“Her Blood Magic is blazing, too.” I barely hear Bjorn’s dark growl as I feel him pour his power through our bond also, trying to fight this massive resonance back. Waves of scalding Bloodlight simmer from me now, white and red in my united Bloodwalker power, and gold. “I’m barely reaching her. She’s just… too strong, with that thing in her chest.”
“Think we can pry it out?” I feel Ström touch the silver stone. But even as I think,Don’t!that scalding energy concentrates in the stone, the thing flashing all red as sigils consume it.
Burning Ström as he touches it—so much I smell flesh sizzle.
“Fuck!” Ström shakes his hand, using his power to heal his sudden burn. “I can’t touch it. Fucker’s too hot.”
“It’s not burning her, but she’s got a vicious fever.” Bjorn shakes his head. “We need to cool her down—and the bed’s not going to do it. Bathtub?”
“I know something better. Come on.”
As Ström speaks, I feel Bjorn heave me up into his arms. I’m still way out there with my power, though, searing as my inner world blazes white, with flickers of darkness as my Bone Magic struggles to control it.
Waves of magic, light, and Bloodwind whirl all around me now as my Bloodwalker power roars. Whatever alchemy is happening inside me, thanks to Aesa’s stone, it’s too much for my magic to control, or my drakes.
I had thought I was finding some balance in my Bloodwalker energy since I bound Ström. Now I know it was just the calm before the storm, as my sudden resonance with Aesa’s Truthstone makes my power roar.
Insane, as I pass out.
I wake in ice-cold water, lapping all around me as waves crash upon a towering cliff wall. It’s deep midnight, the moon bright as two sets of warm arms cradle me in the surging water.
I smell brine, seaweed, and detritus; as I come to, I feel the deep pull of the ocean all around. Held in a cozy nook next to a cliff, I’m cradled between Bjorn and Ström as they use their muscles and power to keep us in the cliff nook and not get swept out to sea by the powerful tide.
Cradling me, as they rock me with the ocean.
My body’s cooling, my power settling, and it’s bliss as they hold me. I listen to the sound of the ocean crashing all around as it hits the cliff, and to the fainter sounds of my drakes’ hearts and breath.
They’re not in human form but shifted up, needing the power of their dragon’s muscles to hold me safe against the surge of the waves. I’m warm and cold all at the same time, a decadent combination, as I’m cradled in their devouring scales.
Feeling their bodies move with the roll of the ocean, and their breath.
They feel me wake. With a growl, Bjorn lifts his head, setting his scaledcheek against mine and heaving a relieved breath. Ström is no different, as he lifts his head before me, nuzzling my nose, then pressing me with his scaled lips.
I find his lips, and kiss him, human lips to dragon. He shifts down then, holding us in the ocean with only his power now as Bjorn maintains his dragon form to keep us steady.
Ström puts his arms around me, giving me a deep look in the night; concerned, his dark frown is something I rarely see from him, but makes everything inside me pay attention.
As he speaks, shouting over the crash of the waves.
“Rikyava! We need to take Aesa’s Truthstone out of you! It’s doing something to your Bloodwalker magic—something Bjorn and I can feel searing through you, but is too strong for any of us to control!”
“No!” I shout back, covering the silver stone on my chest with my hand on instinct, though I don’t know why. “I need it!”
It’s killing you.Bjorn’s dragon rumble beside me comes with a mate-bonded thought, as he nuzzles my cheek.It’s making your Bloodwalker magic go ballistic, your brighter Blood Magic drakaina out-of-balance now with your darker Bone Magic drake. Aesa’s stone is pushing your Blood Magic hard, with some sort of resonance I don’t understand. I can do nothing to stop it.
“Can’t you do something to control it, Ström?” I shout at him now, since Ström is the one who can enhance my Bone Magic through our resonance.
“I’ve tried!” He cups my face with his hand. “Whatever is happening, it’s too strong for me to resonate with your Bone Magic and bolster that part of you! Believe me… I’ve been trying.”
“Try again!” I shout at him as I grip his waist. “Please!”
“Here goes…” Ström gives me an eyeball, but he does as I’ve asked. As he closes his eyes, I feel him spiral deep inside, where his Bone Magic lives, to the powerful creature of darkness and wrath inside him.
As he finds our connection to my own wrathful black Bone Magic drake,I feel him flood his magnificent power into our resonance. But even as our alchemy rushes in a dark wave through the cold midnight air, my darkest magic rising and fighting for dominance over this scalding brightness inside me, something happens.
Something from the Truthstone blazes inside me so hard I scream. I arch in Ström’s arms and Bjorn’s coils, blistering with pain as white starbursts go off everywhere within, flooded with red. Recoil from that incredible power hits Ström through our connection. He gives a short cry of pain as that backlash hits him.
Then shudders to his roots—as something inside him is blasted wide open.
