Lioren turned the stone over in his hands. “I thought I’d seen everything.”
Kairos slid the shield toward me.
I reached for it. Heat blazed from the rune. The second I touched it, pain like nails hammered through my arm. My jaw clenched as the magic thrashed.
Uther leaned closer. “Wow.”
I tightened my grip, the rune buzzing like a swarm of furious hornets. Digging into the tangled threads, I forced them apart, and magic burst through me in a searing jolt.
“Stop.” Kairos appeared beside me, gritting his teeth. “It’s too much.”
“No. I’m fine.”
“Famous last words,” Uther muttered. “Right up there with ‘hold my ale’ and ‘watch this.’”
Kairos gripped the back of my chair, snarling. “Drop it. Now.”
“I promised you.”
He growled. “Aelie, stop!”
I pushed deeper. Tears stung my eyes, the power scraping my flesh. The strands frayed. Then?—
Snap.
The shield launched off the table and slammed into the wall with a deafening crack. Elwen stumbled backward. Lioren’s ink jar tipped over. Uther swore.
I collapsed against the chair. My palm was scorched red.
“That’s more like it!” Uther grinned. “Best lessons I ever had ended with either a bloody nose or someone nearly impaled.”
“Incredible,” Lioren murmured.
Kairos scooped up my hand, wincing. His thumb swept across the burn again. Careful. So careful it made my throat tight.
He didn’t seem to notice that the room was completely silent. Elwen had stopped mid-pace to gawk at us.
Crimson tendrils emerged from Kairos’s fingertips, sinking into me like silk through water. After the magic chased away the sting, his fingers kept moving in small circles, soothing me.
“Does it always hurt?” he asked roughly.
“Yes.”
Elwen cut through the haze. “Even on the heating rune?”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. Kairos turned my hand, examining me from every angle. He traced my palm lines with a focus that was too intimate for a room full of people. I licked my dry lips, my skin suddenly hot.
Vaeris would never have touched me like this in front of people. Kairos didn’t seem to care. Did he realize what he was doing? How everyone was watching?
“Are some worse?” Kairos asked.
I swallowed. “Yes. Some runes resist. Others feel like they’re tearing me apart.”
Kairos released me, swallowing hard.
“It’s like breaking a dam,” Lioren stated, scrawling notes. “The more power stored in the rune, the more violent the collapse. That’s why faerie blood wounded her while mushroom powder barely stung. We need more controlled tests.”
“No,” Kairos barked. “She’s done.”
