Since she had asked what exactly Shade had done with Megan and Audrey, Shade immediately stopped objecting to the Duchess's arrangements for the banquet. He did not want to talk about experiences like kissing with two tongues.
Shade thought for a moment, then mentioned that he had recently met believers of the Old God, the God of Love. Of course, he did not mention "Desire," only the new thaumaturgy he had acquired.
"The God of Love? Council records say that Witches of the Fifth Epoch loved seeking out priests of the God of Love for blessings of romance. But those Great Witches who were already quite old and still single never considered that it was their strange personalities that kept them from finding pretty girls."
Miss Galina shared the amusing anecdote, then gestured for Shade to try God of Love's Thorn.
Thus, as a crystalline pink glow appeared in Shade's hand, a beautiful spike of Pink Crystal appeared in his grasp. Sunlight piercing through the gray mist outside the window shone upon the crystal, making its suggestive pink radiance even more dazzling.
Shade blinked suspiciously. He clearly remembered that the God of Love's Thorn summoned by this thaumaturgy should have been a vivid red like God of Love's Holy Emblem, not this shade of pink. But the essence of the thaumaturgy had not changed, so a mere color difference did not matter.
The Witch impatiently took the weapon from Shade's hand and carefully stabbed it into her own chest—though other locations would have worked as well.
"It doesn't feel like solid matter piercing flesh. It feels more like falling into water."
That was how she described it. She released her grip and watched the crystal embedded in her body turn into light and vanish.
Then, a pink sheen emerged in