But then my magic started to slither. Every time Keir would manage to hit Krew, even just blowing him backward, my magic would react. The first few times I took some deep breaths and calmed it. I kept repeating to it,Not yet. Not yet. Not yet.
I didn’t know if it was happening because Krew’s magic still recognized his feelings and wanted to protect him, or if it was because we were bonded andIwanted to protect him.
Five minutes later, I was beginning to sweat with how many times I’d had to shove the magic down. “Owen,” I hissed.
He turned toward me, looking me over. “What’s wrong?”
I turned away from the magic and reached for the bark of the tree trunk, trying to focus on how scratchy and cold it was. My whole body was throbbing and buzzing and it was taking everything in me to suppress it. “My magic. It wants to help protect Krew.”
Owen cursed. “Let’s get you out of here and then you’ll need to use a little magic, okay?”
I looked down, seeing my skin glowing. I was suppressing my magic actively now, and still I glowed.
What’s wrong?Krew asked down the bond.
I ignored him. It was all I could do not to burst into flames with the pull of my magic. It wanted to help. It wanted to protect. It wanted...out.
I sucked in a breath and tried to breathe. If Krew felt me panicking, I was only making things worse. I needed to get calmed down somehow, even though I felt anything but calm.
“Come on,” Owen offered out a hand down to me, where I was still hunched over, hanging onto the bark of the trunk.
I reached for his hand, but when I did, everything seemed to happen at once.
Though I couldn’t see what the princes were doing behind us, I could feel Krew through the bond. Keir had sent a wave of magic in one form or another at him, a cheap shot. And Krew, likely distracted because of what was going on with me, went down with the magic, grunting as if he had the wind knocked out of him.
And hearing Krew in pain made me see red. I knew they were practicing. I knew they had done this a thousand times, but I was immediately enraged. I considered sending a barrier of magic around Krew to protect him, much like a sound barrier, just to get Keir to back away from him for a second so I could breathe and get my magic under control, but when I reached my hand out for Owen, the magic left my body. I’d just thought it and the magic left to deliver.
I spun and watched in horror as my silver magic raced along the ground. As soon as it reached Krew, it put him in a semicircle, just like I’d imagined. But to do so, it also hit Keir with magic to get him to back away. Also like I’d envisioned. But instead of Keir having to back up, it threw him backward in an effort to separate them, and he hit the trunk of a tree twenty feet away like he was a rag doll and not one of the tallest men I’d met. As he fell to the ground, I only hoped he hadn’t broken anything. Like his neck.
Skin still glowing, I put a hand over my mouth. What had I just done? Had I just killed Keir?
Krew was stuck in my magic barrier while I raced for Keir.
Please be alive, please be alive, please be alive.
Owen was with me stride for stride.
As soon as we got there, Keir was there, rolling on the ground. “Damn, Jorah.”
I dropped to my knees. “Keir. I’m so, so sorry.”
“He’s okay, Jorah,” Owen said gently. “Now could you—uh—let Krew out?”
Keir slowly sat up, giving his head a shake. He looked toward where Krew stood, stuck in my magic protection, and let out a laugh.
“This is no time to laugh,” I chided. “I thought I killed you.”
Owen put a hand down for him, and Keir winced as he took it and hoisted himself up to standing.
Then Owen was lifting me up too. “Jorah. You need to imagine your magic either disappearing, kind of like blowing out a candle, or send more magic at it to break the dome of magic around Krew.”
I shook my head. “No! Do you see what happens when I use magic? People get hurt.”
Owen took me by my shoulders. “Your magic, likely your bond, was making you feel the need to protect Krew. That was our fault for overlooking it. Not yours. Now focus, please. Send some magic at that dome so Krew can come over to you.”
“Can’t you do it?” I begged.
Owen shook his head. “No. I tried while we were running over here. It just bounced off.”
