I didn’t like how pale his bronze skin was looking, chalky almost.
Violet flung herself down beside us, drying his clothes at the same time she said, “That’s a dark magic wound. I can’t heal it until we get back to the castle, but … at the rate it’s advancing, it will kill him long before then.”
No!
“How much time do I have?” Kade rasped out.
Violet lifted his shirt, exposing the deep ragged gash. It was seeping a black and fizzing fluid, like his blood was having a chemical reaction to the darkness.
She shook her head. “I’m not sure. This is like nothing I’ve seen before. Maybe a few minutes. Shit…” she cursed. “I need this special powder I have back at home. It’s the only thing I can think of which might save him. Counteract the dark poison.”
“We’re hours from home,” I told her, panicking as more color drained from Kade’s face. Magic born had limits on how far they could zap themselves, Violet wouldn’t make it in time.
Finn pressed to my side, and I dropped my hand into his fur, seeking his comfort. In the air I could hear Nix’s call. She sounded like she was weakening also.
Rowan stepped forward. “I can open a temporary portal back to the castle.”
Relief flooded through me. It felt like she was offering me a miracle. “Do it, do whatever you need to save him,” I said, one of my hands tightly wrapped around Kade’s, the other still in Finn’s fur.
Violet stood, moving to Rowan’s side. Nikoli stepped in on the other side.
“I’ll need you to direct me,” Rowan added. “I don’t know the royal estate like you do, and there will be securities in place to stop what I’m about to try.”
Violet nodded. “It’s not something a single magic born could do on their own, which is why I didn’t think of it, but together we might be able to.”
Luckily, the fae seemed to have a special affinity for portals. And I knew these three would come through. They had to. Losing Kade was not an option.
“I will use my magic to open the portal,” Rowan instructed. “You can direct the energy to a safe place.”
Rowan already had her hands out. Violet touched her arm, then a swirling oval started to form in the air. I was distracted as Kade let out a choked cough.
“I got you, mate,” I murmured into his ear. “You just need to hold on a little longer.”
In a desperate attempt to stop the dark wound from killing him, I placed my hand over the injury, and sent a few bursts of ice magic into it. Ice would slow the darkness, right? It was the only thing I could think of.
Kade let out a low groan as the blue energy slipped into the cut. A coating of frost formed over the top of the black blood, halting the oozing.
“Portal is ready,” Nikoli said. Between the two of us, we got Kade to his feet, Nikoli taking most of his weight.
Kade shook his head; his words were labored. “Still … kick your ass, Nik.”
“Sure, sure,” the magic born teased him as the two of us half-carried Kade toward the shimmery portal. I appreciated the little banter, even though I was still internally freaking out. What if Violet can’t find the powder? What if it doesn’t work? What if the dark fae have some sort of special, never-before-seen darkness? The worries spun round and round in my head, and even being warm and dry again, thanks to Violet’s magic, the chilling my veins persisted.
Rowan and Violet stood on either side of the portal, clearly waiting for us to go through first.
“Good idea with the ice magic,” Violet said, leaning forward to probe the wound through the hole in his shirt. “It has slowed the darkness. We should have time.”
We’d better have time. I was not accepting any other outcome. By the time we stepped through the magic and out into my office, Nikoli and I were carrying Kade completely. I only made it a few more steps before we had to lower him to the ground.
“Dude has to be three hundred pounds of muscle, doesn’t he?” I groaned.
Kade’s lips twitched; sweat had broken out along his brow and neck.
“I’ll be right back,” Violet shouted as she disappeared in an instant. I hadn’t even seen her exit the portal.
Finn, with Nix on his back, waited on the edge of the room, both watching with their calm, ancient eyes. Rowan immediately dropped down to Kade’s side. She held her hands out over him, hovering a few inches from his chest, before closing her eyes and breathing in and out slowly.
“We’re losing him,” she said a minute later. “You’re going to have to send more ice into his veins. The ice magic can counteract the darkness. It’s a myth that winter magic is evil. It is neutral, like most energy. It depends on the wielder. Ice magic can be a very positive force in the universe.”
I swallowed hard, my throat and mouth dry. “How do I help him without hurting him?” Freezing him to death was as big a problem as the darkness killing him.
“Like in training, you need to send out the magic and guide it through Kade. Sense his inner power, find his energy within, and chase the darkness out. Freeze it from affecting him further.”
Oh sure. Easy peasy. I might be learning how to control the magic, but I was still rough. This would require finesse and precision, and since it was Kade’s life I was messing with, I could not screw it up. After a really quick internal pep talk, I reached out and placed my hands on Kade’s chest.
The darkness felt like it was everywhere now, which was no doubt why he was fading away.
Stay with me, baby.
It was becoming so easy to push the mecca down now, to capture only that part of my power that had been unlocked in the Otherworld. The icy energy responded in an instant, gliding with a wisp of frost through my body and into my hands.
“You know you could have countered the chill of that icy water,” said Rowan, surprising me. My eyes flew open to meet hers. “You have to embrace that side of yourself. You never need to fear the cold again.”
Good to know, but not today. Today I needed to deal with Kade. She apologized for interrupting me, and I gave her a nod, closing my eyes again. I could tell the thought had randomly come to mind and she’d done a Violet with blurting it out.
Breathing deeply, I let the chilly magic seep out of my body and into Kade. I used our bond to follow the path of darkness through his bright inner essence. I fought back tears when I brushed against the black energy. It was like a spider web, sticky, connected in multiple parts.
I sent my power into the main gathering of darkness and his body jerked, before settling down again. Remaining connected to his chest, and to my magic, I continued to pour my power into him, following as it slipped through his chest and deeper into his body.
I brushed against familiar energy – his mecca power. Our mate bond was thrumming in that part of his center. My chest ached so badly that it felt like someone had just stabbed me in it. Being shut away from him, feeling the faltering beats of his heart, I could barely function.