59. Lora
Lora
My teeth clamped down against the pain as I struggled against my bindings. Each movement only sent fresh waves of torment through me.
Then, in an instant, the pain subsided. Dulled enough to think, to act.
My gaze snapped to Erion. Had he used his bolster on me?
I tried flexing my fingers, but the bindings held firm, too tight to manipulate even a whisper of nearby water. So I did the only thing I could think of. I lowered my head and charged.
The pirate tying a rope around Erion never saw me coming. My shoulder crashed into her side with my full body weight behind it.
She grunted as my still-glowing bindings seared across her exposed skin. We tumbled across the forest floor. Roots and stones jabbed into my spine and scraped my cheek, but no pain registered.
“Erion!” My scream tore from my throat as I struggled to my feet. “Use your bolster on yourself!”
A pirate cracked me across the jaw, and I tumbled back to the ground. A boot connected with my hip, but I felt nothing but the pressure of impact, as if the blows held all the force of a gentle nudge.
A muffled roar ripped from Zaivareth’s direction, raw and guttural. My name wove into the sound despite the metal sealing his mouth. He was on his knees, face twisted with agony. Yet those amber eyes traced my every movement, wide with desperation.
My mind struggled to comprehend. He’d betrayed us to the pirates, so why had they bound him? They must’ve deceived him, deciding they wanted the reward for themselves.
Pirates seized Erion, securing the rope around his chest. He twisted toward me. “Lora!”
Locking eyes with him, I forced calm into my voice. “Bolster yourself, then heat the metal! You can do it, Erion!”
Another boot slammed into my cheek and my head wrenched sideways.
“Lora!” Erion’s voice mingled with another muffled roar from the prince.
The blow should have knocked me unconscious, but I felt stronger than ever. Despite everything, wonder fluttered through me at the strange sensation.
I twisted back and sucked in a breath to shout more encouragement—but Erion’s eyes had snapped shut. Orange light flickered across his bindings, growing brighter with each frantic heartbeat.
Triumph surged through my chest. He was doing it. Just a little more heat and those bindings would melt right off.
Shouts erupted across the glade, commands overlapping as pirates scrambled to regain control.
Molten metal floated from Erion in glowing droplets, hovering like suspended fireflies.
They twisted, each elongating into razor-sharp spikes.
My eyes widened as they shot outward in a dozen directions.
Pirates grunted and cursed, clutching shoulders, sides, thighs, but their bolster kept them moving.
Light and darkness rose from the ground and swirled around Erion’s legs, crawling up his frame in eerie tendrils.
Cold dread gripped my spine at the sight of both sun and moon magic emanating from him.
The pirate in the wide-brimmed hat thrust her hands forward, metal soaring in a serpentine arc at his chest. Orange fire erupted from his hands in a roaring explosion.
The blast caught both the approaching metal and the woman wielding it, hurling her backward through the air.
Her body slammed into a tree with a sickening crack before she crumpled to the ground.
A groan tore from her throat as she pushed onto trembling hands, her bolster still driving her.
Erion’s hands shot skyward, fingers splayed. His face twisted in rage, every trace of gentleness erased. This wasn’t the peaceful man who believed winter always melted into spring. He’d never hurt anyone like that on purpose, not even in self-defense.
Violet light pulsed from his palms in forceful waves, bursting into fire and ice that twisted into a violent whirlwind. The storm expanded around him, crackling with frost and flame. Pirates scattered out of the way, stumbling and crawling backward through the underbrush.
Zaivareth knelt not far from the approaching tempest, and Kestrel lay sprawled just as near. Stars and sea—so did I.
With the bindings still gripping me tight, I braced my shoulder against the ground and shoved to my feet. “Erion!”
His gaze snapped to me. Those blazing eyes widened, flickering with sudden recognition. He lowered his hands, but the whirlwind still raged around him, devouring moss and earth in its ravenous spiral.
Blood drained from his face as he stared at the chaos, then down at his violet-glowing hands. He shook them frantically, wrists snapping back and forth as if he could fling the magic away. But the tornado only grew wider, hungrier.
Grinding my teeth, I staggered into the shrieking vortex. A muffled roar ripped through the air behind me, but my focus stayed locked on Erion.
Flames licked across my face and frost bit into exposed flesh, but neither registered as anything more than a soft breeze.
“Erion, stop!”
His terrified voice ripped through the chaos. “I can’t!”
Flying ice sliced through my skin as I trudged deeper into the maelstrom. Droplets of molten metal hissed against my body, searing through muscle and sinew. I felt each impact, but no pain.
Through it all, he still had enough control to keep bolstering me. If I could just help him calm down, he could rein in the wild magic spilling out of him.
“Erion!” My voice barely carried through the roaring chaos. “Listen to me! Just breathe. Focus on regaining control. You can do it. I know you can.”
Tears streaked his face as he shook his head. “No, Lora, get away from me! I can’t stop it!”
He whipped his arm out as if to wave me back. Ice spurted from his palm in a jagged wave, a swarm of shards slicing through the air. The forest floor tore open where they struck. A nearby tree split down its center.
Grinding my teeth, I kept pushing forward.
A chunk of metal struck my temple, and something hot trickled down my cheek. Unable to wipe it away with my hands pinned to my sides, I ignored it and kept dragging my weight against the storm.
With one final grunt, my cheek brushed his, my lips against his ear. “Erion, I’m here.”
“Lora,” he whimpered.
Fire erupted from his frame in a blazing wave. The heat washed over me, harmless.
“Erion, just relax. Take a deep breath.”
He shook his head, eyes wide. Cracks spread across his skin, glowing purple from within.
Ebbs and darkness, he was splitting apart, his body unable to contain the power surging through him.
Frost burst from him in a vicious spray, biting across my skin. Ice crystallized on my lashes, only to melt away in a heat wave.
I wanted to envelop him in an embrace, but the salt-cursed bindings kept my arms locked at my sides.
“Erion, look at me!” My voice fractured as I searched his face.
No traces of recognition remained in his eyes. The hazel had vanished completely, replaced by voids of swirling red and blue, bleeding into purple. Indigo light spilled down his cheeks like tears of raw energy.
His lips parted, but only shadows poured out in inky tendrils.
He couldn’t hear. Couldn’t see. Couldn’t speak. He was drowning somewhere deep inside that maelstrom of power.
Moon’s mercy, his storm would consume us all. Panic clawed through me as my mind raced for something—anything—to break through to him.