Lana smiled, as she tightened her hands around mine, our bodies facing each other. “Do your worst, Kade Blackthorn.”
Dropping every reservation, every snide comment, hate-filled glare, I let my shadows free, allowing them to cascade out and over all of the surrounding area. A stream of them wrapped around Lana’s body, waiting for her magic to appear.
Come out, my love. We’ve missed you.
Lana’s light pooled above our joined hands in a small sphere, almost timid.
“Come on, I know you can do this,” Lana coaxed her magic. I could see the strain on her face, the desperation for more of her light to appear. “We are enough,” she whispered.
Be with us. Join us. We are your home. We will protect you.
“Relax, Little Rebel. Your magic is a part of you.” I let go of her hands and pushed a strand of loose hair behind her ear, as we stood above the pool of magma. “It does not define you. Your magic merely accentuates the already powerful person you are, both inside and out.”
Lana let out a breath and rolled her shoulders back, reaching her hands up to the ceiling.
“Together,” I encouraged, cupping her face and allowing our magic to intertwine. My shadows swirled around her, and the light emanating from her palms grew brighter. The shadows crawled up her slowly, reverently, as they weaved themselves between the strands of her light.
A shout behind us almost distracted me, but I didn’t take my eyes off Lana. I had to trust our friends to hold their own so we could finish this.
I watched, transfixed as our magic swirled, colliding together with a hungry power. The voices of my shadows and Lana’s light blended together. The vortex of all that was good in this world, with all that I was forced to be—the darkness forced upon me—combined in a torrent of magic. Her arms fell, but the vortex of power continued upward. I reached for her, needing to be close, and pulled her close to me, enveloping her in my arms. The touch between us jolted our magic, acting as kindling, fueling our abilities to a burning point. My skin screamed. We could only hold on for so much longer before we would reach the point of no return.
“Now, Illiana,” I shouted over the noise of pure power bellowing through the cavernous volcano. Whatever our magic was doing, we had to let it go and let it detonate. “Give it everything you’ve got and let go.”
She looked up at me, fear lacing her widened eyes. She looked so afraid, but she never had to be that way with me. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to keep her safe.
“Don’t be scared. One more push,” I said, wiping her eyes.
“I love you,” she said, right before she closed her eyes and proceeded to unleash her magic completely.
The light and shadows boomed, forming a tornado of magic, drawing out all of the evil from the center of the volcano and wrapping it tightly in a vortex of magic.
It was a sight to behold.
Despite the mission at hand, my soul felt at home watching our power working together, feeding off of one another. My heart knew love, pure and powerful, and if I died right now, I would die knowing this was what love felt like. This was the power of our bond.
Of us.
I clutched her tighter. “I love you too.”
Funneling the last remnants of my energy, I released every shadow within me and fell away from the ledge, pulling Lana with me as we toppled backward. Our tornado of shadow and light plummeted into the core of the volcano, and everything exploded.
The ground shook, pieces of stone cracked around us, while the walls crumbled apart. The same mist we’d seen previously floated into the air, evaporating quickly, unable to be used against anyone or anything.
“We did it!” she screamed both in excitement and fear.
I grabbed Lana, covering her from the flying debris she didn’t notice in her victory. The volcano was imploding, and we had to get out before we were crushed in the aftermath.
“Quick, to Lucien and the others,” I shouted over the falling rocks, but Lucien was already at Lana’s feet.
“Storm,” I called, seeing him closest. He held an arm over his head and yanked Jax’s collar with his other hand.
A boulder-sized rock smashed to the ground, blocking Storm and Jax from us just as more rained down around them. A woman’s scream pierced the air, and Lana’s body went rigid next to me.
“Kalliah,” she yelled.
I gripped her arm, trying to keep her from diving into the falling debris, but she yanked harder than I expected. Climbing over the rocks crashing around us, she skidded to a halt as Kalliah’s body came into view, strewn across the floor.
We found Jax kneeling beside her, brushing the hair out of her face before checking her body for any other wounds.
