Chapter 23 #2
Blue light streaked from my fingertips and struck the rock. It exploded, pebbles and dust flying in every direction. Vander reached me first, throwing his arms around me and carrying me backward. The sound of rocks pelting his back flooded my ears.
“I’m sorry!” I said when he set me down. Squirming from his arms, I found Lorcan. “Are you all right?”
He spit dust from his mouth. “I’m fine. Ruvien charged the blood in the vials with elven magic.
It’s potent, and it’s likely to build with each use until it burns out.
You’re not used to wielding vor s, especially those imbued with Veradorn’s power.
You need to go slowly.” He paused. “You could have killed yourself channeling that much energy.”
Exasperation zipped through me. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“I underestimated your…” He looked at the center of the clearing, which was scorched black. “Zeal,” he finished.
“We should give her another vial,” Vander said.
Lorcan and I both jerked our heads toward him.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Absolutely not,” Lorcan said at the same time.
I swung back to him, a spike of irritation pulling my brows taut. “Why not?”
“Did you notice the rock you just obliterated?”
Excitement coursed through me as I looked at the burnt grass. I’d done it. I’d used a vor . All right, so maybe it wasn’t the real thing, but I’d worked magic. It was better than nothing.
Vander crossed the grass. “A new vor won’t be as volatile.” Stopping in front of Lorcan, he smiled. “It’s not like you to worry.”
“I’m not worried .”
“You look worried.” Vander tapped a finger between his own eyebrows. “You get these two little lines right here. It’s all right, sweetheart. It doesn’t make you look older.” He held his fingers an inch apart. “Well, maybe a little older.”
Lorcan drew himself up. “It’s better than looking like a—”
“Give me another vial,” I said, nudging Vander out of the way. He let me, which should have been infuriating, but it was hard to be annoyed with him when he so clearly enjoyed tormenting Lorcan.
Lorcan pressed his lips together. “Fuck,” he muttered, pulling a vial from his pocket. Uncorking it, he sniffed the blood. “I don’t want to hear a single complaint from either of you if this blows up in our faces.”
Stretching his arms over his head, Vander offered a lazy smile. “If Corinthe blows our faces off, complaints will be the least of our concerns.” His smile grew as he ran his eyes down Lorcan’s body. “ You might look better though.”
With another muttered curse, Lorcan gave me the vial.
“Which power is it?” I asked, examining the blood. The scent bloomed like wine, and the monster inside me roused, its hunger scrabbling to the surface. My fangs shot lower.
Lorcan folded his arms. “That’s for you to figure out.” My annoyance must have shown on my face—big surprise—because he nodded his chin toward the vial. “Taste it. The power will flow onto your tongue and then you’ll know where to direct it.”
I tipped back the vial. Blood hit my throat, and the monster roared, clamoring for more. Following the instructions Vander and Lorcan had given me the first time, I closed my eyes.
Images flitted through my head, visions of dark towers and narrow streets forming and darting away before I could grasp them. Wind whipped through my mind, and the scent of brine hit my nose.
“The witch came from the sea,” I said, straining for more images.
“Astramar,” Lorcan murmured. “It’s the easternmost citadel in Nocta. The witches built it into a cliff that overlooks the ocean.”
The images flickered faster. Blood spread over my tongue. Soaring spires appeared in my mind, stone beasts with snarling faces perched above their windows.
And the vor formed on my tongue.
Power flooded me, the web of my glowing veins burned onto the backs of my eyelids like a constellation set on fire.
Opening my eyes, I spun until I found a short, scrubby bush. “ Sezat !”
The shrub turned to stone. Ghostly wind raced through the Everless, ruffling the grass and dangling vines. Power crackled in my veins as I stumbled backward.
Panting, I stared at the bush I’d turned to stone. For a second, Vander and Lorcan stared with me, disbelief on their faces.
“Petrification,” Lorcan breathed.
Worry nibbled at me. “Is that good?”
Vander released a whoop. Then he caught me around the waist and spun me in the air.
“Is it good?” he scoffed. “It’s fucking incredible!” The Everless spun around us as he whipped me in a circle.
“Put me down!” I cried, but my laughter made the demand less effective than it might have been. I clung to his shoulders, elation and relief surging through me. Vander took me on another spin before setting me on my feet, but he kept his hands on my waist as he beamed down at me.
“Do you realize what you’ve done?” he asked. “I don’t have the vor for petrification. Neither does Lorcan. It’s a rare gift.” Joy danced in his eyes as he tipped up my chin. “This is a breakthrough, Corinthe. I could kiss you.”
My breath hitched. As I had in the Wendlewood, I became aware of how close we stood. How my body pressed against his, and how his fingers spanned my waist.
How Lorcan stood just steps away. For a second, a wicked inner voice whispered in my mind for me to move first—to pull Vander’s head down and claim his lips as I had in his study.
Instead, I pushed against Vander’s shoulders. He released me immediately, and I stepped back, heat building in my face. “It’s too bad the power is only temporary,” I said.
Lorcan’s eyes were hooded, his face unreadable, as always. “If you can control it now, you can wield the real thing eventually.”
Vander nodded. “We just have to make it stick.”
Worry returned. “That’s what Rasimir wants,” I said. “If I can make it stick, he can force me to pass it to him. He’ll use me to grow stronger.”
“He’ll use you anyway,” Lorcan said, coming to me. Taking my hand, he placed a light kiss on the inside of my wrist, his lips brushing my veins. “We’ll keep working. You’ll get stronger. Vander and I will help you.”
Pleasure spiked. My heart sped up as he released my hand, taking his heat with him. When I looked at Vander, his expression wasn’t unreadable at all. It was blistering. Heated and possessive.
And he made no effort to hide it in front of the man I was supposed to marry. That said a lot more than any words he might have spoken.
Lorcan glanced at the scorched spot in the middle of the grass. “No more tests for today. We’ll return in the morning.”
Sezat lingered on my lips, its power humming in my veins. “I should use this on Rasimir,” I said. “Petrify him the second I get the chance.”
Vander shook his head. “He’s warded. Zid is a common root word.
Rasimir stole it a long time ago, and he’s wielded it for centuries.
Witches duel for it from an early age, and they learn to wall themselves off from magical attacks.
A stronger witch—or vampire in possession of stolen magic—can break through that wall, but it takes skill. ”
Skill I didn’t have. Nodding, I tried not to let my disappointment show.
A few minutes later, the men flanked me as we moved through the forest. They were so different and yet the same in many ways. They both pledged themselves to helping me. They protected me. And the cravings they raised within me were increasingly difficult to resist.
The memory of Ruvien’s voice flowed through my mind. We almost always have a choice .
But when it came to Lorcan and Vander, it seemed I didn’t have to make one.
Could I let myself fall for two men who also cared for each other?
What would Mama say? She’d always taught me that love was something to be cherished when found.
But she’d never mentioned the possibility of finding it with two people at once—or when those two people already belonged to each other.
Was I intruding on something sacred? Or was there truly room for me in whatever Vander and Lorcan had built together?
The way they looked at me sometimes, the lingering touches and protective gestures…
It felt real. But so did the two centuries of history between them, along with the easy intimacy I’d witnessed.
And what did it say about me that I wanted them both?
That watching them together had only made me more curious, more driven to explore them, not just as teachers or necessary allies but as men?
In Derryton, the thought of two lovers would have been scandalous.
But in Nocta, surrounded by vampires and magic and impossible things, maybe the rules were different. Maybe I was different.
But different didn’t mean less confusing. And I was completely in over my head. The wedding, Nocta’s war, and my father’s instability loomed on a horizon I approached with lightning-fast speed.
We reached the courtyard, the statues silent observers as we made our way to the Drakhold.
Sezat filled my mind and mouth, the vor at the ready.
As a knight emerged from the castle, power hummed in my veins.
Petrify him , it whispered. I schooled my features in what I hoped was a blank mask as convincing as Lorcan’s.
If I showed the promise of power, Rasimir would push me harder so he could steal it.
I had to succeed just enough to keep him happy but not so much that he decided to drain me or compel me to produce magical children. Ruvien was right. My choices were shit.
“Your Highness,” the knight said, bowing to me. He offered the same greeting to Lorcan before acknowledging Vander. Then he straightened and adopted a formal tone. “The king invites the three of you to dine with him this evening.”
Familiar fear tightened my gut. My choices were shit—and they kept getting worse.