“Swarog’s flames can’t really be extinguished with water, only dimmed,” I whisper in Jaga’s ear after dropping to my knees behind her. “If it submerges, it will have to go back to Wyraj. I can force it to leave with my shadows, too. Say, would you mind sharing your magic with me? Through sex is best, but holding hands works in a pinch.”
Her hands are braced on her thighs as she pants from effort, shivers wracking her body. When I’m done speaking, she lifts her head slowly, just in time to see the rarog release a whip of hot flame. It reaches Chors, burning a gash across his side. My son hisses and falls away, his chains of silver weakening. The rarog shakes them off.
“No.”
She tries to heave herself to her feet but fails, dropping back down with a frustrated grunt.
“I suppose we should run and get Nyja to fight him for us. But look. Chors still fights. He’ll be badly burned.”
“You’re trying to manipulate me,” she grits out, sending a rope of almost-shadow, a weak emulation of mine, at the flaming bird. It does nothing, of course. Jaga does not know true darkness, the kind that swallowed everything before we made light. She’ll never create a perfect shadow.
“Yes, because you’re making the wrong choice. Come on, poppy girl. All you have to do is hold my hand and give me some of your magic. I gave you mine plenty of times.”
She hesitates. Chors has the rarog bound again. The bird screeches, its flames struggling against the chains. Chors wipes his sweaty brow with a shaking hand, and I can tell he’s at his limit.
“Fine.”
I shiver when Jaga’s small, cold hand winds through mine. It’s her right, the same one that handled my heart. My fingers spasm at the memory, squeezing hers tighter.
“What now?”
I focus, feeling for the edges of her magic, for her soul. She guards it tightly.
Yes, I could suck out her magic through force. I’ve done it in the past. But the point isn’t to master Jaga and make her obey. I want her trust, her love, her heart, all of her. And that, just like her soul, must be willingly given.
“I need you to drop your shields. Let go. It’s all right.”
Her laughter is hollow and biting. Grudgingly, she opens herself. Some pieces of her armor fall away, giving me glimpses of the unnatural landscape within, her magic, her soul, her being, all knotted and strange. It’s a horrid mess I badly want to help her untangle.
“More,” I whisper.
“I’m trying!”
“Too slow.”
Chors cries out when a tongue of flame wraps around his throat. For a breathtaking moment, his face is illuminated with gold and red, then he plummets into the sea. I growl. My son is in danger, and Jaga’s next in line.
I force my way into her, shadows pouring in through cracks in her armor. She screams, her spine snapping into a taut arch.I pull and pull, feeding myself her raw power straight from the source. Already, I am stronger, and my body hums with euphoria. There was never a thing more right than this.
She, inside me. Her moans of pleasure tell me she enjoys it as much as I do.
Jaga tries to pull her hand out of mine, but I’m never letting go. I aim with my other hand. When the rarog opens its beak to spit fire, I send a powerful rope of shadow right into its throat. It chokes on it, its flames going out at once. The sky, lit with fire just a moment ago, grows black. The firebird goes away to lick its wounds in Wyraj.
The night is even darker now, aftershocks of the inferno flickering across my vision every time I blink.
I pull more from Jaga. Oh, she’s almost infinite. Stronger than me, yes, I admit it freely. It’s so arousing, so fucking stunning. This woman who once drank from me because she was too weak to stand feeds me now.
“S-stop.”
The waves crash so loudly, I can easily pretend I haven’t heard her. Her whisper was so quiet. Jaga’s fading. She can’t stop me, and for a moment, I toy with the thought of taking all her magic, then breathing more and more into her, then fucking her magic back into her, oh, how enormous her soul would grow.
Yet, she said to stop. I pull away with an unhappy sigh, shaking my head to clear it. Have I fucked up again? Yes. I can’t do anything right with her. And Chors…
Shit. My son is drowning.
“Wait here.”
I run the few steps to the edge of the cliff, arching my body into a perfect dive. I break the surface like a knife and use my shadows to propel me toward the faint, silvery sheen of his magic. I grab him around the middle and propel us throughshadows back to Jaga. My final attack on the rarog spent almost everything I took from her, and I have little left.
