Chapter Twenty-Three
Twenty-Three
Rowan
I stand behind her, gently guiding the motion of her arm as she draws power from the air—soft and slow. Controlled intent.
“Good,” I murmur. “Now feel it. Not as something inside you. Feel where you end and the magic begins.”
She lowers her hand, chest heaving slightly. Her eyes meet mine and linger longer than they should. Something flickers in her expression, and for a moment, I almost say something I might regret.
Then footsteps approach behind us, and her head turns.
Kaius enters the courtyard in dark clothing, his sleeves rolled up, jaw not set in stone for once. He says nothing at first, only walks forward to stand beside me. Our shoulders nearly brush. It’s the closest we’ve been in centuries.
And somehow, we don’t ignite into flames.
“Thought you might want another pair of eyes,” he says, gaze fixed on her.
No resentment. No rivalry. No jealousy. Only a quiet understanding that this girl—this woman—is the reason we’re here at all. The reason we haven’t destroyed each other.
Adelasia moves between us, striking and spinning, throwing bursts of dark energy at various targets in the courtyard.
A bench. A tree. The marble columns surrounding the courtyard.
Kaius corrects her breathing. I catch her when her focus slips.
We both push her, demand more, but never once let her fall.
Something new is blooming here. Between all three of us.
Her focus slips once more, but before I have a chance to help, her body coils with a strange tension and the room explodes with magic.
I feel myself flung backward like a ragdoll, slamming into Kaius midair. He curses. We crash to the floor in a heap of limbs, my wings tangled under Kaius, who groans as my elbow lands in his ribs. Adelasia topples over us both, her body limp and panting from the effort.
Silence.
Then, she laughs. Soft, breathless, surprised.
I glance over. She’s sprawled across my chest, hair a tangled halo, and for the first time in what feels like ages… she’s smiling.
I can’t help it. I laugh too. So hard my ribs ache. And then Kaius follows. Magic still crackles in the air, but it’s no longer ominous. It’s alive. Electric.
“What happened there?” Kaius asks, amused but swallowing his laughter to regain his composure.
“Sorry…I got too confident,” Adelasia says, smiling sheepishly.
“Confidence,” I hum, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek, “is how all the best disasters begin.”
She shifts to look between us, her body still curled on the floor. “Then I suppose the three of us are doomed.”
And somehow, that doesn’t sound so tragic anymore.