Chapter 22
twenty-two
NIALL
It took a hell of a lot of self-control to stay in the chair beside Liv's while she ate.
I wasn't touching the food.
She'd need all of the energy she could get, and I didn't have an appetite anyway.
When she finally closed the lid on the box of takeout, Larson pulled his chair over and set it next to hers, ignoring me altogether. Rob followed him, but he gave me a sympathetic smile.
He hadn't been there last time, but he'd seen the fallout afterward.
"Alright," Larson said. "Let's cross our fingers it goes normally this time."
Liv bobbed her head. "Agreed."
My brother's gaze flicked to me, and he hesitated.
He talked big, but he wasn't going to do anything if I wasn't on board with it. Not with her.
Particularly not after what happened last time.
Liv wanted to do it, and Larson was under serious pressure from both himself and the other spellcasters. If they'd both decided this was what they were doing, all I could do was be there to help.
I dipped my chin.
Larson offered Liv his hand.
She sighed, but placed her own in Larson's. She took my hand with her other one, and squeezed the hell out of it.
"This is going to suck," my brother warned her.
"What? I thought it was going to be fun." She tried to hide it with a joke, but I could hear the nerves in her voice.
"If it goes wrong again, you know what you have to do," Larson told me.
My chest tightened.
"We put a failsafe in it so we can shut it down if it goes wrong again," Rob corrected, shooting his soon-to-be-mate a threatening look. "No one's going to die. I won't need to use it."
"We can hope," Liv muttered.
"For real," Larson agreed.
He closed his eyes, and Liv did the same.
The complex spell Larson had formed into a misshapen blue cube started to glow brighter as he enacted it.
I breathed through my fear as I felt Liv's magic flare against my skin, like a rake of her nails against my back. Slightly painful pleasure.
Her magic wasn't aimed at me this time. It was focused on Larson, being pulled and tied once again to the wards she already powered.
Liv and Lars grimaced as the glow on the orb grew brighter, the pull on her magic becoming more violent. I felt her power weaken quickly, the sudden drop in her energy level sharp enough to alarm me.
Rob watched the spell closely as the glow brightened. He'd be able to see it working in a way I couldn't, since I only had a small amount of spellcaster magic.
Liv blinked slowly.
Exaggeratedly.
I sucked in a breath as her power disappeared rapidly, draining into the spell.
She started to lean over the table for support. I scooted closer, releasing her hand to grab her waist and keep her in the chair.
Her cheek lowered to the countertop. "Woww," she mumbled. "That’s strong."
"It shouldn't be hitting her this hard, this quickly," I growled at Rob and Larson, though Lars was nearing unconsciousness.
"I'm fine," she whispered.
"This is normal, Niall. It's a strong spell, but they can handle it," Rob said calmly.
Larson passed out on the table.
Liv's body went limp.
I pulled her onto my lap, fighting panic.
I focused intently on the feel of her magic. It was still vibrating, though the vibration was slowing.
Rob eyed the spell, placing his fingers on my brother's throat and checking his pulse.
The glow was still growing, but their energy was still fading fast.
Too fast.
Faster than it had that night.
"Something's wrong," I urged. "It's pulling too much."
"The spell is correct. We checked this too many times to have it go wrong. It's going to be fine."
The vibration of Liv's magic was slowing the way it had near the end of Larson's last spell, but this one wasn't ending.
Liv's skin started to pale.
No.
Fuck.
This was exactly what had happened last time—but her magic had drained slower, then.
Much slower.
This wasn't right.
Maybe the spell was working the way it should, maybe it was functioning properly, but it was going to kill Liv. The magic would latch onto Larson afterward, and he would go with her.
It was my worst nightmare all over again.
"Wake him up. We need to cut off the magic," I said, pulling Liv into my arms as I stood abruptly.
Her magic was still fading, fast.
"We don't need to—"
"I'm not asking." I grabbed my brother by the shoulder, shaking him. "Larson, open your fucking eyes."
He was groggy, but he managed to crack them open. Because the magic was tethered to Liv, it would hit her much harder than it hit him, unless it killed her. Then it would kill him, too.
"Cut off the magic. Shut it down. Now."
His gaze dipped to the orb in his hand for a beat, but his eyes rolled back into his head before he could do it.
Liv's power faded more.
I could barely feel the buzz of it at all.
I met Rob's gaze, and found it glued to the spell, which was glowing even brighter than it had before.
But flickering.
Flickering was bad. Really fucking bad.
"She doesn't have enough power. The wards must be too thick around the rain spell because of all the edits. That's probably why it didn't work last time. We just need more energy to make this work, we—" he spoke quickly.
I didn't fucking care about the spell or the rain.
I cared about the woman in my arm, whose magic was fading.
Dying.
She was actually dying this time.
"Cut the magic off now," I snarled at him, shaking my brother's shoulder again as desperation pounded in my chest.
Rob grabbed the spell, light and energy flaring around him as he tapped into his own magic.
The misshapen cube that was Larson's spell kept flickering.
Shutting down, and starting again.
Rob shook his head, panic draining the color on his face.
"What's going on?" I demanded.
"She can't keep it live long enough for me to activate the failsafe." There was horror in his eyes as they lifted to mine. "We'll have to tie one of us to the spell, but if it doesn't work—"
Her magic was so weak, it was barely a hum.
"Tie me to the fucking magic." I dropped Larson's shoulder and grabbed Rob's hand. "Tie me to her."
Light swelled on his hands.
I felt a sharp, electric bolt of electricity across my left shoulder, along with a sudden drain on my energy.
The electricity dissipated quickly, and the drain felt like someone had pulled out a fucking plug as my life flooded out rapidly.
Holy shit.
My knees buckled.
I barely managed to adjust my hold on Liv so my back took the impact when we hit the ground together, cushioning her body.
Her head was on my shoulder as I began losing consciousness, and my gaze landed on the side of her neck.
On the battery tattoo there.
On something beside it
Something that looked like a new bargain mark.
I couldn't process it before the spell knocked me out too.