But it wasn’t a real light. It was magic. I wasseeingmagic that rode on the sound waves of my song.
The realization that he had been right all those weeks ago took my breath away. Ihadpurged that tiny rose bush of poison. And if I had done it then, Ihadto do it now. If I could purge Aedan of whatever magic poison Guyan had attacked me with—
I couldn’t even finish the thought. It was too hopeful, too risky, too dangerous.
But I could sing.
I kissed his hand and sang again:
Find the strength you need to grow,
Find a gift I offer true—
Strength and health and happiness—
Find the power inside you.
I poured all my strength and energy into that song, and I sang the chorus again and again, over and over, trying to see exactly what the magic was doing.
The white light flooded his system. I saw it piercing his skin, and I was sure I felt it finding the poison and incinerating it. Just burning it away. Every moment of light made my own heart beat easier. And if that was really happening—
If that was really happening, all I had to do was sing long enough to destroy all the poison.
Minutes blended into hours. I sang that chorus hundreds of times. I couldn’t stop to explain my reasons, so the people around me must have thought I was in shock or denial, but they were good enough to leave me alone while I sang those four lines over and over. They spoke in hushed whispers and shook their heads, but eventually most of them left.
Mylo and a few guards took a post at the door and Alastor got a pillow and a pile of blankets from somewhere. He wrapped a blanket over my shoulders and then set up a bed for himself about thirty feet away from me.
I planned to sing all night—or at least until the white magic I saw changed or disappeared, but somewherein the depths of the night, exhaustion overpowered me. I didn’t remember lying down or stopping my song, but I woke up with warm arms around me and my favorite voice whispering my name.
“Callista.”
“Aedan?”
“Firehawk. Open your eyes.”
I shook my head. “No. If I wake up and discover this is a dream, I… I… I’d much rather just stay asleep and enjoy hearing my name on your lips.”
His warm hand rubbed my arm. “Please, Callista. Open your eyes.”
I didn’t argue anymore. I couldn’t argue with him when he saidpleaselike that. After a few slow blinks, the world came into focus… and I discovered I’d fallen asleep in the middle of my songs and landed on his chest—as if he were some kind of giant pillow.
I scrambled into a sitting position, and then reached over and tried to smooth out the wrinkles I’d made in his tunic.
He caught my hand and pulled it to his lips, settling a warm kiss on my thumb’s knuckle. Then he flipped it over and kissed the center of my palm. Heat spread from his touch across my whole hand, down my arm, and right into my heart. And then, before my emotions could calm down, he kissed my wrist too.
“I'm going to turn into a drekkan soon,” he whispered, "but I wanted to leave you with a few kisses.” He pushed himself up so he was sitting next to me, though we were facing opposite directions. He reached over, touched his palm to my cheek, settled his fingertips into my hair, and leaned his forehead against my temple.
“I heard you,” he whispered. “I heardyou singing, and I felt the poison burn away.” His voice caught, so he leaned closer and kissed my temple. “Firehawk. You burned the poison away. You saved me.”
I whipped my head around so I could see his bright green eyes. “So… you're not dying?”
His wild smile lifted his entire face. “No, I'm not dying. I am, once again, the most powerful elf I know, and it is entirely thanks to you—”
I threw my arms around his neck and cut off his words with kisses. He pulled me closer, drawing me into his heat and… and his heart. It pounded with so much strength that I felt it, calling to my heart, and inviting me ever closer.
But then he moved his hands—his very hot hands—to the sides of my face. “Callista.” The gravelly tones of the drekkan and the heat flowing off his skin reminded me that we were short on time.
“Callista, I love you. I love your unpredictable energy and the fire in your heart. You are leagues above me, but I would give you everything I am, everything I could hope to be, all my power, all my wealth, all my strength, and all my best-intentioned attempts to be a better elf. I would give you everything.”
