Chapter 41 Chelsea
Chelsea
“Let’s try again,” Eryx says.
My knees give out, and I slump onto the floor in his dream room. My hand shakes as I lift it. “We’ve tried ten times, and we’ve failed all ten. I can’t even stand, Eryx. I need a break.”
“I’ll hold you.”
“No.” I sigh and drop onto my back, looking like a starfish. “I can’t do it again.”
“We’ve got to find a way to stay together and make the magic work.”
“I need a break.”
He appears in my field of vision. “Helena could attack at any moment, and we’re not ready.” His jaw tightens. "She's tried twice.”
“And if we can't combine our magic—"
"We're vulnerable. Separately we're targets. Together…" He trails off.
“Together we might stand a chance.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I hate how hard this is, but I can’t do it alone, and neither can you—thanks to a certain nightmare who will remain nameless.”
He just said my name.
“Nightmare said—”
He flicks his hand. “I know what it said. It said the same thing to me.”
No, I didn’t.
Eryx drops to his knees. “I know this is hard—”
“This isn’t hard.” My voice rises an octave. “It’s torture! Every time we try to work together, the magic snaps back. I’m tired of being hit by it.”
“Do you think I like it?”
“You’re not the one who gets smacked.”
“I don’t like seeing you get hurt, but I’ve been in control of this power for a long time. That’s why I’m not getting hit by it.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
He smirks. “Does it make you feel better when I say you’re holding back?”
Now he’s asking for it, Nightmare murmurs.
I sit up and yell, “I’m trying as hard as I can. I can’t try any harder. If I do, I’ll explode.”
Are you two about to have a fight? Makeup sex is what got us into this mess.
I exhale slowly. “Okay, I’ll try one more time.”
“And then a break. I promise.”
He extends his hand, and I take it, letting him help me to my feet. “This time I want you think about what happened when you made the claws.”
I shoot him a dark look. “If I do that, we’ll never leave this room.”
He huffs a laugh, understanding my meaning. “We’re not doing that—yet. That’s for celebration. When we can successfully combine our magic.”
“So that’s my reward?”
“Do you want it to be?”
I fold my arms. “I need more.”
He laughs. “What more?”
“I need to know what you’ll do.”
Eryx pulls me close and whispers it in my ear. Moisture pools in my panties as he explains in great detail, every dirty thing he’ll do to me if we get this right.
My voice comes out weak. “Okay. Let’s try one more time.”
He claps his hands. “Go back to that moment and try to remember what you were thinking.”
I close my eyes. I wanted to be claimed by Eryx, for him to prove that I was his, and I wanted it deeply. I file back through the feelings—the fear he might’ve been poisoned, the way he said he wouldn’t survive losing me, the love that followed.
Being claimed was simply a completion of all those feelings.
That’s it, Nightmare coos. That’s it. Now summon your magic slowly, carefully. Not too fast.
I start to summon the power within me—what’s inherently mine and what Nightmare brought. It feels like I’m balancing an egg on a rope. Move too quickly and it’ll fall and break.
“That’s it,” Eryx says. “Keep doing that.”
I look down and see my magic—that golden line is now outlined in black, like Eryx’s nightmare magic is holding it together.
“Go on,” he says.
He’s pushing his magic out of him, too—slowly, just like me. I feel his power, how hard he’s working to keep it steady.
“Almost there,” he says, his voice strained.
Sweat breaks out across my forehead and my breath shakes.
His gaze snaps on me. “You can do it, Chelsea. Keep going.”
I push my magic out until it tangles with his, meeting in a beautiful collision of black and gold, light and dark.
“Gently,” Eryx says.
I give the magic one more push, and the magics join. I jump as adrenaline rushes through me, like fire flooding my veins.
I’m acutely aware of Eryx, of his magic, that our power is entwined.
“Now,” he says very calmly, “we’ll pull the shadows in—together.”
I sense a shift in his body. It’s like we exist on the same frequency, humming in sync. I feel everything going on with him. I can touch his power just as easily as I can touch mine.
Eryx starts to tug the shadows, and I join, allowing my magic to lift up his instead of trying to lead the way.
“Good girl,” he murmurs.
Our combined magic, this swirling marble of light and shadow, pulls the darkness in. For the first time in ten tries, the magic doesn't snap back. It holds.
Air locks in my chest. We're doing it. We're actually—
"Don't lose focus," Eryx warns.
The room pales, the absence of shadows affecting not only the color but the energy.
We pull the shadows in, and then Eryx says, voice tight, “Let them go back.”
Pressure builds in my hands, and my shadow claws form. I shoot a look over at Eryx, and his wings are there, but different.
Everything inside me stills.
They’re outlined in gold—like my magic has soaked into him.
And when I look again at my claws, I see bits of gold in them, too—my magic and his.
There isn’t time to process, because—
We toss the shadows out, and they slap against the floor and the walls so hard the manor shakes.
But the coolest part is the shadows aren’t black anymore. They’re iridescent.
I feel Eryx loosen his hold on his power, and I do the same. The claws disappear, but I’m not concerned with them. I’m obsessed with the shadows.
“Eryx.”
I reach for him, and he takes my hand, pulling me in for an embrace. He kisses my forehead. “You did it, little monster.”
My chest lifts with pride. Two weeks ago I was afraid of losing myself in marriage. Now I'm standing here with shadow claws, bonded to nightmare magic, having just created something impossible.
And I've never felt more like myself.
“We did it. Look.” I lead him to the corner, where the shadow of a table leans against the wall. “The colors.”
"Ours," he finishes, kissing my palm. "Not mine. Not yours. Ours."
I stare at the iridescent shadow. It shifts—black to gold to something in between. Like it can't decide what it is. Because it's both of us. Fused.
"What can it do?" I whisper.
His eyes meet mine. "I think we just created something that's never existed before. You and me. Even though it’s hard knowing I can’t work my magic without you, I have to say the side effect is worth it.”
“We created it.”
Heat fills his eyes as he gently presses me against the wall. “We can create a lot more than that.”
“But what does it mean?” I ask as he presses his lips to my throat, against my collarbone.
He lifts his head. “It means we were never meant to do this alone.”
His father worked alone. Died alone. But Eryx has me—and I have him. Maybe that's what the bond really means. Not weakness. Strength.
“Now,” he says. “Would you like to keep talking or would you like me to keep my promise?”
“What promise?” I tease.
“The one where I make you come multiple times.”
I run my hands down his chest to his belt. “Yes, I’d like you to keep that promise.”
“Your wish is my command.”