Magic of Two

Aftermath

Sandra's POV

It was a long 24 hours for Sandra. She had never experienced anything like that in her whole life. It was never even a fantasy, and they didn't stop for the whole 24 hours. It was far beyond her stamina, and she didn't know how long she had been asleep. She could feel Alexander's warm body pressed up against her, and she pressed herself up against him. Fully knowing that it was him, there was no doubt of it being him next to her. It was as though the past 24 hours had made it so she could memorize her every muscle and curve.

Sandra felt Alexander start to wiggle against her, his muscles going from relaxed to tight and stretching. Alexander settled back into sleep as he turned away from her, seeming not to be waking. She felt electricity flow through her. This was when they would find out who the other really is, when not high on the magic moving through them. Sandra wasn't sure what would become of them. They technically didn't need to be near each other now. Their power was connected and would be able to enrich them both even over long distances. In the end, she would likely end up going back to her shop, and he would continue his life as it was.

She looked down at herself flushing red, then looked at all those around her. It seemed Sandra was one of the first to stir and wake up, so she took the chance and started to pull on her dress, and tighten the strings and buttons that kept it on her. 'How was I not embarrassed last night?'

This was beyond her character. Getting lost in the music was normal but not to the point of sleeping with a stranger she had just met. She felt herself start to panic, and the well of her power started to thrum and vibrate with her anxiety. She started to work her thoughts and hands through a levitation spell she uses in the store to get to high shelves. It would barely bring her up 6 inches due to her lack of power, and she knew it well enough that she didn't even really need to use thought for it.

She almost screamed in shock when the spell took her 5 feet in the air. The fright of being so high up without meaning to, made her lose grasp on the magic flowing through her, and she dropped almost landing on Alexander himself. The next thought that went through her was of her best friend, 'Where is Mel when I need her?'

It was almost as if Melanie had heard her thoughts and almost appeared right before her wide-eyed and shocked. "I'm in my pajama's. You could have called a bit earlier. Where did you go by the way? You dis." The words died on her friend's lips as she looked around at the surrounding scene.

Sandra started going even redder, "You paired off." There was an excited glee to her friend's tone that started rising in pitch. "That is why you didn't call me through the mundane means. You have power now."

Melanie's eyes went wide. Looking at Sandra's stone, it was still glowing brightly from the pairing, which was unusual due to the fact that it only connected the power and caused a short surge of power. Sandra's stone looked as though her power was constantly growing. "Who is it with?"

"Can we go?" Sandra said quietly, "I.. I wasn't expecting this, I didn't know what I was doing. I."

Melanie shook her head, "That is rude, it looks like no one is up yet. You can't just leave right after a pairing. What if he wants to date you? You'd lose out on whatever opportunity you have to ever see him again. Not all these people are from Cantellia."

Sandra pulled on Melanie's arm as she started shifting through the bodies lying on the ballroom floor, naked and in many different positions wrapped up in everyone else. She and Alexander were the only ones to have a clear space without others around them. This was overwhelming her. She had never seen the aftermath and now regretted coming to a ball like this at all. Who would want to wake up in the throngs of naked strangers the next day just to meet the person to complete their power? It felt indecent to Sandra, who almost stopped in her tracks, realizing she ended up doing exactly that.

Melanie squeaked as Sandra sped up her pace and tugged on her friends arm hard, "Why did I let you convince me this was a good idea?"

The two made it outside the ballroom in short time. The street lights turning on around them, illuminating the odd combination of old brick laid shops and more modern built homes that had no seems or sign of tools used on them. This was the oldest part of the city and the farthest from her home. Sandra being able to breath in the fresh air came to a stop at the end of the street, "How could you have not known that I matched with someone? You dragged the poor man right to me. You had to have seen what had happened right in front of you."

Melanie still had a huge smile on her face, "Well, I was off to find another person to shove at you. I wasn't going to leave it to chance that you match with someone at one of these things. I was going to have a hand in it myself."

"That doesn't explain why you didn't come find me." Sandra still felt firm that her friend had purposely left her to pair in the ballroom. "We had a plan, once I found the person, you were supposed to use your magic to drag us to the hotel." She put her hands up to her face, "I never want to go to another ball again."

Sandra turned and started walking to head to her home. Melanie came up beside her and wrapped Sandra's arm in hers, "I'm sorry but you disappeared. I couldn't find you, it was like you just vanished. The son of the duke was still where you were, and he had found his match and boy do I have to tell you. I am jealous of whoever matched with him because his hands and tongue could work."

Sandra grounded and her face went a brighter red than when she realized she was in a sea of naked people. "That was me."

Melanie stopped dead causing Sandra to jerk back and stop with her. "She. looked. nothing. like. you." Her words were slow and punctuated.

"But it was me." Sandra stated quietly, "I matched with Alexander the son of the Duke and I have no idea what will happen now. They never find their matches this way, for generations they had sent from other kingdoms and places of high esteem for their matches and even go as far as magically creating a link to their pairs. There is no way my matching the next Duke will go well."

"You're overthinking this Sandy." Melanie whispered putting her head on her shoulder. "Let's get you back home and talk about this more in the morning. You might have just woken up from... Matching but I know from experience that you will need more rest. And even more so knowing who you are connected to. There is no way that you will be up right for much longer. The pairing is draining on both parties. Specially if you plan on staying away from him."

Sandra nodded and the two walked to her house, with Sandra barely making it to her couch before passing out again.