As my magic passed through my fingertips, I could sense another magic filling me, a magic I had never felt before. Idug my feet into the ground, determined to remain standing as the amount of power and magic rushing through my core threatened to bring me to my knees.
“Almost there!” Annelise called over the whipping winds.
My hair blew across my face, only allowing me to see bits and pieces of the magic flowing around us. Violet threads of magic encircled my hands, holding mine to Nik’s. In kind, crimson magic encircled his.
My breaths quickened as my brow furrowed, the amount of power filling me threatening to shatter me as if I were made of glass. My eyes found Nik’s through the dirt and sand, and they were wide as they held my gaze, Irises flashing violet as my magic filled him.
My knees threatened to buckle beneath me but Nik’s grip on me held me upright, and with one final word Annelise released us, and we sprang apart.
I hit the invisible shield of the salt circle with a crash, falling to my knees in the dirt. My vision swam for a moment as I realized we were finished. The spell was finished.
We were bound.
Nik’s eyes darkened as they met mine across the circle where he had been thrown back, too. He must have been feeling exactly what I was.
I felteverything.
I could feel Nik as if he were a piece of me, deep within the ember in my core. His energy was distinct, not as if it mixed with my own. I reached my hand out to him, and shadows snaked towards him from my fingertips. I pulled my hand back, my eyes flying to Annelise’s in alarm.
“This is a normal part of the binding. Each of you will have magic from the other, though not at the same strength or power as the one born to it.”
Nik nodded as he stood, coming to my side and helping me stand. Tears swam in my eyes as I glanced up at him, and his eyes sparked with something hungry. Despite the others being present, he brought his mouth down to mine, consuming me in a fiery kiss.
When we broke apart, Annelise was waiting patiently beside us with the goblet in her hands. She dipped her thumb into it and swiped the blood across my forehead, then Nik’s.
“May the mother witness, they are bound.”
“May the mother witness, we are bound,” we replied in unison.
As we spoke the words, the salt circle broke apart, Annelise’s eyes returning to their oceanic blue. The residual power in the circle spilled outwards, and as if it were a vortex we were pulled apart once more. Despite the rush of magic, we quickly found our bearings.
Tess and Puck were smiling as they moved towards us.
I reached into my core and pulled on my storm magic, and it answered willingly. Eagerly. The sky darkened and cracked with thunder overhead. A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. I waved my hand, and at once the clouds began to dissipate.
“Can I do that?” Nik asked with a smirk as he wound his arms around me.
“Not to that extent,” Annelise replied, leaning against the pedestal in the circle, “but some storm magic, yes.”
The spell had clearly taken a lot out of Annelise, and Zion went to her, holding her upright in his embrace.
With a wave of Nik’s hand the cauldron and goblet returned to the cottage laboratory.
“Can I do that?” I asked, raising my eyebrow at him.
“We will just have to see, firecracker,” he replied with a smile.
We had done it. We had the power between us to defeat Donika and bring peace to Istmere once more.
I could use my storm magic at will now, and I feltpowerful. I could sense the magic sizzling right under my skin, warming me. The magic was singing right below the surface, never fully returning to my core as it had once before.
My storm magic and I were one.
And Nik…I could feel him as if he were a part of me. As if his soul resided in mine, and mine in his.
In this life and the next, we were bound.
Forever.
