But I needed to, for Kade.
More darkness brushed across my power then, and I immediately reacted with force, slapping out, using an attack of ice to send it reeling away. I followed as it fled, and as I closed in on Kade’s center, I realized there was an even larger mass of black, oily energy there. It was sending those tendrils all through Kade’s body, cutting off his organs, tainting his blood to a thick, dark sludge.
NO! I screamed through our bond. You cannot have him. He’s mine.
I pushed at the energy, trying to dislodge it from him, but there was nowhere for it to go. If anything, I was sending it closer to the bright light that made up my mate’s soul. I stopped pushing, knowing that chasing the energy around was not going to save him. I needed to remove it from him. Somehow.
Maybe instead of pushing … I could pull it from him. Siphon some of the darkness into myself. Knowing time was running out, his breathing ragged and weak, I reversed my tactic and latched onto the darkness, freezing it to my magic and pulling it through the bond back into me. I thought it would resist me, wanting to stay with Kade, but it slid easily from his energy center to mine. The moment it touched my magical essence, I flinched. This darkness felt foreign … the complete opposite of the light which my mecca and fae magic was built on. My instinct was to stop, bring no more of that tainted energy into me, but I had to save Kade. With gritted teeth, I fought on, pulling it deeper into me. In a surge of power, my winter and mecca magic rose up around the inky tendrils and it … disappeared. My icy fae magic was consuming it, transmuting it into … nothing.
“I got it!” Violet screamed, jarring me. My eyes snapped open and my hands fell from Kade.
I immediately ran my gaze across his face, relieved to see his coloring was better, less pale, and he was no longer sweating. His breathing even seemed smoother. I searched inside of myself and didn’t sense any lingering darkness. What had I done? Had I really just brought some of the darkness into myself and … consumed it? Or did I heal it? Transform it into light? Was any of that possible?
Violet was already crouched by Kade, popping the top off a vial of swirling pink potion. She pinched his jaw and poured the concoction into his mouth, leaving a few drops in the bottom to pour over his wound. Then she placed a hand to his chest, closing her eyes briefly. “I sense that it’s less serious than I originally feared.” She sounded surprised. “With his strength, he should recover easily.”
I didn’t say anything because my emotions were a mess of shock and disbelief. Had I actually done that to the darkness? How was it even possible? Maybe I was just in the right place at the right time. I would hate for everyone to rely on me to do something like that again. It could have been a fluke.
I decided it was better to keep it to myself until I had time to explore it further.
Moments passed, none of us taking our eyes from Kade, and I thought I would go mad waiting for him to wake. I felt him in our bond a moment before he took a deep, gasping breath, and his eyes snapped open.
“Ari…”
My name was a breathless sigh on his lips. My heart clenched, and the thought of how close I had come to losing him to the darkness had a hot dampness filling my eyes.
“I’m here,” I whispered, forcing myself to hold back those tears.
Violet ripped Kade’s shirt open, exposing the tan muscled flesh there. I was relieved to see that besides a small section of frostbitten skin, there was no more leaking darkness. Violet let out a happy sigh, and I took that as a good sign.
Kade, who was yet to take his eyes from me, reached out and pulled me gently into him. He took a big whiff of my hair, his voice hoarse as he said, “I couldn’t smell you. Couldn’t sense you. I was…”
“Shhh,” I said, before pressing my lips to his over and over. He returned the kisses as frantically. “You’re okay. You’re okay.” I continued murmuring, unable to calm my frazzled brain. I had almost lost my mate. It was not something I could compute.
Eventually I helped Kade sit up. His color continued to improve, and by the time he was propped against a nearby wall, he almost looked to be back to his robust self. He turned toward Nix and she took flight, which caused a gust of wind in the small space. She landed on his bare outstretched arm and immediately nuzzled her giant beaked head into his neck.
I knew they were having their own private conversation. No one said a word. They needed this moment. Eventually, Kade turned back and looked at Violet. “Where’s the crystal staff?” he asked.
Violet raised one eyebrow. “Eager to be near death again?”
He gave her an exasperated kind of stare. “Ha. Ha. No. I’m eager to learn how to control it so we can destroy that fae lord and then destroy the staffs. I already have a pretty good idea of what I need to do to learn how to control it. Something about its magic is similar to the mecca. I just need a decent amount of time working with it.”
His desire made me uncomfortable. I didn’t want him anywhere near that thing. Who knew if all that darkness inside was just from being gored by the Dark Fae Lord. What if the staff contributed too?
“So you plan to destroy it?” I questioned him.
Kade met my stare without flinching. “Yes, but no doubt I will have to use it first. We need it to defeat the dark fae.”
Nikoli clapped a hand on Kade’s back. “That’s dangerous, My King. I must advise against it.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, glad I wasn’t the only one who had a problem with this.
Kade’s features flattened into hard lines, the look he wore when someone was pissing him off and he was about to go all king on their ass. “Advisement noted.” His words were clipped. “But the next time the fae lord shows up and controls my entire body with the flick of his wrist, I’m going to be able to fight back.”
“He’s right.” Baladar’s voice came from behind us and I wondered how long he had been standing there. “This staff … controlling it … may be our only chance to truly defeat the Dark Fae Lord.”
I wanted to argue, but I sensed that now wasn’t the time. Besides, Baladar was probably right. Still, why did it have to be Kade?
As if he had heard me, Kade directed his next words at me: “I will focus on killing the Dark Fae Lord with the staff. You focus on destroying the winter queen with your magic. It’s the only way we can win this war and live in happiness with Winnie.”
His mention of my little sister hit me like he had punched me in the chest. The picture he painted left an aching need in its wake. I wanted that happy ending for all of us.
“Okay,” I said, resigned.