The coven worked all night and well into the morning to build up protective spells over protective spells.  If a blast of magical fire hit one barrier, there was another below it to take the next blast.  Shaky and exhausted, the practitioners were allowed a night to visit their families so they could shore up their home defenses in the case of a siege.

After sleeping most of the day away, Rose returned to her parents’ home and reassured them that Demerest was safe as the coven could make it.  However, she strengthened the wards and protections around their house and Robert’s just in case.  She noticed that a pair of coven guards followed her at a discrete distance and when she walked over to her brother’s home again to invite him for dinner, a different pair kept her in their sights.

Fair enough, she was a flight risk. But the matron’s threats echoed in her mind.  Rose’s family’s status and wealth had protected her from the stocks, but for some reason that influence was no longer good enough.  Rose would level the coven before she allowed them to bind her head and hands while anyone who wanted would be encouraged to rape her while she was bent over, helpless to protect herself.

After dinner, Rose sat out on the balcony off of the parlor when she heard voices. She wasn’t in the mood to speak with anyone right now.  She had to come up with a plan to save herself if she was ever forced into the stocks.

The voices came closer and she heard the merry sound of laughter. Her father must have invited his friends over to play cards.  She couldn't bear anyone's company right now, but at least she was out of the coven until the morning.  Her body still ached and throbbed in intimate places from the spells they had to cast and weave to make the city wards.

The rituals had been a combination of blood and sex magic.  Rose’s arm throbbed where the sharpened athame drank from her vein. There wasn’t a mark, as it had healed magically, but she was tired from the blood loss.

The sex magic was only satisfying if you were the conduit.  And luckily, the position of the conduit was voluntary.  One male and one female mage were put inside the circle. Their bodies were oiled up and their erogenous zones stimulated. Two other men and two other women brought them to orgasm, while the other seven members of the coven watched and chanted attraction spells to up the intensity of the acts. The chanters denied themselves orgasms to power the energy of release into the spells.

Afterwards, the coven guards were allowed to help the mages satiate themselves once the spells were locked in place.  In some covens, the mages didn’t get to choose. She’d heard stories how some guards thought it was a job perk to choose the mage who was near insensate from denial and take them while they were powerless to do anything but feel. Rose always refused assistance, and her family had the power to make sure her virtue remained intact.  At least, they used to.

She’d never allow her guards to touch her, especially when she was that vulnerable. And because of that, there were a few who would line up if she was ever in the stocks.  Rose shuddered and pushed that thought from her mind.  She didn’t want to taint the arousal she still felt with any more fear.

Sometimes the mages went off together when it was permitted.  There were a few Rose might have approached, but it felt like a betrayal of Bret, even if they didn’t have an agreement or ever even talked about exclusivity.

Unfortunately, her fingers hadn’t helped ease the gnawing hunger she felt and Rose shifted in her seat with discomfort.  Part of her wanted to leap off the balcony and run. Run far away where there wasn’t any covens or mage hunters. Maybe find a ship and stowaway to Solace. Each time she escaped to rescue a mage, she went a little farther than she had the last time.  Unfortunately the farther inland Rose went, the worse it was for mages who didn’t have protection.

Would Robert smuggle her to Solace? She knew he could, but his business would be destroyed if anyone found out.  They would have to plan it carefully so his sailors never knew she was onboard.

But if she left, who would be The Seeker?

Rose nursed a glass of brandy and hoped the excellent spirit would ease the tension in her body.  She stole the bottle from her father's personal stash. Staring in the direction of Divintry, she wondered if it was her imagination or was there still a glow on the horizon?  Mage fire could burn a long time, but surely it was out by now.

Rose stared at her hand.  She could cast fire out of her fingers.  It was how she heated water.  It was especially helpful when the wood in the campfires wouldn't light through normal means.  She couldn't even fathom the power that had to be channeled through the battle mage's body to set off fire bombs of such a magnitude that it could still burn over twenty-four hours later.

Would the mage be passed out from exertion or would he be lit up inside from the power feeding back into him?  It's what the law makers were afraid of.  A mage who could cycle the killing force and wield magic like a siege engine was a threat to life as they knew it.  It didn't matter that ninety percent of magic users would never fuel more than a cooking fire with their power.  It was the ten percent that terrified the world.

"Rose?"

She whirled as Bret stepped out into the balcony and closed doors behind him. She had to blink to make sure he wasn’t a figment of her overheated imagination.

"Bret."  Rose ran to him and hugged him tight.  He was all right.  He was here.  He was safe.  He hadn't gone after the battle mage.  She looked him over, checking for any damage.  But aside from a weary droop to his smile, he was just fine.

He stroked her hair.  "Missed me, huh?"

She should have been annoyed with his arrogance, but she was too relieved to see him. With tears in her eyes, she pulled his head down to hers and kissed him.

He groaned low in his throat, tangling his fingers through her hair.

Even better than seeing him safe and sound, Bret would be able to help her with the lingering effects of the ritual spell.  She sighed in contentment and cuddled closer.

“I’m so glad you’re all right,” she said when they came up for air.

“Of course, I am.”

Her hands dropped to his buckle.  “But I’m in a terrible way. The coven had us doing sex magic.”

Rose’s body thrilled at the anger that flashed in his eyes and the sudden clench of his jaw.  Was he jealous?

“I wasn’t the conduit,” she assured him. “So I need you.  I need you now.”

“Sweetheart,” he whispered, desire making his voice thick.

“Fuck me over the balcony.”  Her voice shook with excitement.  He could make it quick and satisfying.  She knew that from experience.

His jaw dropped as she pulled out his cock, already hard from their kissing.

"You're going to get us caught," he muttered, pushing her away and tucking himself back in.

"I don't care."

"I do. Your father would hang me in the barn for defiling his precious daughter." He reluctantly put her at arms' length and then adjusted himself.

She allowed herself a small smile at his discomfort. "Need a hand with that?"

"Not the body part I need, no."

Crooking her finger, she sank to her knees. 

Bret whipped his head around, checking to make sure they were still alone.

"They can't see through the door." She could see that he was tempted.

He let out a shaky sigh. "You’re going to be the death of me.”

“Please?” she asked, pouting a little because she knew he liked it.

Leaning back against the door, he gave a soft laugh. “Later, my little wild mage.” He held out his hand to her.  “I'll sneak up to your room once everyone’s asleep."

Rose clasped his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. She took a swig of her brandy before handing him the rest.  "I'll come to you. I know my way around the house better."

"You'll come all right."  His eyes darkened when they looked over her.

She shivered a little at the promise in his voice, her body strumming to life. Rose studied him again as he drained the expensive liquor in one swallow.  He cut a fine figure in his brown leather armor.  Tall and wide chested, he stood like a shield in front of her as his gaze darted over the balcony wall looking for danger.  Bret was armed more than usual and lines creased his brow and his mouth. 

"Why are you here?" she asked, afraid that if she didn’t break the silence she would stare at him for hours and be happy for the privilege. She could wait to ease her lust, if the reward was a night with him.

"I had to warn you," he said.

Pressing a hand to her racing heart, Rose feigned indifference.  "Warn me?"  Could he have recognized her after all?

"You need to promise me something."  Bret gripped her by the upper arms and the intensity in his gaze frightened her.

"Talk sense," she said, with a nervous laugh.

"Two night ago, the town of Divintry was attacked by a fire mage.  He set two elementals loose."

Rose flinched.  That explained the intensity and duration of the fire. An elementalist.  No wonder the coven had panicked. She sagged as her knees wobbled.  It hadn't been a war mage at all.  It was a power-hungry rogue.  One of the mages the mundanes offered up as an example to oppress all mages.

Bret walked her back to her chair and kneeled beside her.  "Promise me, you won't leave Demerest and the coven until he's caught. They're going to be killing rogues left and right for what happened to Divintry."

"How did this happen?" she asked.

Dear Gods, an elementalist.  They were crazy. All of them.  They spoke to spirits who commanded Earth, Air, Fire and Water and it turned their minds inside out.  They forgot what it was like to be human.  If the mage she rescued had been a fire elementalist, the earth pit was the only way to trap him.  And she had freed him.

"That outlaw, The Seeker, set him loose on the town.”

Rose had to bite her tongue. Even though Bret just mirrored her own thoughts, it still stung.  She got him out of the pit.  She didn’t tell him to flambé the town of Divintry. “What was he doing there?” she forced out instead.

“The Seeker must have been in league with the mage. The elementalist had belonged to the Divintry coven, but he was studying the elements in secret.”

That would explain why the coven had been down one member. Robert’s information had been wrong.  The Divintry’s mage hadn’t been killed in the fire, unless that’s what the Divintry coven was telling everyone to stop a widespread panic from erupting because the coven had been brewing an elementalist.

“When the coven found out, they put him in an earth pit until his powers drained.  But before that could happen The Seeker rode in and freed him.  The elementalist took his vengeance out on the town. Burned everyone and everything to a crisp.”

Rose closed her eyes at the image. The mage had been awaiting execution and he turned the verdict around on the town.  Even worse, he was now free and the elements were probably controlling him.  It wouldn't just be fire.  Tornadoes would spring up when Air took hold of him. People would drown and ships would sink when Water rode the elementalist, and the ground would tremble and split apart at his command when Earth wrested control of his power. More people would die unless he was put down. A sob escaped her and she crumpled.

Bret caught her before she fell off her chair. Lifting her up, he sat down with her in his lap and rubbed his cheek against hers. “Promise me, you’ll stay safe.  I’ll do whatever you want.  I’ll take you to the fair.  I’ll get the permits to travel.  Just please, don’t leave this town.  You’ve warded it against fire so it will be safe if the elementalist comes here next.”

She didn’t deserve to be safe. Gritting her teeth in frustration, Rose wished she could ask him things The Seeker knew, but Rose the mage couldn’t know.  “Were you in Divintry?” she asked.

“Yes, I was tracking a mage who ran off with a traveling band of minstrels.  I was hired to bring him back to his coven, but Divintry claimed him. So, while I was fighting the bureaucracy of that, The Seeker attacked.”

That made sense.  The minstrel never got into the pit.  He had been immediately whisked away into the coven to fill the hole that the elementalist left when they caught him fooling around with forces beyond his control.

There was no way, Divintry would have let an elementalist be in a pit unguarded, though. Yet, she knew it was just Bret on watch that night. “What about the guards?  Why didn’t they stop The Seeker?” 

Bret grimaced sheepishly.  “They were in the bar. The elementalist was too weak to escape.  I wanted to earn some points with them, hoping they could help me get my bounty back from the coven. So, I said I would babysit the bastard.” Bret rubbed the back of his head.  “The Seeker knocked me out when I wasn’t looking. I’m lucky to be alive.”

Rose wanted to scream, but she had to pretend to be impressed and worried about The Seeker’s attack on him.  “You poor, brave man,” she managed to force out without sarcasm.

“I have sworn to bring him into justice.  And you know what I’m like when I’m tracking someone.”

Going back for more brandy, Rose slugged it down in one swallow without appreciating its vintage. She knew all right. Not only did she have to stop a crazed fire elementalist from burning the countryside down, she had to do it while dodging the coven guards who were dogging her every move.  Not to mention the local hunters who were looking for an excuse to kill, maim and torture mages.  And Bret would be breathing down her neck the entire time.

Piece of cake.

Rose poured more brandy.