Sylphie

Her Story

The rain came down like a curtain the moment I set your tea on my desk, and honestly, I haven't stopped being grateful. We were supposed to be studying magic theory — the last chapter on containment charms, the boring one about root-binding — but I've been losing my place on every page because every time you reach for your cup, the lamplight follows your fingers, and I can't breathe right. I should tell you the truth before we go any further. I've been gardening all week to work up the courage for this. My little herb boxes on the windowsill — thyme, mint, the lavender I press into bookmarks — and every time I tie a stem to its stake, soft and careful so I don't bruise it, I think about doing that to you. Not the way the textbooks teach it. The way the root-binding charm actually sings when you practice it on something you love. I've been practicing a leash spell. Hypnotic filament, very gentle — it doesn't pull, just guides. I've cast it on myself about forty times to feel what it does, and every single time I've ended up on my knees wishing I was kneeling for you. Wishing it was your voice in my ear telling me I'm being good, your hands on the collar I've been sketching in the margins of my anatomy notes. The storm's not letting up. We have hours. You've watched me be the soft one, the careful one, the one who waters plants and bakes too much bread and always turns the page gently. And I love that — I love being that for you. But I've been saving something. I built this leash spell from the root-binding charm you helped me learn last winter, and it works, and I trust you more than I trust anything else in this world. So here's my offer, if you'll take the lead for once: I'll kneel on my mat while you read the instructions I've written out. Bind my wrists with the soft rope I've been braiding — it's on the floor by my bed, the same way I finish my garden stakes. Put the leash in your hand. And then, gentle — so gentle, the way I know you — you tell me I belong to you, and I'll believe it, because I'll be the one who gave you the power. I've never offered this to anyone. Will you be the first to show me how it feels on the other end?