Chapter Fifteen

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Roxy

Honestly, as pathetic as it might sound to admit, even just to myself, Nathaniel's faith in me really was helping me find confidence in myself.

Complete panic, mingled with my tendency to use as little effort as possible when it came to magic, had made it impossible for me to see a magical way out of the fire maze.

Then, when the rain wouldn't stop and the water started to rise, I fretted that I'd screwed up, that I was going to drown us because I wasn't being careful enough.

It wasn't until I was doing the spell to create a small hill for us to stand on, and created an entire island instead, that I understood how the magic was working.

Nathaniel, though, despite not knowing how to swim, never seemed to lose faith in me.

Even as we approached a crystal ball the size of a starter home, he seemed as relaxed as ever, his hand a solid, reassuring presence in mine.

My mind flashed back to endless afternoons sitting at my mother's altar, staring at a crystal ball. And no matter how I tried —and back then, I truly did—nothing ever appeared but a fog that refused to part, to show me what was hiding beneath.

I wasn't a child anymore, I reminded myself. I was stronger now. And I had real incentive to see… something.

Though, with how the magic of this labyrinth was working, I'll admit that there was a fairly large amount of trepidation in my steps as we grew closer to the crystal ball.

What was I supposed to try to see? The cure? But I didn't even know what the cure was , let alone what it looked like. And as much as Nathaniel had researched, I was pretty sure he had no idea either.

"Do you see anything?" Nathaniel asked as we stood before it, stretching comically high above us.

"Fog," I admitted. But I didn't know if it was actually there or if I'd conjured it because of my fears of my history repeating itself. "What do you see?" I asked.

"A reflection."

"Of what?" I asked.

"You, but… it's not right."

"How isn't it right?" I asked, squinting, but the fog didn't budge.

"It's not… here," he said, waving his free hand out at the labyrinth. "And you're not wearing what you're wearing now."

"What am I wearing?" I asked, glancing from the crystal ball just in time to catch an almost… bashful look cross Nathaniel's face.

"A nightgown," he said, but there was a false edge to his words. Like he wasn't telling me everything.

"I think I might need details. I'm not seeing anything, so maybe your vision is what is important."

"I, ah, I don't think so," he said, voice taking on a husky edge.

"What are you seeing?" I asked.

"Me," he admitted. "And you."

Why was he being so evasive?

Unless what he was seeing was something he didn't want to repeat.

Was he… killing me?

As soon as I thought it, though, I brushed that idea aside. Because nothing about Nathaniel's gaze said he was off-put by the vision.

Sure, his gaze was hungry. But I didn't think it was that kind of hungry.

Oh.

Oh.

Desire pinged off of my nerve endings, my mind suddenly flashing back to trying to stay focused on bringing up the land while we floated in the water, and Nathaniel's fingers grazing my belly then… lower each time I started to sink.

As if the crystal ball was listening to my innermost fantasies, the memory went from my mind and into the ball.

This time, though, I got to watch it from the outside perspective, seeing myself and seeing Nathaniel.

It was the same hunger in his face then as I saw as he watched his own fantasy in the crystal ball.

My memories slowly got taken over by a haze as I focused on Nathaniel.

Then, gradually, like fog kissed by the first rays of sunlight, the crystal ball cleared again.

In the place of my memories, though, was a vision of myself. I stood in the doorway of Nathaniel's library in his brownstone back in the city.

In place of my usual loose-fitting sweats and hoodies with absurd prints was a filmy opal nightgown that hugged the curves of my unbound breasts, then cascaded into thin waves over my body, pooling around my feet.

The material was barely there, the dimmed light in the library playing peek-a-boo with the hint of my flesh under the nightgown.

Across from me, still unaware of my presence, was Nathaniel. He was bent over a tome on his desk, his elbow on the surface, his hair mussed from many hours poring over his text, likely running impatient fingers through the strands.

The fantasy me didn't announce herself, just stood transfixed with the man before her, drinking him in, enjoying catching him in an unguarded moment, seeing him as the truest version of himself.

Across the room, though, Nathaniel's nostrils flared. Like he caught my scent.

I didn't wear perfume.

But maybe fantasy-me did.

Or perhaps vampires thought each witch had their own individual scent.

Ode de Type O Negative.

Nathaniel leaned back in his chair, drinking in the nightgown-covered me for what felt like forever.

Despite it not being real, I felt goosebumps prickle up on my skin at the intensity of his gaze.

My belly flip-flopped at the way his eyes went to half mast, and he pushed aside the book, then patted the desk.

My sex clenched hard.

Then I watched myself walk toward him, the pace slow, a wedding march, a tease, a love scene.

I rounded the desk, sliding between Nathaniel and it, then scooting up onto the surface.

Reach out I silently demanded, then watched as the fantasy me reached for the arms of Nathaniel's chair, drawing him closer.

A growl moved through Nathaniel at that.

Through both Nathaniels.

That had just been a coincidence, right? The whole ‘reach out' thing? It was just a natural progression of the fantasy.

But… but what if it wasn't?

Before I could test the theory, though, Nathaniel's gaze moved out, teasing the sides of my ankles, moving glacially upward, taking the material with him as he went.

I could feel the touch, felt my own skin warm, my own pulse quicken, my own breathing go fast and shallow.

His hands got to my knees, the material ruched up, exposing my calves.

Nathaniel's hungry gaze lifted to mine, waiting.

In my mind, I saw it unfold.

My legs spreading, him slipping between…

Then that was exactly what happened in the crystal ball.

My thighs parted inch by inch, a silent invitation.

The growl moved through both Nathaniels again, making my belly flutter.

Then, in the vision, Nathaniel's head ducked.

His lips met the bare skin of the inside of my knee.

A shiver racked my system. I swore I could feel him right there as well. As he moved upward, inch by delicious inch.

Soon, his head had disappeared beneath the filmy fabric, and all that was left was the sensation as his lips and tongue meeting the ultra-sensitive skin of my inner thigh.

A whimper moved through both of me as the crystal ball me leaned backward, pulling her knees up, and resting her feet on the arms of Nathaniel's chair.

He made the delicious little rumbling growl again, but this time, I could feel it vibrating against the crease of my thigh, could feel his warm breath on my panties.

Breath?

No.

No, vampires didn't breathe .

It was that little fact that had the crystal ball suddenly start to fog up again, drawing inward like a curtain to force the fantasy away.

Just me, though.

At my side, Nathaniel was still rapt. His hand was crushing mine as desire bloomed through him.

My own responded.

But this wasn't the place. It wasn't the time. It wasn't real .

My hand wrenched from his, making his head turn, watching me with hazy eyes for a moment before they slowly cleared.

"It's not real," I told him.

"What?"

"What you're seeing in the crystal ball. It's not real. It's… I don't know what it is."

"What did you see?" he asked, brows scrunching.

"The same thing you did," I admitted. What was the use of lying? We were in this dangerous labyrinth together. We had to be honest with each other.

"The library?" he asked.

"The library, the nightgown, everything," I told him.

"That makes no sense," he said.

"It does," I said. "If you don't think of the crystal ball as a normal divination tool. What if we aren't seeing the future?"

"What else could we be seeing?"

I glanced back at the crystal ball, watching a small break in the fog. Behind it… a stack of pizza boxes. As my stomach let out a growl.

"It's showing us our desires," I admitted, finding it hard to look at him as I confessed to desiring that scene in the library just as much as he had.

"What purpose does that serve?" he asked, glancing back at the ball, but the confused look on his face said he was just seeing the fog as well.

"I think it's a test."

"What kind of test?"

"To see how badly we want it."

"Want what?"

"Whatever it is you're seeking at the end of the labyrinth," I told him. "The problem being, of course…"

"That we don't know what it looks like," he filled in for me.

"Yeah, exactly."

"We could try focusing on the feelings of success and relief at finding it," he suggested. "Of walking out of the maze and back into our lives."

"That… that might work. It's more about the feeling with magic than anything else," I said, offering him my hand again.

"We just stare at it?"

"Yeah, like… you know how you daydream in your head? Kind of, like, project that toward the ball. Hopefully, it will show us… something that we can use to keep going."

With that, we both fell silent as we focused.

I imagined the maze again, following it around until we hit a center where a table was situated. On it, I conjured up a spell jar. I mean, these were witches who created this labyrinth, after all. Spell jars and potions made the most sense to me.

I imagined reaching for it, then handing it to Nathaniel.

And like that, the whole maze fell away, leaving us in the open field. Turning, we both saw the headlights of his driver's car making his way back to pick us up.

Then, just like that, the vision fell away, leaving in its place an opening back into the hedge, miraculously no longer burnt up.

"Do you see it?" I asked Nathaniel.

"Yes," he said, hand squeezing mine. "We go in?" he asked.

"Seems like the only move forward," I said.

Though I added silently, come what may .

And that was pretty reckless of me.

Because what was to come was watching the man I was starting to really like die before my eyes…