Page 197 of Vying Girls

I give a nod, nervous all of a sudden. Yeah, I thought it would be fun to do a spell, but it was the significance behind it I was concerned with, the commitment I wanted to prove to them.

‘We don’t have to, obviously. You might think it’s weird.’ I glance at Elly, Haz. I know Nic gets all this stuff already. It’s her book after all. ‘I just thought—well, I’m serious about this. You guys. All of you. And I kind of wanted to do something to prove it.’

Haz grins. ‘Like marriage.’

‘Kind of. Just without the legal stuff. And witnesses.’

‘We’ve got the moon,’ Nic murmurs, looking up at it. ‘And technically enough people for witnesses.’

‘I’m in,’ Haz says, punching her fist into her palm. ‘Wife me up, Scotty.’

I look at Elly, who tilts her head with a smile, like she always does when I’ve done something adorable. She pulls on my hand until I’m right up against her. ‘This is so cute, babe.’ She gives me a gentle kiss. ‘Always wanted to be a witch’s wife.’

‘Sweet.’ I glance at Nic who’s standing with her hands in the pockets of her low-slung jeans. ‘Take it you’re in?’

‘Since you’re using my gear, yeah.’

Despite her casual words, she lands a heartfelt kiss on my shoulder as she crosses the circle to pick up the book. Balancing it on an open palm, she casts her eyes over the spell.

‘No thrills,’ she says approvingly. ‘Straight to the point.’

I pick up the twine, unravelling the end of it. ‘We need to stand in a circle. This is for two people, obviously, but I’m sure we can figure out how it goes.’

Dutifully, they each raise a hand. I make a loop over my thumb before crossing the twine over the rest of my fingers and handing it to Haz who does the same. It’s like a fiddly, four-person game of cat’s cradle. Once Nic’s looped the twine on her own thumb, I snip the end and drop it back to the ground. Then I pick up the pink candle, etched already with a sigil I made earlier, and light it.

Using the flame for light, I hold it up to the book Nic holds.

I glance up at the others, Haz’s and Elly’s eyes studiously on the spell. Nic’s looking at me, her face soft in the candlelight. She gives a small smile, as gentle as the rest of her. It’s such a new, precious thing. A look I’d never thought I’d ever see on her, and certainly not aimed at me.

‘Ready? We say this three times, alright? Then we blow out the candle together.’

Haz and Elly nod. Nic looks down at the page. Then, together, we chant,

With this string and with this knot,

the candle burning bright and hot,

forever now our love must last

entwined as one, this spell we cast.

Our voices vibrate in the night, oscillating between the trees and the full moon and all the night creatures bearing witness to our joining. I could keep chanting forever, high on the esoteric power of it, but after the third iteration, we all fall silent, leaning forward to blow out the flame in unison.

Darkness surrounds us. We look around. All the other candles have gone out too.

‘Fuck, yeah,’ Haz whispers. ‘That for sure worked.’

I catch eyes with Nic in the dark. Her eyebrow twitches as she closes the book. We never had any doubt magic is real, just another one of our spells cast into the ether, the trust that it’ll keep on spinning for eternity.

We remove the twine. Elly flexes out her hand. ‘Now what?’

‘Now’—I drag her closer by her belt, leaving a lingering kiss on her lips—‘we seal it properly.’

Haz chuckles, moving in too. ‘Can get down with that.’

With a hand still around Elly, I share a kiss with Haz, the two of them buffeting me in that way that makes me feel both safe and horny. Nic watches from behind, a speculative expression on her face.

When I release Haz, Elly takes me by the waist and ushers me back until I hit the tree. I wind my arms around her as we kiss, loving it when she does stuff like that. Sweet, easy-going Elly with her soft dominant streak, hardening the more turned on she gets.