My magic left him as I brought it back inside of myself, my heart thumping against my chest at what I was about to do.
“Please don’t let me kill him,” I spoke more to myself than anyone else, but I knew that everyone had heard me, that everyone knew what I was going to do. It was what I had tried to do to my friend, Sarin, before I killed him a thousand years before. It was what I needed to do now in order to save Dramin’s life.
My hands rested against Dramin’s face, the skin contact warm and threatening. I breathed in, bringing my magic right to the surface, before breathing out and surging it into him. I let in just enough to jumpstart his entire body and hopefully, ignite his magic, but not enough to kill him – or so I hoped.
I looked up at Thom expectantly, hoping to see him looking at me, but his focus stayed on Dramin. The spark had obviously not ignited; his magic was still not strong enough to sustain his life.
I needed to perform the ozdobit t?ásněmi one more time.
I repeated the process, careful to keep my magic at just the right caliber inside of his body. This time, a small groan escaped Dramin’s lips, his hand twitching in response to my jolt. My heart froze for one terrible moment before I gently pushed my magic back into his body, stretching it right to the small spark I had found, pleased to now find a fire.
I exhaled once I had felt the life inside of him, the knot in my back loosening. I looked up to Thom, his eyes meeting mine.
“He’s alive?” he asked in awe, his voice a heavy rumble over Ryland’s constantly mumbling voice behind us.
“Sta?í nyní.” I answered Thom, careful to keep my voice low. Even though Ovailia was now standing next to Ryland and Joclyn, I knew she was listening.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I gasped through the tense feeling in my shoulders.
“Me either,” Thom said, his voice awed. “Even when we sparred back in the cave, after she gained full use of her power, she was never able to produce something that strong.”
I sighed and ran my hand through my hair, forgetting that I had already cut off the long strands.
“Try to keep him alive, Thom,” I pleaded, trying to make it plain that I needed his help.
“I will, but there is only so much I can do. With his magic so weak…” Thom’s voice drifted off as he placed his hands against the skin of Dramin’s face, his head shaking in worry. “Why did she attack Ryland like that in the first place? I thought she loved him.”
“She did. She does,” I corrected myself, ignoring the heavy thumping in my chest. I looked toward Ryland quickly, thankful to see both him and Ovailia absorbed in the sleeping girl before them. I needed to get over there.
“Something must have happened in the T?uha,” I continued, bringing my focus back to Thom. “He must have been attacking her somehow.”
“Ryland was attacking her?” Thom asked, the alarm in his voice mirroring the anxiety that already burned through me, igniting the heavy Black Water inside of me again. I cringed against the burn, trying not to show the exhaustion the pain was cursing me with.
“I believe so.”
“Is Ryland even safe to have here?” Thom’s eyes darted over to where Ovailia hovered beside Ryland.
“Safer than Ovailia is at this point.”
Thom’s gaze darted away from our siblings, his eyes narrowing at my words, almost daring me to say what he wanted to hear.
“I need you to watch her.”
“You need me to watch Ovailia and heal Dramin...”
I sighed and straightened my back. Thom had put into words exactly how terrible our situation was. I had foolishly thought that Joclyn’s awakening would solve all of our problems, but now, somehow, she had only increased them.
“Ano,” I said simply, knowing I was already asking too much of him. He only looked at me, nodding once in understanding, his own stress staring right back at me.
“Take him to his room, Thom. I’ll be there shortly.”
I stood as Thom carried Dramin’s body out the door, the knot in my heart relaxing. Dramin would be okay if the spark of his magic stayed strong. But I wasn’t sure what Joclyn had hit him with, so I wasn’t sure if what I had done was enough.
I turned to the others, unsurprised to see Ryland hovering over Joclyn. I could feel Ryland’s magic inside of her, I could feel the foreign power infusing her through the edge of the ?tít.
Ryland’s voice filled the air around us, the English words sounding out of place as he whispered to her. I could still feel Ryland’s magic right around the edges of my own, making it clear he was still there. I dutifully kept mine on the other side of the ?tít, even though keeping it there was a physical pain to me now.
“He will live.” I spoke more to myself than to the room, needing to hear the words for my own benefit.