“Blessed be Thy heart, which never fails, even in utter Darkness.” She was standing now, her lips pressed to his chest. When she tilted her head up for the final kiss, he bent to her, because of the difference in their heights.

“Blessed be Thy mouth, which gives comfort and strength in its Truths.”

A brief, gentle touch. Then Ruby stepped back, her gaze focused and intent on his. As two coven members came forward again, she lifted her arms straight out to her sides. They used them to lower her to her back on the altar table.

Linda had removed the blue cloth and now she laid it on Ruby, the translucent fabric settling over her with the weight of a feather. Ruby stretched out her arms and legs, forming the Pentacle symbol as Derek knelt between her legs once again. Linda blessed the athame and Christine the chalice. Christine gave Ruby the chalice, and Derek leaned over her, placing the blade in the cup.

“As the Lord and Lady are joined, so, too, are this cup and athame, representing what is necessary for Life and the Light to continue.”

The coven members returned to their spaces. Several of them held small drums, and began to play them, tapping out a primal, slow beat. Linda started a new round of chanting, this one to raise energy, condense it in the circle.

“Woman is the altar,” Linda said, her voice rising. “She is the sacred point in the Universe, the sacred hearth and home, while the Lord is the hunter, motion and change. We thank them for their presence here tonight, within these vessels of High Priest and Priestess, to strengthen the forces of Light that maintain balance, that allow us to do Your Will.”

Christine had taken a position behind Derek, and he closed his eyes as the scourge hit his bare back, the oil enhancing the sting, giving it a wet slap. Christine had a strong arm, and while some pain was part of it, it wasn’t the main purpose. It was the focus, the repetition, in line with the drumbeats. Ruby’s scourging would have happened earlier, for the High Priestess stepped into the circle already prepared as a willing receptacle for the Goddess.

Ruby’s gaze never wavered, but Derek saw the shimmer of power, felt it coil around her, and around him. When the scourging stopped, he wasn’t even aware of it. Taking the edge of the blue cloth, he watched the transparent cloth slide below her eyes, over her lips, the valley of throat and rise of breast. He handed it to a waiting attendant. The Lord’s power was within him, his cock hard and ready. Kneeling between her spread knees on the cool rock, he laid his hands on her thighs. He could see deep into the Universe in that gray-green gaze, and knew she could do the same in his.

The energy was rising, spiraling. He slid into her slow, gradual, the magic of it taking hold of them both. The Great Rite was like being in the direct, pure flow of the Lady’s Love, the Lord’s Strength, held by both of them even as they acted as their divine instruments. Sometimes, like now, it was hard to remember they were anything else, anything separate. The coven would do the energy focus and release. Their only job was to get lost in it, go where the Lord and Lady wanted them to go. They were still here, Derek and Ruby, but they were more than that as well, a part of something so large, they were swept away by it, floating in a sphere of gold, gray and rose, where it was just them.

He thrust, withdrew, feeling the energy cycle and spiral tighter, the focus of the coven pulling it toward that fault line. He cupped Ruby’s face in both hands, seeing her and the Divine twined together. Her body responded to each thrust, her focus within just like his, feeling that energy, both knowing what was needed as High Priest and Priestess. However, the bond that was between the two of them, that rose up pure and strong now, was part of it, undeniable.

Ruby’s body lifted to him, power rolling through her, the continuity and strength. Her eyes…. He could get lost in those eyes forever. All the answers were there, and the answers were in stillness. He knew that, hadn’t found that answer on his mountain, but he found it here in Ruby’s eyes, in the Lady’s eyes. As his climax built, and hers did as well, he gave himself over to that, let his mind go, surrendered, as he felt Ruby do the same.

At the top of the spiral, bodies close to offering their final power release, the climax, they were unable to resist their innate response to each other any longer. Then they felt the coven set the energy loose, sweeping them away in the same tide.

Ruby’s throat arched as she cried out, her fingers pressing hard into the stone as she tried to maintain the position prescribed by the ritual. Instinct told him to go about it differently. Catching her legs up on his hips, he encouraged her to wrap her arms on his shoulders, increased his thrusts, driven by his own powerful orgasm.

As a sorcerer, he felt his energy and hers join the coven’s, all of that power targeted toward the fault line, a concentrated flood of power. As the channel for the great Lord, as Derek, he was all sensation. The drumbeat vibrated through him; the backwash of the spiral’s release rushed over him.

And then, everything disappeared except the woman beneath him, a tornado wind sweeping them away from the current plane.

THIS WAS WHAT THE GREAT RITE WAS LIKE, WHEN DONE with one’s soul mate. He’d heard that said, only he’d never experienced it before. He and Ruby were in a world of their own, their souls unfolded to each other, a vital part of the magic they’d done.

He was aware of Ruby as part of the Lady, though he couldn’t see her solid form anymore. He thought he might be drifting in the Lady’s consciousness, but then he saw a small sphere of light. Like a will-o’- the-wisp, that sense of a passing soul. Moving toward it with only his mind’s desire to do so, he circled it, drew closer.

There was something within the sphere. And as it became aware of him, it turned, a hazy form. A hand reached out, touching the convex side, like the inhabitant of a snow globe reaching out to the world outside its perfect shelter.

Deep shock jolted through him as he touched the other side. He couldn’t feel that hand, but it didn’t matter. He was rocked down to the foundation of his soul.

Great Lord and Lady.

The Truth he was seeing overwhelmed him. He was rendered mindless, speechless, purposeless. He could only stare at that tiny, utterly miraculous, utterly horrifying magic. The magic Ruby held deep in her subconscious.

DURING THE CLOSING RITE, LINDA DIPPED THE ATHAME once more in the cup of wine, blessed the cakes she’d had ready and passed both around for grounding and to reinforce the ritual. Thanks to Ruby’s tutelage, she was fairly sure the Great Rite had worked. The fault line was fair pulsing with energy now, no hint of weakness or the Dark coming through. She’d never experienced such a wave of power, the strength of what had come from Derek and Ruby’s Joining. Was it too much to hope that they might have squelched the threat entirely?

Looking between Derek and Ruby, she knew she’d have to ask that question another time. Some covens turned their backs during the actual intercourse of the Great Rite, or cut an opening in the circle and departed until that part was over. That hadn’t been an issue for Derek or Ruby. It was what was between them now that she could tell required privacy.

Since Miriam was in the hospital, Linda had Alice, who represented the Maiden for this ritual, to cut a symbolic hole in the circle, then close it after the departing coven. They left Ruby and Derek facing each other.

From some of the backward glances, Linda could tell she wasn’t the only coven member who detected something momentous hovering in the air between them. Since whatever that thing was seemed potentially catastrophic, Linda added another prayer to the circle’s power before she followed the other women up to the kitchen area.

May the Lord and Lady guide you both.

Chapter 16

DEREK BENT, RETRIEVED THEIR ROBES FROM WHERE they’d been carefully folded under the table. He draped them over his arm. “Want to go rinse off in Linda’s freshwater pool? It’s heated.”

Ruby nodded. Every inch of her skin felt alive, tingling. She was still a little dazed. Parts of her that had been sealed up for so long had opened for a short time, albeit cautiously. She didn’t want to think about anything, so splashing around with Derek sounded good. And he was being so gentle and easy with her, offering her his arm so they walked together, naked as Adam and Eve. When they got to the gravel path that led to the pool, he simply bent and scooped her up, cradling her in his arms.

“The gravel doesn’t bother your feet?”

“Nope.” And it didn’t appear to, the way he was crunching over it, as matter-of-fact as if he wore his boots.

She slid a finger through the oil lingering on his shoulder. It felt good, to touch him that way. Nothing more, nothing less. Just quiet and good. “You were right. That worked really well. I think anything’s going to have a hard time getting through the fault line. Maybe we should have done this the first day. Would have saved me a lot of teaching.”

Though she wondered if she would have trusted him as much at the beginning of the week, when she was still dealing with the potential threat of him coming back into her life. She still worried about that, but like always, for good or bad, her nerves just seemed to settle when Derek Stormwind was around regularly.

“They’ll still need your lessons to keep it that way. Things tend to happen at certain times for a reason.” Still carrying her, he took the steps down into the pool. When they reached the deeper portion, beyond where her feet could touch, he let her legs down. She kept her arm crooked over his neck, while he kept his at her waist. Since he was looking down at her with those serious blue eyes, the firm mouth, she couldn’t help but trace his lips. He kissed her, biting the finger lightly and making her smile.

“You’re being awfully quiet,” she noted. “Just the ritual fallout?”

“Hmm.” Picking up a washcloth in a basket left at the poolside, he wet it. Then he began to wipe the oil from her skin in easy, massaging strokes. “No talking right now. Let’s just do this.”

No objection there, though a frisson of uneasiness stirred at his laconic reply. Taking up another cloth, she began to wipe his shoulders and chest. Of course they got in each other’s way, all tangled, and it made her smile. It even made him smile, though he kept that intently thoughtful look. Rituals brought a lot of things out. Usually good things, but still things requiring a deeper level of contemplation, so she tried to leave it at that.