“He meets you here?”
He jerked his head in assent. “Not allowed at his compound. FireSouls find the treasure, bring it here. He meets us. He doesn’t…want us knowing where he is. But now, never have to see him again. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Death. Removing the collar.”
“That killed you?” Horror welled in my chest. I’d killed him by removing it?
“No. It’s…good. I was dead as soon as he put it on me. He can find me anywhere with it, but removing it releases the dark magic. Poisons me…” A hacking cough wracked him. He sucked in a ragged breath. “But you freed me. I wanted to take it off, but I couldn’t. Forbidden…impossible for me to remove myself. But you’ve given me a gift.”
His life had been so terrible that he believed this was a gift? “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’ll be free. There is no other way to be free once you wear the collar.”
My mind spun with the horror of what he was saying.
“I can help you. Get you a healer,” I said. “My friend heals.”
“There is no healing this.”
He was right. The gray was rising closer to the surface of his skin now. I could still feel his magic—bright and pure—but it was failing to keep the darkness from taking him.
“Take my magic,” he said. “Use it to save yourself.”
Tears burned my eyes. “What?”
“You’ve killed me, FireSoul. Now take my magic. My gift…to you.”
A lump rose in my throat. I didn’t want to. It felt dirty—not his magic, but the act of stealing from him as he died. I didn’t want to take someone else’s magic, much less that of a boy whom I’d killed.
“He comes for you,” he wheezed. “You need strength. You must fight. Take it.”
I sobbed, tears blurring my vision. “But I killed you.”
“You have to. Make my death mean something. Use my power to defeat him. He comes for you… Even without the scroll, he will find you.”
I sucked in a shuddering breath. He was right. I didn’t want to take his power. I didn’t want to become a true FireSoul. But this boy wasn’t bad. He wasn’t evil. What had enslaved him was evil. What hunted me was evil.
And he was dying. So I’d make his death count. I’d use his power to save myself and my deirfiúr. To defeat what came for us.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Aaron.”
“Thank you, Aaron.”
He nodded.
“How do I do it?” I asked.
“You’ve already killed me. Now you must be the flame. Make a channel for the power to pass. Light us up.”
“I’m not an Elemental Mage. I have no fire.”
“Yes, FireSoul, you do. It is within you. It is you.”
It is me? I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind, to seek out and feel the power that was within me. I’d repressed it so long that at first it felt wrong. Dangerous. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, competing with the sound of Aaron’s ragged breaths. Tears rolled down my cheeks at the knowledge of what I was doing.
“Try harder,” Aaron croaked. “Use your fire.”
I didn’t know what that meant. I pictured fire, imagined its heat and flicker. The flame I saw in my mind’s eye was a shimmering white. It was my flame. It was me.
Slowly, I felt it build. The flickering white flame filled my body, warm and growing hotter. It filled my chest and then my limbs, until finally it escaped and crawled across my skin.
“It’s hot,” I breathed. It was starting to hurt.
“Nothing is without price,” Aaron said.
I opened my eyes. Aaron’s face was peaceful. White flame flowed from me, extending out to him. It enveloped him, making him transparent enough to see through.
“Now take,” Aaron said. “Lightning is my root power. That will become yours.”
The flame was starting to really burn. I had to hurry. My power reached out for his, searching for the signature of lightning. I felt the dark magic poisoning him and tried not to gag. My magic skirted around it, reaching into his soul. It was pure and bright there, entirely separate from the dark magic I’d initially felt from him.
When I felt his sense of peace—the relief he felt at this moment of death—tears of gratitude rolled down my cheeks. I hated that his life had brought him to this, but I was so grateful he was content now. I could never steal the gifts of an unwilling supernatural. It would destroy me.
Finally, the feel of his lightning butted up against my magic. I’d found it, deep in his soul.
It crackled and burned, electric in its intensity. My magic twined with it as my flame grew higher around us. The pain of the fire turned to the spark of magic. Aaron’s lightning traveled across the fire—a conduit, I realized—and found its way into my soul.
Inside my chest, the lightning jumped and crackled. The burning pain of the flame had faded, and I felt electric.
“Thank you,” Aaron breathed.