Chapter 25 #2
Her words warmed me from the inside. That warmth only spread when she stepped away from the fire to hug my waist.
“I was made for you, too.” Her words were soft, her eyes burning with her vow.
She tilted her chin up, closing the space between us before I could think to tease her again. Her lips pressed to mine. Certain this time, more confident than any kiss she’d given me before.
I let her lead, let her set the rhythm, although every part of me ached for more. Her mouth moved against mine, curiosity edged with hunger. It was as if she’d finally decided to taste every part of what fate offered her.
When she broke away, her breath brushed hot against my lips. “Alastor and Callan are coming.”
My heart pounded as if it’d never find its rhythm again, but she undid me. Completely. And if she kept looking at me like that, I’d never remember how to breathe again.
Begrudgingly, I folded her list and tucked it in the pocket of my shorts.
Alastor and Callan approached us, with Callan carrying fresh water from the stream they slept by. When Alastor sat at a log by the fire, the scent of copper and old iron cut through the air. Blood. Yet there was no trace of it on either male.
I stilled, my eyes skimming over Alastor’s face.
The way he pinched the bridge of his nose when he thought no one was watching.
Beyond that, he looked off. Tired and unlike the indestructible mage I had befriended.
I wanted to press the issue, but held my tongue.
He wasn’t a male to be fussed over, and I knew how he’d react.
It wasn’t simply the pride that was stitched into his bones but his need for control.
To be seen as anything less than unshakable would cut deeper than any wound.
So after we exchanged a few words, I started preparing the tea from the herbal plant I’d carried from Niev.
When I passed Finley a small bowl to set over the fire, her eyes flicked to Alastor with the same concern I felt but didn’t voice.
I stayed quiet, grinding the dried petals into a fine powder and only met Alastor’s gaze again when the tea was ready.
He dipped his head down in quiet acknowledgment.
After a few sips, color bled back into his eyes, returning to their calm gray.
The pain didn’t leave him but lingered in the tightness at the corner of his mouth.
Every instinct in me wanted to call it out and demand he rest the way Teddy would if she were here.
But if I pressed too hard, he’d only bury it deeper. So I let it stand despite the way it scraped across every protective bone in my body.
Callan, who Alastor had briefed upon our return, took the food Finley offered. When she passed it to me, I pulled her to my lap to share my food with her.
“Will you continue to train in the astral realm?” Callan asked.
Something inside me flared, not exactly nerves but something more fragile. Will I always feel her emotions so clearly? Or will it fade? I straightened, but my straining muscles relaxed when Finley threaded her fingers with mine.
“We can train on this island,” Alastor said, taking a small bite at the meat.
“How?” Finley asked. “Eiran said we needed to start training our magic against Zaicha’s attack.”
“Fae and dragon magic may not exist here,” Alastor said, cutting a gaze to Callan, “but my mage magic does not seem to be bound by those rules. Using the tethers of your bond, I can tug on Finley’s magic while you both try to keep it centered to that connection.”
Through our bond, Finley’s nerves wrapped around me.
“Can we start the training with me binding my magic to my breath?” Finley asked.
“It may take some time to untether your magic from your bond.” Alastor’s reply came back soft as if he understood Finley’s apprehension.
“Magic does not exist here for you, and if your power is bound to your breath, you may not be able to guard against me. We do this how you wish to, Finley, but I believe it would be wiser to keep your magic anchored where it already rests.”
I turned to face her. “I agree with Alastor. Our bond is your strongest tether. I won’t let you falter.”
“What if it’s me who forces you to falter?” she asked, her eyes wide.
Unable to look away, I stared at the hazel eclipsing her silver eyes. Should I like having my mark on her in any way?
“We’re in this together, Lolli,” I said, a pulse beating inside me like a vow. “We keep each other from faltering.”
“Brenton”—she cast a nervous glance around her—“I’m scared. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Your magic has never harmed me,” I said, keeping my gaze steady on her. “I’d bet anything that if it came down to it, your magic would do what it needs to keep me safe.” I brushed my knuckles over her cheek. “I’m your damsel in distress, remember?”
She huffed out a laugh. “You’re ridiculous, but you’re my ridiculous damsel.” Her lips curved, something more confident flickering in her features. “I trust you. If you say we’ll keep each other from faltering, then that’s what we’ll do.”
“Then let’s finish eating this poisoned food and get to work.” I winked.
At my words, Callan grimaced and brought his plate to his face to sniff.
“It’s not poisoned,” Finley told him, her smile growing.
“Could your sense of smell even detect if it was?” I asked.
“Kass accidentally poisoned all of us on her first attempt at cooking,” he said. “It had a sour smell to it.”
“You say first.” My brows shot up in question. “Does that mean you ate other food she cooked?”
“Kass is . . . stubborn.” He pushed a piece of meat on his plate before he took another bite. “When she decided she wanted to cook for us, we all had to abide by her wish. Thankfully, she’s left that task to others on our island.”
Finley’s giggle coursed through me, sparking along the place where her magic slept in my chest.
“How did humans come to live in Vistos with the dragons?” I asked, hoping Callan would be more inclined to answer than his sister.
Callan shifted from where he sat on the grass, grabbing a dagger that he inspected with care.
“Humans have always lived alongside dragons on Vistos,” he said.
“When the gods shaped the realms, our island was marked as their shield. Every generation of human and dragon has trained together to keep the realms from destruction.”
Something tightened in my throat. “If that’s true, why didn’t you come when Leanora tried to destroy the human realm? When she threatened ours?”
His jaw ticked, but he kept his attention on his dagger. “We would’ve intervened had Elias fallen.”
A snarl ripped out of me before I could stop it, my canines pressing sharp against my lips. He didn’t flinch.
“We have watchers who track threats across all the realms,” he said, tone even. “If we answered every looming catastrophe, we would never know peace. We only interfere if there is no other choice.”
My retort burned at the back of my throat, but Finley stepped in before I could speak.
“How did Kassidy come to lead Vistos?” she asked. “She doesn’t seem very old.”
For the first time, Callan’s expression eased.
“Kass is my younger sister. Not my blood, none of the boys on the island are.” A hint of a smile twitched at his lips.
“Boys are brought from other islands when we’re young.
We’re raised in families sworn to honor and protect a sister.
It’s the greatest duty we have.” He paused, putting his dagger away while something dark loomed behind his eyes.
“Our parents, or her parents who raised me, answered a catastrophe years ago. They didn’t return.
” He drew in a quiet, steady breath. “Kassidy was twenty when she stepped into our mother’s role.
She’d trained her whole life for it, but .
. . she was still young. I mourned what we lost, even as I was proud of who she became. ”
Finley reached out, brushing her fingers lightly against my arm. Tension in my chest loosened, not at Callan’s story but at the gentleness with which she listened.
Callan looked past us, his posture straightening. “Vistos survives because we stand as one. Dragons, riders, and those who lead us. Kass carries that weight well.”
The mood shifted to something steadier, quieter.
Then Alastor set his plate aside and rose. “Right then. Shall we get started before the poison kicks in, then?”
Nodding, Finley pulled her shoulders back and rose. Unease settled in me, but I stood too, leaving the dishes and the easy camaraderie behind. Together, we followed Alastor through the thick jungle until he stopped.
He faced us, his face expressionless as he leaned on a tall coconut tree. As I’d seen him do hundreds of times, he pricked his finger, but without his white bowl, he caught the three drops of blood with a leaf on his outstretched palm.
The air vibrated with his magic, a thread of green curling at his hand. When he pulled, I felt the bond inside me twist with the threads straining where Finley and I were connected.
She gasped, pressing a hand across her chest.
My magic lashed out before I could think to hold it in, as the urge to shield her burned through me. Wisps of smoke tore through Alastor’s magic, across his chest, and he staggered back a step.
I drew in an uneasy breath, an apology sitting heavy on my tongue when Alastor laughed.
He wiped a streak of blood from his arm and shook his head. “Possessive fae.” He grinned, unbothered by my loss of control. “Seems when your mate is in danger, your magic doesn’t adhere to rules either.”
But it was that same possessiveness, that same loss of control that had cost many fae their lives at the human compound we’d raided over a year ago. It was why Hayden, one of our strongest warriors, now had only one arm.
“Don’t hold back that need to protect her,” Alastor said. “Tie it to your bond, and nothing will be able to get to her magic.”
I held fast, letting my primal instincts guide me to the tether that thrummed between Finley and me. I bound myself to it, feeling her magic swim through my veins as if I could summon death at my will now.
“Again,” Alastor said.
This time, when I felt the tug, our bond curled around our magic. Finley was guarding me as fiercely as I protected her.
We trained for hours. All three of us were growing more tired, but eager to get this right.
The enormity of what Sama and Hoshiko had entrusted to us weighed heavily.
They’d already had so much loss, and that fueled my anger, my drive to not let them down.
Too many depended on us, so we couldn't fail.
Sometimes we stumbled, the tether of our magic unraveling within our bond, and her gasp cutting through me. Other times, we held strong, threading ourselves so tightly that Alastor was the one to slip.
At the last attempt, a sense of power coiled too sharply. Unfamiliar with it, I tried to hold it tight, but before I could question it, Alastor staggered. His body went slack, and his knees buckled.
I lunged forward, catching him before he hit the ground. “Easy,” I muttered, lowering him carefully. His head lolled, eyes rolling back while blood streaked from his nose and mouth.
Fear punched through me, and I summoned the healing I’d relied on a thousand times before.
Nothing answered.
Desperate, I shifted my grip, not for magic but for the tether. Our bond flared in response, a sharp vibration where our magic joined, but nothing followed. No healing. No release. Just the empty echo of what should have poured through.
“Dammit.” I hauled him up, draping his weight over my shoulder.
Finley darted ahead, rushing into the tent when we reached camp. She came back with a pitcher of water and splashed it over Alastor’s face. He didn’t stir.
Her worried eyes found mine. “What do we do?”
Something inside me stirred, something foreign yet familiar. Something that was as much a part of me now as it’d always been to Finley.
I tightened my grip on Alastor’s wrist, feeling the faint, fluttering pulse beneath my thumb. Relief came sharp but short-lived.
“We can’t help him from here. Not while Vistos’s barrier smothers our magic.
” My voice came out rough but sure. Yet my smoke magic had responded earlier, and I had felt power rise inside me moments ago.
“Get Callan. We have to get him back to Vistos. Once we’re inside the wards, our magic will rouse him. ”
She raced toward Callan’s camp while I pulled Alastor tighter against me, every muscle braced. He was more than an ally, more than a mage I’d befriended, more than Teddy’s cousin. He was family. And I wouldn’t let him slip away. Not here, not like this.