Goddess of the Rose (Goddess Summoning #4)(78)

"Oh, sorry. Yes, dismiss the women. I don't want an audience yet." Mikki pulled her thoughts into line. "And tell the other handmaidens that I want to do the magick work first. We can eat afterward."

"Yes, Empousa." The Earth Elemental hurried away.

Mikki frowned and chewed her lip. Instead of obsessing about Asterius, she should have been deciding exactly what she was going to do for the garden spell. She sighed. The man-drawing spell was easier to figure out - or at least she hoped she'd figured it out. For the other, she still had only half-formed ideas and confused musings. Crap.

Much too soon the four Elementals were waving and calling to her from their places around the ever-burning flame within Hecate's Temple. Mikki hooked her hair back behind her ears and brushed at a smudge of dirt on her violet-colored chiton. She'd been leery that morning when Gii had brought her the piece of beautiful material, thinking it would be damn awkward to work until noon with one boob exposed, but Gii had laughed and said that exposing her breast was only the ritual dress for rites during the dark of the moon. Otherwise, it was enough that she simply wore the color of the Spirit Elemental for spell casting. Well, that had been a relief. Or at least it should have been a relief, but part of her mind whispered that she would love to see Asterius's reaction to her wearing the more seductive garb - that is, if he had bothered to come to see her that morning.

Mikki climbed the steps and entered the goddess's temple. Its beauty soothed her nerves. She straightened her spine and walked with her chin up. She was High Priestess here, granted power by a great goddess. It was not appropriate that she moon over a guy (or a beast) when she should be focusing on the work of an Empousa.

Mikki took her place in the center of the circle. She closed her eyes and cleared her mind, breathing deeply and centering herself. Then she envisioned the threads of light she had seen the last time she'd cast the sacred circle and how they had formed a boundary of magick and power, linking the four elements together. When she felt ready, Mikki turned to the east and approached Aeras.

"Hello, Aeras."

"Empousa." The Wind Elemental fell into a deep, graceful curtsey.

Calling the elements to the circle was easier this time, and Mikki worked her way deosil through Air, Fire, Water, and Earth quickly and with much more confidence than she'd shown the first time. When she called upon Spirit, the protective threads that encompassed the circle's boundary were shining and clearly visible, even in the bright midday light. Then Mikki drew another deep breath and took a moment to listen carefully to her internal voice before she began the ritual.

"Hecate, Great Goddess of the Ebony Moon, I ask that you grant me the power and knowledge to call health and protection to the Realm of the Rose."

The spirit flame in front of her leaped in response, and she felt a sudden rush of energy within her body. Following her instinct, she turned first to Floga.

"Floga, you are Flame, and I command that your element protect the realm. Each night when the sun sets I want torches to blaze all along the rose wall, sending light into the darkness and causing that which would hide in the shadows to look elsewhere for camouflage."

Dancing flame licked the handmaiden's body as she ritualistically replied, "This you ask of me; therefore, so mote it be."

Next, Mikki approached the Water Elemental. "Nera, you are Water. Your part in today's spell will be health and not protection. Every fourth sunrise I want soft rainwater to wash the gardens in a brief, refreshing shower. It isn't enough that the realm is irrigated; the roses need the touch of your element on their leaves to keep them healthy."

Nera's pale blue chiton rippled around her body like waves lapping a shore. "This you ask of me; therefore, so mote it be."

Then Mikki stood between Gii and Aeras. She looked from one to the other as she addressed the personified elements. "Gii, you are Earth. Aeras, you are Wind. I command that you join to nurture the health of the roses. Gii, I want you to summon ladybugs from the forest." Mikki paused, picturing the kind little red-and-black-spotted insects in her mind. "And Aeras, I want you to call the wind to carry them into the realm so they can find a new home here" - she smiled at the pretty Wind Elemental - "just like I have."

Together, Gii and Aeras intoned, "This you ask of me; therefore, so mote it be."

Then she returned to the place of Spirit and said, "I thank you, Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth - powers of the elements - divine spirits of nature. With Hecate's blessing, I asked that you always be present in this realm of dreams and magick and beauty. So I ask of thee, and so mote it be."

As she finished the spell she had a sense of completion, as if she had just cleared a rose bed of particularly nasty weeds. One spell down, one to go . . .

This time she started with the Wind Elemental, just as she'd begun casting the sacred circle there. She'd already thought about what she would ask of the elements, already planned out the words and practiced them in her head that morning, so as she spoke her mind wandered . . .

"Aeras, I command that men be allowed within the realm again, but only by a woman's invitation. If she speaks the invitation aloud, carry the words on the wind to her lover and then let him come to her."

Asterius . . . that's the name I would call and the lover I would have the wind invite to me . . .

Mikki moved to the Fire Elemental. "Floga, your affinity is with flame. Use the heat of your element to ignite the passion of any man who is desired by a woman of the Realm of the Rose. Let their passion burn as bright and hot as fire."