“But, Ryland,” I spoke through my tears, “what has he done to you?” The tears came fast and hard as I placed my hand against his face, the ridges of his swollen jawline hard against my skin.
“It’s okay. You’re here now. Don’t cry.” His voice was soft. He held me tightly and I felt the warmth of his magic surge into my back. As he had for almost every day of my life, he comforted me, even though he could barely move. Even through his pain, his agony, he helped me.
I let the magic in, pulling it into me. It filled me in a way it had never done before, as his warm tendrils blended and moved with my own, intermingling in a familiar way that I never wanted to lose. The energy inside me continued to build uncontrollably, my skin prickling as the surges fought their way out. I knew he felt it, too; his smile was so triumphant, so happy.
“Now, I can never leave you. No matter what happens, no matter where I go. You will always be mine.”
“Forever,” I whispered through the tears.
Ryland leaned toward me, his eyes boring into mine, searching me. In that moment, I didn’t care about the hordes of people surrounding us. I didn’t care about Ilyan frantically yelling at us to stop. I needed him like I needed oxygen. I closed the gap between us and pressed my lips firmly to his.
That’s all it took for my magic to explode.
ThirtyOne
I had been waiting for this kiss for months, dreaming of the way it would feel to have his lips against mine, our bodies pressed together. My fantasies weren’t even close to the reality I was now experiencing.
A warm tingling began in my toes and spread rapidly at his silky touch. His hand trailed up my spine to get lost in my hair. My magic expanded; his, still intertwined with mine. Our magic bubbled together like a pot overflowing. The two separate powers became so infused that I couldn’t tell where mine ended and his began.
He pressed me to him roughly, a deep groan issuing from the back of his throat. I sighed at the sound, the touch, the pressure. My hands wrapped around him, clutching at his hips and elbows in a desperate effort to be closer to him. He answered my call. I gasped as our magic became a white hot heat that rocked inside our bodies with a violent force. The white heat grew, his touch tingled, the kiss deepened. My body became limp in his arms as the magic within me reached a point I could no longer control.
Our combined energies exploded out of us in a blinding, white light. It was the same light as when Ryland had touched my kiss for the first time, but now, it had more force and energy. It whooshed out of us as the ground shook violently in an explosion of energy, fire and wind. Flimsy human bodies were flung away from us as a result of the blast, slamming them into tables and walls with such force that I couldn’t imagine many of them surviving.
Ryland held on to me tightly as screams began to fill the room. Teenagers ran for the exits in a wall of people that clogged the doorways, which resulted in yelling and fighting as the drunken crowd attempted to escape. I didn’t dare move from Ryland’s embrace; he held me in place, his arms shielding me protectively.
“You couldn’t wait to seal her to you until we had gotten you out of here?” Ilyan yelled as he ran through the crowd, his hair long and blonde again.
“You knew you weren’t getting me out of here in the first place, Ilyan!” Ryland yelled back. I turned in Ryland’s arms to see Ilyan approach us, his skin glowing with energy.
“Ha!” Ilyan laughed without any humor. “You always did underestimate everyone, Ryland.”
“You walked right into his trap and you accuse me of underestimating! You...” He stopped abruptly, his body twitching violently.
“No!” I yelled, clinging to him; he twitched again, his arm flying away from me.
“He’s close.” I heard Ilyan mumble from somewhere behind me.
The Trpaslíks who had walked into the room before had begun disentangling themselves from the wreckage around us. I looked around in a panic as more of them began to appear around us; from beneath the rubble on the main floor, on the balcony that surrounded the large room, in front of every doorway. Tace, Zilla and the other guards appeared out of nowhere to encompass the three of us in a wide circle, each of them with their hands palm side up, prepared for an attack.
The Trpaslíks began to approach us, their steps slow and measured. They kept looking from one to the other, gloating as if they were overjoyed with the prospect of battle.
I clung to Ryland, scared for both of us. He twitched again, the violent motion sending him flying to the ground. I sank down with him, my hands hovering uselessly above him; it was like the first dream all over again.
“Fight it, Ryland,” I pleaded.