She nods curtly and disappears. Hundreds of butterflies explode out of the air where she stood a moment ago. I watch them, white and yellow wings beating the air.
“You did it,”Jaga says, sounding neutral.“What now?”
I bare all my teeth in the meanest grin I can muster and leap into the air, forming my shadows into bat wings again. I beat them, rising above the oaks, and feel into myself. I am still comfortably full. Should be enough, but—it wouldn’t hurt to have more.
Also, this is an excellent excuse.
“Would you mind sending me a bit of your magic, beloved? I’m about to perform a great feat here, and I’m not certain I have enough.”
“How?”
“Through our bond. Let me show you.”
I close my eyes and focus, finding the current of magic wrapped around my heart like a second bloodstream. I push a small charge toward her, and the bond is reluctant at first, rejecting me. It’s natural since it’s so fresh. I push a bit harder. Jaga gasps, and I know it pours through now, a faint, thin trickle.
We’ll have to make it bigger, stretch this bond to take more. But for now, it’s enough.
“Did you get it? Intent is enough. Find your magic and push it toward me. I’ll be grateful.”
I don’t tell her the repercussions of this, and I don’t have to. Her magic forces me not to lie, but it doesn’t account for lies through omission. Truly, Jaga should have asked me why I’ve never shared a mental bond with anyone before her.
I had a very good reason.
It takes her a moment. She fumbles, and I can tell she’s frowning in concentration as she tries. Jaga always strives to do everything best, even when it’s her first time. Other people are reasonable and allow themselves to fail. Not her.
When it finally comes through, tingles of ecstasy run up my spine, my being lighting up all over.
“Oh, perfect,”I breathe, my voice coming through like a moan, because I can’t control myself.
This is sweet torture, Jaga’s power trickling in drop by drop, like slow licks and edging touches. It pours right into my brain where pleasure and yearning live. I close my eyes and hover in the air, letting myself get drunk on this feeling. She, coming inside me.
“This is tiring. It fights me,”Jaga complains five minutes later.
Hasn’t she noticed? The magic’s pouring so much faster now, the bond wider between us. She’s really given it her all. Like always.
“It’s enough. Thank you, beloved.”
“I asked you to stop calling me that.”
“You asked me to stop calling you ‘love’, beloved. They are two different words.”
“No endearments. Just stop.”
I sigh. It’s like a dance, one step forward, three steps back. The tune we dance to is repetitive and frustrating, always the same mistakes like false notes over the underlying drumbeat of the forces pulling us together.
I close my eyes and push my shadows into the ground, murmuring ancient spells under my breath.
“As you wish, you fucking nuisance. Now watch.”
Chapter twenty-three
Pop
I send my shadows deep into the earth, tangling with the roots. This has to be done carefully, with the right type of magic, so I pulse decomposition into the trees, faster and faster, until I huff with exertion. Nothing happens yet, but Jaga is quiet and watchful.
Death races up the roots, and now it reaches the trunks. I’ve spread myself thin all over this grove. My skin itches and my magic aches from the proximity of the oaks, but I don’t stop.
“This used to be my temple,”I tell Jaga, choking the trees with my shadows to make it faster.“The people of Slawa worshipped me, because I built this city. It was beautiful. I will show you one day, when our bond is strong enough. You’ll love it and mourn it with me.”
