The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

“It’s cold!” Flamekissed complained mildly as we hiked up the ridge north of town. “Are you sure Naudia meant us to come out here and freeze our asses off? You might have misunderstood...and it’ll be dark soon.”

I shook my head. “She told me to come out here and gather the branches for the garlands. She knew what She was doing, Flame.” I suppressed a shiver as I thought about Her and Her commands...and the way I’d kissed Her feet, so glad to be given a task by Her. “You didn’t have to come. You knew I’d be sitting vigil out here, camping all night. With exams over, you could have gone home.”

He shook his head. “I’m just griping a little, Cailyn. I wouldn’t have you out here on a December night on your own. At least this way you’ll have a little bit of body heat to help you out when it gets down to zero tonight. Besides,” and his voice turned gentle, “I wouldn’t be going home anyway. I’ve told Mom and Dad I need to hang out here for a few days. I’m going back after Yule. Not before. I wouldn’t miss my first Sabbat...not for all the money in the world.”

I couldn’t argue with that. The past six weeks had been a revelation for Flamekissed. Connor and Dragonfly had taken him firmly in hand, working with him and teaching him. People at college thought he was having some kind of secret and torrid love affair. He’d managed his usual good grades at exams, but the perpetually surprised look on his face had given way to confidence and assertion. He’d gone from being Bill to becoming something more, something special and sacred.

I didn’t ask what they were doing together. I knew what I’d be told: Men’s mysteries. Besides, Naudia kept me far too busy with Her tasks and errands to have much time to think. I knew every inch of Her by now. For that matter, I knew every millimeter of Her kitchen floor and shed. I’d cleaned both enough times...and when I did, I was grateful for the chance.

I knelt at Her feet every day after classes. She gave me different things to do as I stared rapt into the crystal I’d bespelled at Samhain. Gathering the boughs for the Yule garlands was only the latest in a series of tasks I’d been assigned. I hated myself for being so joyfully obedient, but I couldn’t seem to make it stop. When She commanded, I jumped.

Still, as compelled services went, this was one of the best yet. I took a deep breath of the fresh, clean wintry air and answered Flamekissed. “If you’re sure. And are you sure you don’t want me to take that cooler?” He carried our evening and morning meal in a Coleman, the better to keep from attracting hungry animals. We both wore our backpacks, with the dome tent in its case strapped to the back of his. It pulled the heavy cloak Naudia’d made him away from his chest and belly, which probably added to the chill he felt. He had the heavier load by his choice, but I wanted to be sure he didn’t regret it.

He shook his head again. “We’re almost to the site, right? I can carry it a bit longer.” He paused, setting it down and resting his hand on a tree trunk. “This place feels so alive, Lynn...but sleepy. Like it’s curled up under a blanket.”

I had to stop and give him a smile. “It does, doesn’t it? I love being out here in all seasons, but there’s something so clean about this time of year.” I took another breath. “Can you smell the clarity?”

He sniffed. “I smell cold and what might be snow coming. If we’re going to get anything done tonight, we’d better hurry.” He squatted and got a grip on the Coleman handles, hoisting it easily. “I can get the tent set up and the fire base laid if you can get the kindling.”

I nodded, turning to head back for the top of the hill. “Sounds like a plan to me.” We hiked on in companionable silence until we crested the ridge. I leaned on a tree and pointed. “There...that’s where we’re camping.”

A small stream lay at the base of the next hill, a necklace of silver against the brown of the fallen leaves. Over the long years, it had carved the valley into a long, narrow swath. During the summer, it was green here and the birds sang. With the onset of winter it was silent but still welcoming. There was plenty of space between the trees for our little tent, and at this time of year there would be no bugs to bother us.

I heard Flame take in a quick breath. “It’s gorgeous. Really nice, hidden away. Is this where we camp?”

I shot him an amused glance. “No, I just said that for my health.” I burst out laughing as his cold-flushed cheeks got redder. “Come on, silly. It’s a steep slope down, but there’re plenty of trees to grab. If you find yourself slipping, let go of the cooler and get a hold of one of them.” I didn’t wait for a response as I started down the hillside. Behind me, I heard him picking his way, settling his feet carefully on exposed rocks and hummocks in the soil.

I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about him being along. Our friendship had been a little strained since Samhain. That was all my fault, and I knew it, but this was the first time we’d been really alone together since my mistake. I trusted him implicitly not to take it out on me. He knew my punishment. He’d seen and experienced it in action. Then, too, he wasn’t a vicious or vengeful person. Even so, I could never quite meet his eyes. He’d as much told me he was coming as asked my permission to join me. I couldn’t argue with that, but I did feel a little uneasy. I told myself this was a chance to fix what I’d broken.

As I half-jogged the last few steps to the valley floor, I heard him slip. I spun around, but he caught himself and recovered without breaking an ankle or needing rescue. “Whew! That was close!” he panted as he made it the rest of the way down. “Almost killed myself.”

“Yeah, and if you’d killed yourself, I would have had to hurt you!” I joked, slipping my pack off my shoulders and squatting to clear an area for a fire. “Make sure the tent site doesn’t have any rocks in it, OK? I like to sleep without being impaled.”

He grinned and flashed me a salute as he swept leaves back from a roughly square area. We set up camp in a silence that rapidly went from preoccupied to comfortable. As I gathered up wood for the very necessary fire, I heard him singing softly to himself. I didn’t recognize the song, but the words were appealing. “If you venture through the twilight past the farthest farmstead... where the fields meet forest, where the branches meet overhead...”

He built up the fire as dusk fell over the valley floor. I ducked into the tent and spread the two layers of blankets that would form a barrier to the ground damp, then unzipped sleeping bags and spread another blanket over them. It would be a chilly night, but we would make the best of it. The blaze caught quickly on the resins in the dry branches. Its crackle was a cheerful sound in the encroaching darkness.

“What do you want Yule to be like?” he asked me as we worked.

I shrugged. “It’s tomorrow night. Ask me then. Solstice is always an emotional time for me. It’s a time when celebration mixes with mourning. The death of the Old Sun always strikes me just as strongly as the birth of the New. Sometimes I feel the joy more strongly. Sometimes I grieve.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Things are changing,” he offered hesitantly. “No one ever likes that. Sometimes less than others.”

I gave him a smile. “Some things are changing for the good, though.” I added a silent “I hope” to that, and was rewarded with an answering grin.

We cooked the meat we’d brought with us, wrapped in foil with vegetables and potatoes around it. It sizzled in the quiet darkness. I watched the sparks fly up toward the watching stars, and then felt the energy change between me and Flame.

I glanced up at him. His face was quiet, withdrawn, and meditative. I felt my stomach contract and couldn’t say why. At last I summoned up a smile. “Dollar for your thoughts. Inflation.”

He snorted and poked at the fire idly. “You never really told me why you did what you did.” The words were raw, a little wounded. “Did you know it was wrong at the time?”

This was the moment I’d dreaded. I looked back down. “Part of me did. Part of me didn’t care. I’m sorry...and I’m not just sorry because I got caught, either.”

He looked across the fire at me, his expression fierce. “How sorry are you?”

I felt a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. Maybe he was vengeful after all. “I don’t know what to say, Flame. I can try to be pompous and say it was meant to be, so that you could find your path. I don’t believe it entirely, though. I think I fucked up and abused your trust.”

He shook his head. “You didn’t abuse my trust...I was too confused to be trusting or abused. I really cared about you...” He trailed off, but before I could speak he went on. “I guess the question is why you did it, and I get the feeling you don’t have an answer. I can live with that because I have to. I just don’t know what to do next.”

I toyed with a stick in my lap. “That’s really up to you. I’d still like to try. I just don’t know when I’ll be free enough to even attempt it. As long as She holds the crystal...”

He finished “Your life isn’t your own. But what if we found a way to take the crystal back from her? I mean...in a weird way, it is mine. You made it for me.”

I shivered. “I can’t. Shimmer said...”

He sighed. “I know. I just...I don’t know how to approach you. Lynn? Cailyn? Naudia’s little toy? I don’t know who you are, and it’s important to me.” He looked back up at me. “Until I know who you are...I can’t find who I am. I don’t know if love works that way. Understand?”

My breath caught. When I found my voice, it sounded unfamiliar. “You can still say you love me, after that?”

“I don’t know. But I want to try. I think maybe there’s something for us. If you’re still willing. But I have to know you are...”

I hate crying in the cold. My hand lifted of its own accord and dashed tears away. “I would, yes.”

Flame smiled for the first time in a while, a warm and relieved expression. He beckoned to me and patted his lap. I stood unsteadily and circled the edge of the fire. He grabbed my hand and pulled me into his lap, lips hungrily kissing my cheek and chin before meeting mine. I shuddered hard and gave back as good as I got, hands reaching up to cup the back of his head and lace through his hair.

He made a soft sound in the back of his throat. I could feel him shaking under me. He broke the kiss long enough to say “Goddess...I wanted you...wanted you so bad, after that night, and couldn’t handle it...it hurt me, but it felt so good...” He buried his face against my neck, nipping the tender skin over my pulse. I gasped at the sensation. He growled a little and did it again, making my muscles weaken and turn to jelly. His teeth closed on me with the faintest hint of pain in the contact. I whimpered and clung to him, totally unable to move in the grip of the heat washing through me.

Flame released my neck with another slight growl. “Is she holding the necklace right now?” His voice was rough and urgent.

I shook my head in a hot, tingling daze. “No...I can’t feel Her at all...”

He took my chin in his hand kissed me more softly. “Then feel me...” he whispered against my lips. He unbuttoned his shirt, wrapping his cloak around us both, and slid one hand up under mine. His thumb rested unmoving over one desire-swollen nipple. I expected his hand to be icy with the night cold, but it wasn’t. It felt like summer sun.

I moaned, a sound that got louder as heat radiated from his hand into my breast. I found my hips moving in a slow, unconscious grind. He held me too tight to pull away. His belly felt hot against the exposed skin of my side. The sensation was intoxicating. I let myself go and sank into it with relish, lips seeking his again.

Flame mrrred softly against my lips. “Do you want this, Lynn? Do you want to make love to me tonight, here?” There was a plea in his voice that touched me to the core.

I nodded, whispering back softly “Please...this time, joining freely and of our own wills...”

He shuddered, pulling me even closer for a moment. Then he gently released me. “The tent, then...I’ll keep us warm...” The quiet words were a promise. “Go on. I’ll take care of the fire.”

I rose and slipped into the waiting tent. It was a little warmer than I’d expected, facing the fire and with the flap open to catch the heat. I slipped out of my clothes under the blanket. I heard him stirring up and separating the brands. Then he was unzipping the tent.

I was shivering with far more than the cold of the tent. He knelt next to me. It was impossible to see him in the dark, but warm hands found my face and caressed my cheek. Then he was spreading his cloak over us as an additional blanket. His shirt followed. I heard him gasp as the cold air hit his legs, and he slid under the covers with me quickly. We both giggled.

I slid one thigh over his, pulling his hips closer to me. Facing him, it was far easier to caress and pet. He arched his back as I trailed my fingernails down his spine. “I brought condoms...” he whispered softly. “But I’ll be damned if I could find them in the dark without our flashlights!”

That brought another giggle. “We’ll find them when the time is right,” I promised him. I slid one hand between us. “And if we can’t, we can still enjoy each other. I promise.” He whimpered as my fingers traced around his tip. “Mmm...you like that. Light touches.”

“I like you, Cailyn. Lynn. Temptress!” The fervent promise in his voice sent shivers through me. He pushed me back and covered me with his body, kissing my neck and shoulders almost frantically. “I want this to be my real first time. Please.”

That made me catch my breath. “You’re in control this time, honey,” I promised. “Whatever you want. You deserved better and...”

He cut me off with a finger to the lips. “No more apologies. Just now.” He raised off me, kneeling. The icy air hit my body like a blow, making me curl up and almost protest. His hot hand between my legs stifled that impulse. He slid two fingers into my slit, exploring. “Yes...you like this too...just as much as I like you...” he crooned. I shuddered, freezing except where he touched me. Then he withdrew his hand and grabbed my hips, turning me over. I went with the motion, going to all fours and pushing my rear up to him.

“That’s it...that’s what I wanted, Cailyn...” Flame stroked my skin, teasing. “But I want you over here...so kneel now...” and he moved me again, pressing himself against me as he did. I could feel how hard he was. His body felt almost unnatural against me, the electricity between us making my skin tingle. Or was it something more?

One hand left me for a moment. Then there was a tearing sound. “Found ‘em,” he muttered, voice a bit muffled. I started to turn but he slapped my hip lightly. “Uh uh. I’m in control. You don’t move.” A delicious shiver went through me again as I relaxed and waited for him to guide me. He was breathing more heavily as he slid one arm around my waist.

He whispered softly in my ear, bending me forward over his cloak. “They told me... it’s said that whatever you do on Yule night, you’ll be doing all year long. Is that true?”

I bit back a moan as his fingers stroked gently between my legs. I couldn’t answer. His fingers burned...as strong as his healing had been before, it was much stronger now. Even six weeks of training had made a palpable difference. The heat spread through vibrating nerves up through me. My already-stimulated breasts ached for him to touch them, but they were trapped under me as I abased myself. My wetness conducted his energy, spread it. I was losing the ability to think as he stroked me. I didn’t want it to end, ever.

“You know, I hope it is true. I hope we’re destined to do this a lot. Because we’re going to make love that night, too...” His voice was ragged as he slid himself into me. “I hope...” His words ended in a groan as he pulled me back up onto him, almost sitting in his lap. His fingers found my nipples and spiraled around them, massaging the aureole. I gasped and arched, reaching up and back to try to get hold of his head. We rocked together for a moment, my clit aching to be touched again, his attention firmly on my breasts. Then he shuddered and one hand dropped to slide between my legs.

The heat of the contact was too much. I felt the swelling within me burst. Alone in the woods, I didn’t even try to hold back my cries. I was dimly aware of when his joined in. His teeth closed on my shoulder again hard. I knew I was going to bruise there. I didn’t care. Wave after wave of energy spun from his healing hands into my pleasure centers. When he finally released me, I began to cry...in pleasure and mourning that the ecstasy was ending.

He laid me down on the blankets, tender and compassionate, and covered us both. He held me while I cried away the guilt and grief over what I’d done to him before.

We curled up together in the tent, enjoying the heat of our bodies pressing close. I laid my head against his chest and listened to his heart beating. He was so incredibly warm, still tingling with his unique energy. I felt like I was the one being kissed by flame, resting against him there in the quiet dark.

Then his body tensed and he sat up on one elbow. “Listen...” he breathed. “Do you hear that?”

I lifted my head from his heart and strained my ears. Nothing. Nothing. I couldn’t hear anything past our breathing. Even so, something was making the hair on the back of my neck rise. I shook my head mutely, trying to see his face in the blackness of the tent. He put a finger against my lips, then began to pull on his clothes. “Not an animal,” he whispered almost soundlessly. “Sounds like we’re not alone...”

I followed his lead in getting dressed. I didn’t want to be caught naked if someone was out there. Then I heard it: a soft, insistent pounding. A drumbeat. I closed my eyes to focus in on it and listen. It didn’t sound like we were being stalked. It was more like we were near a celebration. A party? In this part of the woods, at this time of year?

He very quietly unzipped the tent. The remains of the fire glowed in the clearing, but there was another light dimly illuminating everything. It didn’t look like flame or a lantern. It was a soft golden color. I could see his outline and the shapes of the trees and hill. Then I realized that the light was coming from up the slope. I peeked my head out the flap and gasped. Flame blinked at me, then slipped out and turned to look. The stunned expression on his face brought me the rest of the way out into the cold.

The light was coming from inside the hill. It came from a cave-like opening that we both knew hadn’t been there hours before. The light shone steadily, with none of the flickering fire produces. As I stood there, forgetting the chill air, I heard laughter from within the hillside.

No, something in me corrected absently. Within the mound. Within the tor.

A tor. A faerie tor. Here, in these woods. Oh, Goddess...

It took an effort to tear my eyes away from the glow and look at Flame. What I saw alarmed me. His eyes had gone distant, his expression blank and preoccupied. His body was slack, relaxed, when by all rights it should have been taut with surprise and concern. I felt a further chill when I realized he was breathing in perfect harmony with the drumbeat.

I knew that look. I’d felt it on my own face often enough. It was the look of someone under a deep spell or compulsion. Even what I’d done to him hadn’t given Flame this kind of forgetfulness. As I watched, he took a slow step toward the glow.

I realized I hadn’t been moving and my eyes wanted to fix in one place and stare. The drumbeat was subtle but intoxicating. Flame was clearly under its spell. He’d heard it first, and when he left the tent and looked into the light...

Shimmer and Dragonfly were miles away. There was no one to deal with this but me.

If the laughter had been mocking or malicious, rather than joyous and inviting, I could have resisted. Maybe anyone else would have felt enough panic at the expression on Flame’s face to pull away and shut out the drumming. I couldn’t find that terror inside myself. The familiarity of the expression resonated with something within me. I didn’t want to keep still. The drum enticed me toward the light flooding from the tor.

I gazed up at Flamekissed’s face. I felt myself understanding what he had to do. The desire to go up the hill grew stronger with each second. A soft voice called my name, barely audible above the pounding rhythm. “Cailyn...! Come to us! Dance with us! Be merry with us!”

I whispered to Flame “We have to get out of here!”

His voice was drowsy, peaceful. “No...no. They can help us. I know they can. Can’t you feel their power? Can’t you feel how they want us to be happy?”

I slipped my hand into his to tug at it. “Flame...”

The voices beckoned. “Cailyn...don’t worry. Come to us...dance with us!”

I stared up at Flame. He stared back sightlessly into my eyes. Everything blurred and then solidified. A wave of hope washed over me.

I didn’t even feel the change as I was caught.

We turned toward the mound together, hands joined. In breathless silence we made our way up the hillside. I dimly remembered it being a hard climb before, but before I noticed time’s passage we stood before the opening. I could see figures within, silhouetted against the light. They were kissing, laughing, dancing, drinking.

But this isn’t right, I told myself. It’s not time yet. Yule isn’t until tomorrow night. Their party is wrong.

Flamekissed started forward, his demeanor changed from entranced to eager. His hand slipped out of my nerveless fingers as his eyes locked on a woman separating herself from the crowd. It was then I got my first good look at the dancers, and my subliminal fears were confirmed.

She was tall and slender, her fingers unnaturally long. She could have been oriental from the slant of her eyes. The whiteness of her skin and hair told another tale. No human woman had such an ethereal grace or subtlety of motion. No human woman could have worn the silvery fabric of her gown in quite the same way. When she smiled, her teeth were ever so vaguely pointed.

I understood for the first time why her race was called the Ancient and Shining Ones.

She gathered Flame into her arms and kissed him tenderly, whispering in his ear. His eyelids drooped and he nodded. She laughed softly, a rippling of beauty among countless sounds just as beautiful, and spun him away into the dance.

I stood there alone, bereft of companionship among the Shining Host, and didn’t care. I was content, even honored, to watch them dance and play. Then I felt soft, warm, slender fingers lifting the hair and kissing the exposed nape of my neck.

“Cailyn...” The voice was so beautiful it made me want to weep. “Why so quiet, little one? Haven’t you heard our laughter in this valley before? Didn’t you want to join in? Ah, what were the chances of you being here in this place, so close to Yule? We welcome the chance to have company again. Oh, it’s not so bad, really it’s not.”

I was gently turned to look up into the narrow, slanted eyes of a Fair One. From the face alone, it was hard to say which gender held me. The voice and dress were all that gave the androgynous figure a sexual identification as male. He was as white-haired as the Lady had been, and his eyes were dark against paper-pale cheeks that had never known sunlight. I knew how ugly I must look to him, but if I repelled him at all he didn’t show it.

I loved him instantly, helplessly, and he knew it. A conspiratorial smile and a wink graced radiant features. One finger trailed down my cheek teasingly. “But you need a drink! Something to tide you over...” He snapped his fingers in command, and one of the dancers whirled over and pressed a goblet into my hand. “Drink, Cailyn, and feel the joy of the Yuletide!”

Enraptured, I lifted the cup to my lips. It tasted sweet without being cloying. The flavor was of some berry with just a hint of alcohol. The warmth I felt was far out of proportion to the promised intoxication. I felt the world spin and right itself as I gazed into the Lord’s slit-pupiled eyes. He smiled and kissed me, his lips tasting of the liqueur. When he broke the kiss, he looked into my eyes and whispered to me softly.

“Do you dare to dance in a faery ring, Cailyn?”

I felt myself falling into his eyes, lost. The blood sang in my ears as he swept me into the dance without waiting for an answer. I forgot how clumsy and ugly I was. I danced with a Lord of the Fair Ones. Nothing else mattered. My laughter joined and mingled with the others’.

Some eternity later, I found myself in the center of a small circle of the Shining Host. I was face to face with a man who was clearly not of the Fae blood. His skin was swarthy in comparison to their perfect white. A faint stubble of beard marred his skin. He was naked. I realized dimly I was as well, though I didn’t remember shedding my clothes.

I thought maybe I should know him.

The Lady and Lord appeared at our sides. Without a word they propelled us into one another’s arms. The shock I felt was mitigated as I felt the comfortable fit of his body against my own. I glanced at my Lord. He nodded at me.

I looked back at the man in my arms. Suddenly I wanted him with a fever I couldn’t explain. He smiled at me tentatively and brushed his lips against mine. They held the residue of the liqueur. I ran my tongue over them, tasting the sweetness. He moaned and sank to his knees. I followed him, not wanting the kiss to end.

As the man buried his face in my breasts, then suckled hungrily on one, the Shining Ones gave their Blessing to the joining. I felt lips and tongues on my back and shoulders, hands sliding between my legs. We were moved gently until I sat in his lap. As he breathed out, I inhaled. Dizziness washed over me, making me lean against him all the closer. Our breathing locked into synch, lips and bodies melding as one. I felt him slide within me, and I rocked him deeper.

Thought stopped as time and space lost all importance. There was only the glory of the Blessed Union. Even the name Cailyn ceased to be important. They wanted the man and I to join as one. We obeyed. My eyes were closed, but I could feel the rapturous hunger in the expressions of the Lords and Ladies. Their touches and benisons grew more urgent, more commanding. We obeyed.

I felt the heat as he spasmed and filled me. I locked myself around him and insisted on more. They needed us to do more. He moaned, never quite softening, as I contracted my muscles and kept his desire from subsiding. My own motions drove me deeper into the ecstatic trance. As he groaned again, I inhaled and then answered on my own breath. He shuddered and cried out in response. I felt my body coming as he did, but it was a distant, unreal feeling. That wasn’t where the pleasure was. The pleasure was in the approval of the Shining Host.

Then I felt something tugging at my attention. It was a little thing, so far away. I felt a call on my senses. I wanted to swat whatever it was away like an annoying insect. It was pulling me away from the bliss and into a far less joyous world. It wouldn’t go away, no matter how hard I wished it gone.

It wanted me to think of something, someone else I served. I didn’t want to, but against my will I remembered kneeling at someone’s feet. She had none of the majesty of the Lady, but I’d served her.

Did I owe her?

I didn’t want to care. I felt the Fair Ones pulling back away from me, caught the edges of whispers about Hecate’s Mark. With their withdrawal came a fragment of recognition. I gazed at the man and began to recognize him...

Friend. Lover. Bill.

Flamekissed.

In that moment, the fear returned. The Lord stood beside me and laughed gently at my terror.

“Cailyn, little one, do you think we couldn’t break that spell if we wanted? We can, you know. We understand how to break the Mark of Hecate. We know her well enough to even get her consent. Would you like that? You can sing and dance with us for years...but you have to give yourself to us. You have to let go of the memories of your past. Look at your lover. He’s ours, totally and completely.” He caressed my hair. “Give yourself to us, Cailyn. Give in and give up what you were. The power of the Yuletide will let us sweep you away. I can promise you’ll never regret.”

My soul ached to surrender to him. I had so many regrets in my life. Things I’d done to my family, the breaking of the coven’s rules, people I could have helped and didn’t...

What I’d done to Bill before he was Flame...

“You don’t have to worry about those with us, Cailyn. You can forget them and never be concerned again.”

I almost lost myself forever in that moment. The annoying tugging faded under the warmth of the Shining One’s smile. He could do it. He could break my service to the outside world. I could be one with them forever. I could forget...

Forget Flame.

Something in me sat up and yelled. I gathered Flame closer into my arms. Turning away, I kissed Flame’s forehead and shook my head. My voice shook a little, but I kept the tone as even as I could. “Forgive me, Fair Lord, but...we must decline. We owe the coven much, and it would be wrong for us to become oathbreakers. Even if we would forget we cared, we would be unworthy of your gift.”

Whispers and objections greeted my statement, but the Lady held up her hand. “Once offered, once denied, forever lost!”

Her words tore my heart, and Flamekissed let out a cry of pain. Then their hands were on us again. I felt the weight of another spell upon me. The world faded and I felt myself slumping as the Lord whispered “Our power weakens further. It may be long before we can find this place again. You have chosen to live with regret...and now you add to your burden...”

Then there was nothing but a soft, pleasant hum. I slept.

Awareness came slowly, with a realization of cold. I stirred and opened my eyes. I was in the tent, faint daylight illuminating enough to see. Flame was sitting up, clothed, holding himself. I could see he’d been crying.

I reached up to touch his shoulder. “Flame...? I’m so sorry...”

He shook his head. “Don’t be. Please. You made the right choice.”

I swallowed. “You remember?”

He nodded. “I just...I just want to know something, Cailyn.”

My heart broke. “What, honey?”

He turned to me, eyes looking bruised. “Was that the only reason? The coven?”

I took a deep breath. I knew I only had one chance to explain myself. I had to get it right.

“How am I going to get a chance to make it right between us if neither of us remember? We aren’t them. I don’t know what motivates the Lords and Ladies...nor do I care much. The point is, if we don’t learn from our regrets... I don’t want to do this again next life. Or worse, get stuck eternally between lives in their land. Do you?”

Flame shuddered. “But what I am to you matters?”

I nodded, drawing the back of my hand across his cheek. “It matters.”

We both tensed as we heard a sound up at the top of the ridge. Then a very familiar and welcome voice was calling down. “Bill! Lynn! Is that you?”

We exchanged looks of relief before Flame hollered back “Down here, Connor!”

We crawled out of the tent to find a very worried-looking Guard and Maiden sliding down the slope. I shivered, remembering how it had opened to another world the night before. Flame drew me closer to his side.

Naudia reached us first. “Are you all right? We...I couldn’t find you last night.” Her eyes were fastened on me. She reached up with one hand to touch her neck. With a start, I realized she was wearing the crystal. I felt no urge to fall to my knees.

I took a deep breath and smiled at her. “Well, it was a rough night. But I think we worked some things out.” A hand squeeze made Flame snuggle me in against him. “With a little help. It was hairy at times.”

Flame nodded fervently. “Very. I’m bruised, but I think I’ll be all right. Hey... what day is it?”

Connor answered quietly. “It’s Yule Eve. Ritual is tonight. I think Shimmer’s going to be very interested in what you have to say.”

I felt myself relax. “We didn’t lose time? I was scared we had...Maybe their power here is weakening...” I shook off the regret I sensed I’d never lose entirely. “I’ll be glad to tell Shimmer. Maybe she can give me some insight. Hey, Naudia?”

The Maiden grinned at the overly casual tone of my question. “Yes, Cailyn?”

“Can I have that crystal back now, since its power seems to be broken? I want to give it to someone again, as a Yule present.”

Flame blinked and looked at me. I shook my head at him. “Not you. I want to leave it here. I think...I owe someone a favor after all. But we have garlands to collect.”

Naudia offered “We’ll help. Get it done faster.” She unfastened the crystal and handed it to me. The warmth it had borne was gone, and the inner flickering had disappeared. I closed my hand around it with a sigh of relief.

Connor studied me. “Did you ASK for it? It’s dangerous to owe some people favors. They might collect one day.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t ask.”

Connor relaxed and nodded. He and Naudia went to the nearest tree, each laying a hand on the side of the trunk. I kissed Flame gently and started up the slope. As I laid the crystal against the base of a tree, I whispered softly “Thank you...even if I didn’t ask.”

I glanced up and saw Flame looking at the hillside, not at Naudia and Connor. I know they didn’t hear him when he whispered softly “I did.”