Now, she would imprint that word, that glyph, over top of this body. Hold him there. Keep him within it. Let his consciousness be supported by the bedrock of her will and Yargen’s magic.
“Come to me,” Vi murmured as the magic sank into the flat plane of his chest. “Taavin, come to me.Hoolo.”
The body was still, unresponsive.
“Kot sorre. Kot sidee.” She would push and pull the air through his lungs and the blood through his heart. She saw his chest rise and fall with her words. But the moment she stopped, the body was lifeless once more.
“Taavin,” Vi choked out. Exhaustion was knocking at her edges, cracking her resolve. “You can do this, Taavin,” she pleaded, as though it wasn’t all riding on her shoulders. “Yargen, please.” Vi dropped her head to the man’s bare chest, holding him as though he was already Taavin.
Vi took in a quivering breath. She could feel the magic seeping out of him. She could almost see the flesh turning gray and with it, her hopes dimming.
“Narro hath hoolo,” Vi whispered. But what she really meant was,wake up. Please, my love, wake up.
There was a snap, like a tether breaking. Magic sizzled from the watch around her neck and she was thrown back. Her head hit one of the crystals embedded in the stone floor.
Everything went white and Vi blinked away stars with a groan. The sound echoed through the Caverns as she clutched her head, feeling for blood that thankfully wasn’t there.
Twisting onto her side, her vision still hazy, Vi propped herself up onto her elbow.
There was another groan.
But this time the sound hadn’t come from her.
Chapter Eleven
Vi rubbed her eyes.Red lightning popped behind her eyelids and she snapped them open, looking around. The Caverns looked unchanged. But it felt as if the ground had been upturned, and the air had filled with invisible poison.
Her assessment of the environmental change passed when her gaze fell on a very naked man propping himself, his movements stiff.
“T-Taavin?” she asked weakly. For a terrible moment, she was overcome by fear that somehow everything had gone wrong, and she’d given a body to Raspian himself.
But the man brought his gaze to her, and she beheld the eyes that had never shone more brilliantly, set on an unscarred face. She knew it was him before he even spoke.
“Vi.”
Her arm gave out, as though the sound of his voice reverberating through her took the last of her failing strength. Vi slipped back to the ground, but she didn’t cry out. She laughed.
“Vi, are you all right?” Taavin rushed over, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“I’m fine—just tired.” She made it a point to keep her eyes on his and not let them wander anywhere else. Especially further south than his collarbone. “Areyouall right?”
“I’ve never felt better. I feel like—” He stopped short and looked down, taking in his full form for the first time. “I’m naked. Andcold.”
“Sorry.” Vi laid back, staring up at the ceiling so he knew she wasn’t taking advantage of the situation. “Making a physical vessel for you to occupy was a lot. I didn’t figure out how to fashion clothing at the same time.”
He gently rested a hand on her cheek. Taavin guided her eyes to his. Just the sight of him brought a noise of joy that was part hiccup and part laughter. An icy tear rolled down her temple.
Wordlessly, Taavin shifted, reached forward, and scooped her up. He sat and held her in his arms.His arms. They were sturdy, and stable, and warm. All things that made him distinctly real.
For the first time in over a decade, Vi was home.
She buried her face into the crook of his shoulder and breathed. He still smelled of warm summer days. Vi wasn’t surprised. Yargen’s magic lived in him now. He was made of the light itself.
“What did you do?” His voice was both stern and soothing.
“I made you a body.”
“How?”
