Chapter 18
Aaron POV
Giving my angel’s hand a squeeze, we walk into the living room to join my parents, Josephine, and Ivy. I take a seat on the empty loveseat and pull my mate into my lap. She leans back as I wrap my hands around her waist so she can draw comfort from me if she needs it.
Ivy stands up and makes her way over to us. She takes a seat, perched on the coffee table by her legs, and lifts her hands face up.
“May I?” she asks my angel.
My mate looks back at me. I see her questioning if she can trust her. I nod, happy that she trusts my judgment on this.
She hovers her hands out, showing Ivy her bare wrists. I’m not sure what it is, but whatever Ivy sees causes her to gasp. She softly touches my angel’s skin and hums quietly as if she is examining some intricate pattern.
I rub small circles against my mate’s stomach as panic rises in me.
“What is it?” my mom asks.
“Someone who is spellbound has woven binds around their wrists. Picture it like magic handcuffs,” Josephine describes to us.
“Why can’t we see them?”
“Only those with magic can,” Ivy mumbles as she continues running her fingers over the invisible binds.
After a few moments, she lets go and sits back, “Who the hell did this?”
Her voice rises as her face twists in anger. My angel scoots back and I feel her tremble slightly. I lean down and kiss her shoulder then the shell of her ear. She sighs and her shivering stops.
I want to growl at Ivy to back off, but I know we still need her help.
“Can you undo the spell?” I bite, trying to keep calm. But Kiba is still angry at her for scarying our mate.
“I can try, but if something goes wrong, I could lock the spell instead. Undoing a spellbind is tricky when the spell was performed correctly. This one is a mess. Whoever did it had no experience with this type of magic.”
“I’m sorry, lock it?” my dad asks.
“If we try to break the bind and it doesn't break right, the spell will become permanent. She may never talk again."
I look down at my angel in my arms. She's been through so much pain. I want to say no. Nothing would be worse than her having the hope of talking, only for it to be wripped away again.
"Angel," she looks up with a guarded look, "I want to tell you not to do this. Maybe waiting until Ivy and Josephine can study the spell more. I don't want you to put everything into this one attempt. But I also know this choice isn't mine to make."
She gives me a soft smile as her eyes fill with water.
"I can't make this decision for you. This is your voice. No matter what you decide, I will stand by your choice," I kiss her gently, "No matter what happens, we will deal with it. I'll always be here with you."
She kisses me again as we both draw on the comfort of being close.
"What do you want to do?" I ask her.
She bites her bottom lip as she thinks over her choices. I see the moment she picks to do the spell. Her eyes solidify as she nods and holds her wrists out to Ivy again.
"She wants to do the spell," I voice for her, knowing it's what she wants.
I just really hope it works.
*****
Josephine and Ivy set up the spell in the kitchen as we wait silently at the table. I can feel angel's nerves as if they were my own. I place my hand on her bouncing knee and rub circles into her thigh before kissing her cheek.
"We're ready to begin," Josephine announces. Angel and I stand up and walk over to the kitchen island.
"So, how does this work?" I ask them.
"It's actually going to look pretty simple," Josephine smiles reassuringly, "We will both take one of her arms and begin the spell to unravel the binds. It should be fine."
I notice her shift slightly as she says the last bit. Josephine is nervous about something and that won't be allowed when she's using magic on my mate, "What aren't you telling me?"
"We don't want to worry either of you, but it is possible that when we start to break the bind, there might be some pain."
I pull angel back into my chest as I growl lowly, "What pain?"
"It's why we do both arms at once," Ivy says, "Pain isn't guaranteed, but it does happen. I will try to lessen what I can, but my focus will be on the spell," she connects her eyes back with my mate, "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
She just nods.
"Angel," I say, ready to argue. I can't see her in pain again. She just turns to place her hand over my heart and looks up at me with pleading eyes.
God, I can't say no to her, I think as I lift my head up to the ceiling for a moment.
"Okay. Let's do this."
Both witches nod as they move to the bowl of liquid the had prepared. They dip their hands in, covering them in silver. They walk back over to us and lift their hands to wait take my mate's arms.
"Hold her, Aaron," Ivy orders.
"I'm never letting go."
They both grab onto my angel and start to mumble a chant in a language I don't understand. As they perform the spell, a dark green dust starts to glow around my girl's wrists and the particles start to float to the ground.
My mate whimpers softly, but they keep going. She screams out in pain.
Stop them! They're hurting her, Kiba yells at me, but I can't let him take control.
I whisper softly into her ear to try to comfort her. I say the same things I do when she has a nightmare.
After a few minutes, I beg that they finish the spell quickly because I can't take my mate being in pain any longer, "Hurry up."
Josephine and Ivy just keep chanting as more green dust falls away from their hold. They both open their eyes at the same time as my angel screams out.
Her knees give way and the witches release her. Her head rolls back and she falls unconscious in my arms.
"Did it work?" I ask Ivy.
"I don't know," she answers honestly, "We won't know until she wakes up."
Brushing my fingers against her cheek, I beg to whatever god there is that it did. I hope my mate has her voice back.