was one thing, but to teleport them back over any sort of distance at all was phenomenal. That was something that would likely leave most witches or warlocks tired––if they were doing it under their own power.

When Kieran assessed himself, he realized that he felt less tired than excited. He and Hailey were on the brink of something new. He had a role in this, and there was no part of him that did not want to be in that space with her.

He needed to think, so he walked down to the kitchen. The monastery had a kitchen of course, with an enormous fireplace that stretched from wall to wall. However, the Angioli coven was under no vow of poverty, and the kitchen held all of the modern conveniences that might be necessary. There were some people there, chatting and joking, but when they saw the Magus Corps major and his thunderous expression, they cleared out quickly. Kieran felt a little guilty for their reaction, but he couldn’t worry about it too much when there was so much on the line.

There was fresh-baked bread sprinkled with rosemary on the cutting board, and investigation into one of the refrigerators yielded a soft white cheese and a hard salami. Kieran cut generous slices of both for himself. Now that he was no longer flying through the air, he realized he was hungry, and for at least a little while, he could concern himself only with eating. The food was simple but hearty, and he ate until he could no longer feel the rumblings of hunger in his belly.