I would never get over how he could simply conjure things out of thin air like that. They had to come fromsomewhere,and I recognized these items from the laboratory in the cottage underground.
Annelise bent to lift the cauldron, humming a spell under her breath until the cauldron began to smoke. She placed it on the pedestal, reaching into her jacket to extract a dagger she had hidden there.
She cut the dagger across her palm, letting the blood flow into the cauldron. She passed the dagger to Nik who did the same. When it was my turn, I handed the key to Nik and raked the dagger across my palm, hissing at the pain as I let my blood trickle into the cauldron to join theirs.
Annelise covered the cauldron with her hand, another spell spilling forth from her lips. I met Nik’s eyes across the circle and the corner of his mouth lifted into a reassuring smile.
We were about to be bound for eternity, and the thought had my heart in my throat. When Annelise finished the spell she turned to Nik, then me, her gaze hard.
“There is one more thing I need you to understand about this spell before we do it.”
“Ok,” I replied warily, my heart racing in my chest.
“This spell will not only bind yourmagic,but yourlives.”
I swallowed hard, meeting Nik’s burning gaze across the circle as understanding dawned on us.
“If you die, so does he. If he dies, so do you,” Annelise’s voice was firm, but gentle.
She didn’t want us to blindly bind ourselves together to win this war, she wanted us to have all the information so we could decide for ourselves the best course of action. A wave of emotion rolled over me as I met her gaze, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
“This isn’t a complication we discussed,” Zion called from outside the circle, his hard gaze settled on Annelise.
“It isn’t your choice, Zion,” Annelise replied, her voice ragged. “The choice istheirs.”
“But if he dies—” Zion shook his head, his eyes sparked with anger.
“Then she dies,” Annelise finished for him. “There is a price to this kind of magic, Zion.This is the price.”
“It’s a chance we have to take,” Nik spoke, his voice gentle.
His eyes held mine across the circle and they blazed with emotion. He was willing to tie not only his magic to me for an eternity, but hislife.
“That is, if you agree,” Nik continued. “The decision is yours, Diana.”
Tears pricked the back of my eyes and I tilted my head back, willing them away. I had cried entirely too much lately. I clenched my fist around the wound from the dagger, the movement stinging and bringing clarity to my thoughts.
If Nik died, I would die.
If I died, so would Nik.
“And the spell is permanent?” I asked, my gaze traveling to Annelise.
Her eyes were soft as they met mine. Gentle. Understanding.
“As far as I know, yes.”
I swallowed hard, my eyes moving back to Nik’s. All I found there was warmth. Love. Empathy. He was willing to live with me or die with me, whatever fate had in store for us. If I died in this war, if that was the price of killing Donika, then he would die beside me.
And he was willing to pay that price.
For me.
A choked sob left me as I crossed the circle and fell into his arms. They came around me and held me up as I clung to him. The thought of losing him was devastating. Overwhelming. But this spell meant I would never have to live without him.
“If you agree, I agree,” I told him, pulling back only enough to look into his eyes. “This changes things. If it changes your answer, I understand.”
“Nothing has changed for me, Diana. In this life and the next, I’m yours.”
