“Yeah.” I drew the chain out from beneath my jacket and stared down at the opal. As I focused my attention on it and thought of Iannis, it glowed blue again, and I felt a tug on my soul. The magic seemed to be pulling me in an easterly direction, which made sense since Dara, the Federation capital, was located on Northia’s east coast. But that wasn’t particularly helpful, because there was a vast amount of land between us and Dara. I really didn’t have any more information than Chen’s search party, now that I thought about it.
“From what I understand about serapha charms,” Comenius said as he joined me on the sofa, “they won’t pinpoint the location of the person tied to them, but so long as you follow that internal tug, it will lead you straight to the other half of the charm, and thus to the person wearing it.”
“Maybe, but that means wandering across the country on foot for who knows how long. And even if it pulls me in the right direction, if I follow it blindly it’ll probably lead me straight across a chasm with my luck.” I scowled down at the stone, annoyed at how useless it was proving to be. But then again, Iannis had used it to find me, hadn’t he? “There has to be a better way to go about this.”
“I’m sure there is, but I’m afraid I’m not the one to do it.” Comenius smiled. “Thankfully, we both know someone who is.”
It didn’t take long for Elania to arrive. As soon as the shop’s doorbell rang, Comenius was on his feet, hurrying down the stairs. It was both amusing and disconcerting, the way my normally level-headed friend seemed to be infatuated with Elania, the witch who ran the apothecary shop down at the other end of the pier. From what I understood, like many witches Elania could also do spellcasting, which was why Comenius was enlisting her help. It almost made me wonder whether Elania had somehow bewitched my friend, as it was precisely because of his cautious, level-headed nature that the two of us had called things off. But I didn’t sense anything magically off about Comenius. The only magic he was caught up in was the magic of lust, and that was something we were all subject to, no magical potions or spells required.
I should know, because as a shifter, or at least half-shifter, lust was a much bigger inconvenience to me than it was for a human or mage. Twice a year, shifter females went into heat and became insatiable creatures, consumed by the urge to mate and little else. The clock reset every time it was over, regardless of whether or not we were impregnated, but during the period in between our hormones ramped up bit by bit until we exploded all over again.
My time was coming soon, in a matter of weeks. Normally I didn’t concern myself overmuch with it, as I just found a reasonably willing male to take out my sexual energy on when the time came. But I’d never had my heart tangled up over anyone before, especially not someone like Iannis. When we’d first met, the attraction I’d felt had been instant, and I’d fought so hard to deny it that I’d blamed it on my hormones. But as time passed, I knew my impending heat was only partially to blame – the growing feelings in my heart had little to do with the growing heat in my loins, and in the past I’d always been able to distinguish between the two. The presence of someone in my life that I both wanted, needed, and couldn’t have in more ways than one, was really fucking with me. Sometimes I wished that I’d never met the Chief Mage, because then at least I wouldn’t be torn into two over the issue.
But I had met him, and even if I was conflicted, my life was in many ways better for having him in it. And besides, I owed him a debt that even rescuing him might not repay.
“Sunaya!” Elania greeted me in her throaty voice as she glided into the room. She’d changed and freshened up since I’d seen her in the infirmary – her thick, lustrous black hair was piled up atop her head in a complicated weave, her eyes were rimmed with fresh kohl, and the flowing red dress she wore matched her lipstick perfectly. Beneath one slender arm she held a long, rolled up piece of parchment, and in the other hand she carried a small wooden case. “I am glad to see you are looking better.”
“Thank you.” I stood up to embrace her – I figured as Comenius’s new girlfriend, and a helpful one at that, it would be smart of me to warm up to her. “The tonic you and Comenius whipped up worked wonders.”
“Of course it did,” she said, winking as she embraced me. The dark, exotic scent of spices and woman surrounded me, and I filed it away in my memory banks. “There is nothing I make that doesn’t do the job it is intended for.”