Chapter 13
Lance
Quinn blinked at me, confusion clouding her pretty blue eyes. “What do you mean? How could Rollick’s panic attacks fix anything?”
“Not that,” I said quickly, with a flick of my gaze toward the demon. He had stood by her side when the rest of us couldn’t—he had kept her safe. I didn’t want him to think I’d want him to suffer, even if it would have helped us. “I meant taking in his essence and getting that connection to him. You could do the same thing with all of us.”
Quinn’s lips parted, but it took her a moment before she seemed to be able to speak. “You—you know that would make my sorcery stronger. You don’t like that part of me.”
It was true that remembering the magic she’d cast on me to force me to leave her side sent a jolt of horror through me. My stomach turned at the thought of how much more easily she’d be able to work a spell like that even now, with the extra benefit of Rollick’s essence. If she took a long drink of mine, she might be able to control me with a single brief word, with no effort at all.
But she wouldn’t. She was my Quinn and I was her dragon, and she’d promised never to use her magic on any of us again unless we asked her to for our own benefit. She’d told me she was never going to use it on anyone again after we’d defeated the leviathan. She was as horrified by what other sorcerers did as any shadowkind was.
“I like that it could be what stops this unhinged leviathan from enslaving any more beings himself,” I said. “Or hurting more mortals. That’s a good enough reason. And—if you could sense how we’re feeling, then you’d worry less about us, right? You’d know that if you’re not noticing anything bad, then we must be okay.”
Something in her face softened. “And if I did realize that you were in danger, I’d know to come help.”
Well, that hadn’t been exactly what I was aiming for. I’d rather Quinn stayed as far away as possible from wherever the danger was and let us deal with it when we could. But we couldn’t always, and it was hard to tell her she shouldn’t be allowed to help us when we were so determined to help her.
If I expected her to keep her promise not to force us out of harm’s way, then I shouldn’t try to force her to keep away from the danger we all faced either.
I let out a light huff. “Yes. But hopefully less of that. The most important thing is that we’re all pretty strong, so if we give you some of our strength, the three of us might be enough to put you on the same level as the leviathan. Rollick’s contribution made you powerful enough to control the behemoth.”
Quinn’s mouth twisted. “Not on its own. I—when I was trying to get the behemoth to come into the trap, it didn’t work at first. I had to take in some essence from one of the higher shadowkind minions that’d attacked us before I managed it.”
I shrugged. “Still. That was one and there are three of us. It could work. Maybe you could take a little more of Rollick’s too.”
The demon chuckled. “I’m not sure I want to give her even more of an open invitation inside my mind, as eager as you seem to be.” He paused, and his voice turned more serious when he looked at Quinn again. “But I would offer more regardless if it could mean we can end this catastrophe for good.”
“You’re welcome to my essence, as much as I can spare,” Torrent said. “It won’t only boost your sorcery to tackle the leviathan. It’d also give you an even closer connection to us so that your commands can shield us from him better.”
I clicked my claws happily. “Yes, that’s good too.” Torrent always thought of all the aspects of a plan. And if he didn’t see any problems with my suggestion, it couldn’t be a bad idea, could it?
Crag let out a rumbling sound. “You can take whatever you need from me, Softness. But will it tire your heart to absorb more power?”
Guilt flashed through me. I hadn’t considered that possibility. But Quinn was already shaking her head.
“I didn’t feel any effects like that when I consumed Rollick’s essence,” she said. “The symptoms only started after I exhausted myself controlling the behemoth. I don’t think the process itself should affect me. Who knows what’ll happen when we confront the leviathan… but I’ve got to try. Having more energy might mean it’s less of a strain.”
Crag dipped his head in a nod. “Then I think you should do it. I know you’ll use the power well.”
Quinn glanced at each of us in turn, her eyes wide and a little shiny, like they’d collected a few tears. She did cry sometimes when she was pleased as well as when she was sad. I hoped this was one of the happy times.
“I don’t really like the idea,” she said. “I don’t like the thought of doing to you what other sorcerers have done to so many other shadowkind selfishly. But… in this case, it wouldn’t be selfish. And you’re giving me permission rather than having it stolen from you. So I guess it’d be silly to refuse. I don’t want more people dying because I have hang-ups about the power in me.”
“You’ve never tried to hurt anyone,” I reminded her. “You’re always protecting all the people and beings you can. I wouldn’t say we should do this if I didn’t know it’d be okay.”
She beamed at me, and a warm glow lit up in my chest as I grinned back. It was such a miraculous sensation, this emotion of love. And when she was connected to me the way she was to Rollick, she’d be able to feel just how strong my devotion to her was.
Maybe I liked that more than any other part of this plan.
Quinn raised her chin. “If we’re going to do it, I suppose we’d better get on with it right away. Rollick, you said you’ve already constructed another trap. All we need is a way to propel the leviathan into it. Let’s see if we can’t accomplish that and put an end to his reign of terror before he takes it any further.”
“All right.” I stepped forward, my heart suddenly thumping faster. “I’ll go first, since I made the suggestion. Does it matter what form we’re in? Where should we do it?”
“I carried out the process in my demon body, but that made it easier for me to inflict the necessary wound,” Rollick said. “Your claws should do the trick just fine either way. It might be more reassuring for Quinn to look into that pretty face of yours while she’s still feeling conflicted about the situation.”
I snorted at him. “I’m a very pretty dragon too.”
Quinn’s mouth twitched with another smile. “Yes, you are. I think I’d be fine either way. How would you feel more comfortable? You’re the one who’ll be bleeding.”
Of course she would think of my well-being first. I weighed the options and decided, “Like this. I want to hold you while we’re doing it. We can sit on the sofa.”
I headed into the living room, and the others followed. As I sank down onto the sofa’s soft cushions, Quinn hesitated.
“When I took in Rollick’s essence, I kind of lost my mind in the moment. Went a little wild, feeling all-powerful and like I should be roaming around, stretching what I was capable of.” She arched her eyebrows slightly at me. “Knowing how energetic you typically are, I might get even more that way when it’s your essence. Just so you’re prepared. If I can’t control the reactions, you’ll want to hang on to me, make sure I don’t go running off.”
She was putting a lot of trust in me too, then. I motioned her over and collected her onto my lap. “I won’t let you go, baby girl.”
Quinn tipped her head against my shoulder, molding herself against me as if she belonged nowhere else, and even more affection swelled in my chest. I adjusted her position against me so my arms could wrap all the way around her, flexed my claws, and slashed through my forearm deep enough to open a vicious gouge.
Quinn flinched in my embrace, but she tilted her head so I could easily bring the smoking wound to her mouth. The pain that radiated through my arm was diluted by the thrill of knowing that soon we’d be merged in new ways I’d never imagined could be possible.
My essence streamed from the cut in rhythmic billows with the thudding of my heart. Quinn had opened her mouth wide, inhaling steadily, but plenty of the stuff wafted up from the edges of her mouth and dissipated into the air around us. I kept my own breath steady. If I started to feel unwell, I’d have to stop and seal the wound, but I didn’t want that to happen any sooner than it needed to.
The lingering tension in Quinn’s body gradually released. Her muscles relaxed against me, her posture slackening as she absorbed more and more of my essence. She barely moved. At first, I thought she’d been mistaken about the likely effects.
Then the first tremor ran through her limbs. Her legs shifted against my lap, starting to squirm. I couldn’t hold them in place with one arm around her waist and the other pressed to her mouth, but Torrent stepped closer, resting a tentacle over her shins to keep them still. Crag and Rollick eased nearer as well, ready to step in if I needed more assistance.
We were all in this together even now.
That recognition might have pleased me if Quinn’s muscles hadn’t flexed in my grasp at the same moment. The restlessness seemed to be rippling through her entire body.
One of her hands clutched my shirt, her fingers tightening and easing in an erratic pattern. A disgruntled murmur emanated from her throat. Her eyes darted from side to side, barely focusing on me. I couldn’t tell if she was all that aware of anything in the room anymore.
Should I stop now? I could keep going—I should give her as much as I could, shouldn’t I? But as I watched her quiver and jerk against my and Torrent’s hold, a sudden chill washed away the warmth that’d filled me earlier.
This wasn’t my Quinn in my arms right now, not really. A wildness had gripped her—the wildness of her expanding sorcery. I was giving her even more power to enslave shadowkind to her will, and it was muddling her head, making her fight me. She didn’t remember the intentions she’d come to me with.
What if I’d gone too far by making this suggestion? Was I betraying my own kind, all the beings like me, by giving her the power to perform even more sorcery?
I might not know until we’d seen this war through to its end.