Sea's Sorceress by Brynna Curry Page A

here for each other when the end comes.”
    Tears streamed from her eyes, clouds and rain. She began to chant. “I call power to mind, mind to heart, heart to soul. That which binds us now must break its hold.” She buried her face in his chest and sobbed for what she was losing. Her tears broke him when she spoke the incantation a second time.
    It had to be now. “By all the gods, I am sorry, so sorry, Brie. May they help us and all those who come after.”
    “Daemon! No. Don’t!”
    “There is no other choice. Sea that is my life, hear my call. Rise, form water into a raging wall. Earth that is my mate, Air who set this fate, both shall hear my cry and obey my call.”
    The wind keened, carrying Arianne’s trapped screams to them. The ground rumbled underneath her feet, and the force of it threw Briella to her knees. A great wall of water rose up out of the sea, silhouetting him against the night sky.
    Briella looked at him with a mixture of disgust and lust. He knew it was because of what he was, and it sickened him.
    Up until now it had all been for show, as he’d tried to prepare her for the real magic to come. Gods he hated it, hated having to use the hideous beast that walked inside him. But it was love for her that had prompted him. He’d begun to wonder if he really had a choice. The demon in him loved her too, and would probably have gotten free on its own. It had before. He didn’t like to remember the destruction the monster had reaped. He’d been banished from the highlands by Laird McLoch, lost his younger cousin Devin to a father who couldn’t understand that magic had purpose both in battle and out. Who would teach him the craft, forge the fire rippling through Devin? Time was now his friend and foe . Time for it to end, for it to begin .
    * * * *
    Briella watched him fling his arms high and wide, felt the wave of power wash over him into her, through their link. She was smothering, engulfed by the most evil force she could imagine, but oddly enough, fear did not come with the sensation. For a moment, just an insane second, lust for that dark power overwhelmed her. She wanted to give over to it. In that instant, Briella understood why her sister craved it so. Completely calm now, she heard his words, clear as her own thoughts in her mind.
    Briella, have faith. Time and patience will break the spell I cast. You need do nothing, but trust and wait.
    Eyes glazed over with the sorcery he’d yet to perform, Daemon tried to explain. “This is the only way to save us. One day the children of our daughter’s children will have the chance to free us. Until then, all three will stay trapped in your circle. When their love breaks the spell, you and I will be released and Arianne will remain here forever.”
    “I am Sea, endless, constant. Time is nothing to me. Raging waters, shifting tides, within our power she will abide.” Daemon lifted his hands and spread them wide to encompass the circle and Briella. “She is Earth, bearer of life, comfort in death, mate of Sea, thus by her right she holds the key. She that is Air all must take heed, a maelstrom of fury her dark deeds unknown, a lesson this one must be shown. I call her now here to me.”
    And the wind roared, tearing at her robe, fighting Daemon’s power until Arianne appeared within the circle in a swirl of red velvet and wildly curling black hair. The mirror image of her sister, she was as dark as Brie was light. Water swirled around her feet and the ground shook.
    “Earth, Sea, hold fast, hold strong.” Daemon shouted, “Hello, Ari.”
    “What is this?” she demanded. “I don’t know what trickery you’ve conjured, Daemon, but I will break it. Such petty revenge.” Black lightning flew from her fingertips as she tried to strike him.
    Daemon’s power was a shield and she could not touch him.
    “You brought down the price on all three. Earth, Air, and Sea we shall ever be until our blood meets love, one times three.” He continued to