“Serapha charms require you to imbue them with a small piece of your life force… your soul, if you will. You simply place the necklace over your head like I have done, and then repeat the incantation I’m about to use.”
“Alright.” A little shiver rippled down my spine at the idea of giving up a piece of my soul for this, but as I looked down at the tiny stone I figured it was probably a very small piece. Mimicking Iannis, I fastened the chain around my neck, then placed the stone over my heart.
Iannis closed his eyes, then spoke the Words. I watched his brow furrow, as if in pain or discomfort, and the scent of magic thickened in the air. Blue-white spilled out through the cracks between his fingers, and I flinched at the brightness, but it faded quickly, as did the burnt-sugar scent in the air.
When Iannis lifted his hand from the stone, I noticed it was glowing brightly, but the brilliance was self-contained.
“It will fade after a little while,” Iannis explained, correctly interpreting my gaze. “Once the spell settles, it will only activate again when you have need of the charm. Now, you try it.”
I took a deep breath in through my nostrils to steady my nerves, then repeated the incantation. I felt a pinch deep inside me, in a place I’d never even felt before, followed by a burning sensation, and I stifled a yelp of surprise. But it was over before I knew it, and when I opened my eyes I could see my own stone glowing. It felt hot beneath my fingers, as if there wasn’t just light, but fire in its depths.
“Very good.” Iannis nodded, a pleased expression on his face, and then he ducked his head so he could remove the necklace. “And now we exchange necklaces.”
I did as he asked, trading my necklace for his, and it occurred to me that this was rather intimate, the idea of trading a piece of one’s soul for a piece of someone else’s. But I supposed since we were master and apprentice that wasn’t so strange – Roanas and I had shared a very close bond. I wondered if Iannis and I would ever become close in that way, if the sexual tension between us would ever fade, or if it would always keep us from truly relaxing around each other so we could bond the way a mentor and his student should.
As I placed Iannis’s necklace around my neck, the stone’s glow gradually faded until it appeared nothing more than an ordinary gemstone. But I could still feel a faint warmth emanating from the stone as it rested against my chest.
“Excellent.” Iannis’s eyes were surprisingly soft as he regarded me. “Now we’re properly linked.”
“Seems so.” I looked down at the pendant again. “So how exactly do I use this thing?”
“It’s a simple enough charm. You speak my name while holding the pendant, and you’ll get an instant sense of where I am. Go on, try it.”
“Okay.” I curled my fingers around the necklace, making sure that the pendant was touching my palm. “Iannis ar’Sannin.”
Instantly, a sense of intuition activated inside me, and it was as if a map unfolded in my mind’s eye, revealing a pulsing dot where Solantha Palace was. I couldn’t actually see the map though, nor the pulsing dot; it was more like I could sense it, and I had the idea that if I wasn’t actually at the Palace, something inside me would tug me towards Iannis’s location, even though I wouldn’t actually know that’s the location I was headed.
I let go of the pendant, and the feeling faded away. “Whoa. That was weird.”
Iannis cracked a smile. “But it works, does it not?”
“It sure does.” I grinned. “Does this mean you’re going to remove the tracking spell now?”
“It does.”
He scooted closer, and I jumped a little as he took my hands in his. Warmth flowed through me from his hands to mine, pooling in my lower belly, and suddenly I was filled with want. Our gazes locked, and his iridescent violet eyes burned into mine for just a moment.
“This will only take a second.”
He spoke another short incantation, and a wave of magical energy rushed across my skin, sending tingles from my head to my toes. And then he dropped my hands, and it was over.
“Unfortunately I’ve no time left to teach you more since we started so late,” he said, his tone tinged with regret. “You should be on your way now.”
“Wait!” The word burst from my lips as Iannis began to stand. I had a feeling there was something I was supposed to be telling him, something important, but my brain was too overwhelmed to tell me what. Instinctively I reached out and grabbed his wrist, then bit back a gasp as heat lightning arced between us.
“Yes?” Iannis’s eyes flared, but not with anger, and I knew that he felt it too. This strange connection we had, whatever it was, it was real. And as he stood above me, I had a feeling that we were both standing on opposite ends of a canyon, and that Iannis was just waiting for the right word from me to jump across it to the other side.