Blaize and the Maven: The Energetics Book 1 (23 page)

Blaize did. They trembled ever so slightly. He took her hands and turned them over gently so both faced upwards, then crossed them so her right arm was on top of the underside of her left wrist. He turned his arms so that the palms faced down, crossed them, and grasped hers.
 

“Our hands join together in the sign of infinity, eternal renewal. We commit ourselves to be linked until Blaize Blackfire reaches the level of Practitioner in the Guild of Ajna.”

He looked deeply into her eyes, unblinking. A heap of purple silk thread on the floor moved towards their wrists. Cuinn’s gaze didn’t waver from hers as he directed the thread with his energy to loop around their joined wrists, binding them. “We are bound in fact. Let us be bound in blood.”
 

His grip on Blaize’s hands tightened, and a sharp pain pricked her palms. Drops of blood fell from their joined hands.

“Our blood mingles; our energy mingles.” A tingle started through her left palm, moved around her body and then through her right palm until her whole body was alive with energetic power. Goosebumps rose along her arms and she shuddered. The power was cool, and felt different to her Manipura energy.

Ajna energy.

Her left arm burned with a sudden, blinding pain. She turned her head to see an indigo Ajna mark, a band around the top of her arm, a little above her Manipura bands.
 

She was an Adherent on the physical plane.

“We stay bound as we move to the astral plane. Let’s sit together.”

They sat opposite but close to each other, their legs crossed and their hands now resting, joined, on their knees.

“Close your eyes Blaize, and follow the sound of my voice.”

She did. He talked her into the light trance she needed to get to the astral plane, taking her to his own Haven.
 

They stood in his tower.

“So this is your Haven?” Blaize, fascinated, drank in the scene. They were in a large airy room that, given the view out of the window, seemed to be fairly high up. “Lucky I’m not a psychologist, or the fact that your Haven is a great big tower might make me think—”

He shot her a look that was almost an eye roll, and she smiled.

“You did well to follow me here. Your Ajna energy is strong. Can you see my energy again?”

She tried to see the streams coming out of his body that she’d seen last time. It took her a little longer, as if they were at the edges of her vision, and she could only see them from the corner of her eye. But after a while, she caught the trick of it again and suddenly he was surrounded by purples. He shone with it. This was nothing like what she had seen in the village garden, in her own Haven. The streamers had become a mass.

She gasped. “Wow. There’s a lot more than before.”

He nodded. “Good. That’s because this is my Haven—the place I created on the astral plane. It’s the centre of my power on the astral plane. It’s almost impossible for anyone to come here unless I want them to.
 

“We’re going to build a connection from my Haven to yours, so you will be welcome here all the time we’re bound. This will effectively be a binding on the astral plane.”

“How?”

“No hesitation?”

“Once I’m in, I’m in.”

“Good. The door we’ll build is in the gardens of the tower. So you don’t have to worry about being contaminated by any phallic symbolism.” He laughed. “But first I want you to get used to this place. The more you can visualise it, the easier it will be to return. So, have a look around.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You’re giving me permission to poke around?”

“Well, I wouldn’t put it like that exactly, but yes, I want you to get to know it. There are a few floors with different rooms. Be my guest.” He sat on a chair, crossing his legs elegantly at the ankle.

She walked around the room they were in first, going out to the balcony to look out. “This is a wonderful view. But it’s all from your head? How does it work? Is what I can see real?”

“Hmmm. Sort of. If you go closer it will probably become real. Although it could also change depending on what I wanted or needed it to be.”
 

Blaize frowned. What he said didn't make sense.

“It’s hard to explain, easier to show you.”

Cuinn hadn’t realised that Blaize would be quite as interested in every nook and cranny as she was. He shook his head as she picked up every object and opened every door and cupboard.
 

 
He finally managed to draw her out of the room, and led her down the solid stone stairs to the heavy tower door. They went into the gardens and to the archway that Cuinn had created.

“That’s beautiful.” Blaize walked around it. “How does it work?”

“It doesn’t—yet. We have to activate it together.” He took her hands again in the same crossed-wrists position they’d held in Cuinn’s physical rooms, and tugged her to stand so that the archway was in between them, hands directly under it.

“We’re going to create the doorway to your Haven. This door will open if you need it.” He changed his voice to the more ceremonial tone he’d used in his rooms in Cathair Cuinn. “Blaize Blackfire, do you agree to link your Haven with mine for the duration of our binding as Maven and Adherent?”

“I do.”

“You’re already on the astral plane this time. All you need to do is visualise your Haven, and will yourself there. This archway is a door designed to follow and capture the movement between spaces. Will your Haven to be the other side of the archway, and when we step through we will be in your Haven. Does that make sense?”

A small crease appeared between Blaize's eyes.

Cuinn smiled. “Don’t worry, you have more than enough power. You just need to believe in it. Can you see your streams of power?”

Blaize looked down at herself, trying to see her own power in the way she had Cuinn’s. Her eyes roamed the space around her body as she sought to do as he asked. After a moment, she shook her head and met his gaze, chewing her lip.
 

He tipped his head, asking her wordlessly to try again. She did, and he saw the moment when she caught sight of her energy. Her mouth fell open and her eyes grew huge, their green luminous.
 

Unlike last time, when it had been mainly Manipura she had been manifesting, this power was mainly Ajna. The purple was purer, less red, more blue. And it shone. She was powerful.

She blinked.

“Good. That will help. With Ajna, a major part of being able to use the energy involves believing you can.”

Blaize shook her head. “I’m still not sure I understand.”

“That’s okay. You don’t need to understand it to use it. Sometimes understanding comes through use. So, can you visualise your Haven again?”

“I think so.” Her voice was anxious, and her breathing had speeded.

“There’s no danger this time. Don’t let go of my hands—physically in the ‘real’ world, here in my Haven, or when you visualise yourself in your own Haven. I’ll come with you that way, and I am heavily warded.” He didn’t tell her he’d also done what he could to energetically protect, or ward her in each situation.
 

Her own Haven was the weakest spot at the moment, but there was nothing he could do until she took him there. As soon as they arrived, he would energetically protect the space until there was no possibility of anything getting in to hurt her, ever again.

“Okay.”

“Trust me Blaize.”

“Do I need to close my eyes?”

“Whatever’s easier. All you need to do is visualise your Haven. Think of the garden, the river. The flowers and the bees. It’s a beautiful day. …” He made his voice as hypnotic as possible and her eyes closed involuntarily.

A few minutes later, she opened her eyes again. And her grip on his hands loosened as she was distracted by the sight of her Haven. He tightened his, terrified she might slip out of his grasp at this crucial point. All the time they were joined, he could protect her. Shield her. Ward her. If she let go with the binding incomplete, her Haven unguarded, and her energy and magics unleashed and enhanced by his own, she would be a shining target for every malevolent being in the ether. As it was, it was still possible for anything to enter her Haven until the binding, and wardings, were complete. They needed to get this done.

“Ouch!”

“Sorry. But you can’t let go until we’ve finished this.” He kept his voice calm, though his mouth had gone dry.

“I wasn’t going to let go,” she grumbled. “I was just surprised, that’s all.” She glanced around her, and he did the same. The Haven was alive with tiny details—brightly coloured flowers, the buzz of bees, and the feel of the grass underneath their feet.

They stood under a mirror image of the arch that he’d created in his Haven, their hands still clasped in the middle of the arch, their bodies either side.

“We’ve made the link. Now watch me while I set some wardings up. I’m going to draw on the energy of the etheric plane and create shields that are anchored to the boundaries of your Haven. Eventually I’ll teach you how to ward on this plane, but for now, I’m just going to secure the space as much as possible. You’ll also grow and develop your Haven, just as I have. But that takes time.”

He closed his eyes, and pulled more Ajna energy. He had been pooling it all day, carefully building his reserves, as well as building his strength in case he needed to pull more unexpectedly. This time, he would be prepared. Nothing was going to harm her. All he needed to do was finish the warding and complete the binding.

He opened his eyes and warded the area, creating more delicate trellis work around the pretty garden to set some boundaries, and using the river as another. Blaize watched. “They’re beautiful.”

“Hmmm?”
 

“The roses you just grew out of nowhere.”

“I’m setting boundaries so you know not to go further than that in your Haven at the moment. Eventually, as your ability to pool Ajna energy grows, you’ll expand your Haven, and move the boundaries back with your own power.”

“How big can my piece of Haven real estate be?”

Cuinn frowned as he tried to focus on his task. “As big as you like. Although usually it’s related to your power, as you need to be able to hold the territory with wardings, like this.”

Blaize watched Cuinn, and each time he drew a new symbol with Ajna energy, she would lean a little more towards it, attempting to see exactly what he did. Each symbol would hover in the air for twenty seconds or so, glowing with power. They were mainly purple, but other colours came and went in ripples, creating a rainbow anchored by violet.

Finally, he finished and her Haven was as warded as he could make it. It was time to test the wardings and the link.

He caught her gaze again, and she stared back solemnly, unblinking.
 

“Blaize Blackfire. We are now bound, you and I, as Maven and Adherent. I pledge to protect and guide you, teaching you to harness the power of your Ajna energy for as long as it takes for you to be ready for the Ajna Practitioner trial.
 

“Do you agree to follow my teachings and guidance? To study until you are sufficiently proficient with Ajna to take the Ajna Practitioner trial?”

“I do.” Her voice was firm.
 

“Then we start a new chapter, you and I, this night here in your Haven.” He stepped through the archway, but she didn’t move back, and he found himself inches away from her. He could feel the heat coming off her body. She tilted her head up, her breath feather-like on his neck.
 

He wanted to kiss her. For a moment, he couldn't think of anything apart from the shape of her mouth, the curve of her cheek.

“The first thing I’ll do is teach you to move between our Havens. Watch.”

With a grateful exhalation, he stepped backwards through the trellis, towards the spot he’d so recently vacated.

And disappeared.

Blaize blinked. One minute, Cuinn stood in front of her, glowing with power, and the next minute he was gone.

Although given she'd had to refrain herself from kissing him again, perhaps a moment of space between them was for the best.