He hit hard on his back, and Quinn slipped out of his arms, coughing. I focused on him, rushing forward and stabbing my shorter sword into his stomach before twisting and pulling up. Blood and viscera spilled over my hands as he sagged back in agony.
The ancient Lawson’s power swelled again. My gaze darted to Cayden, and the much smaller amount of magic seeping out of him. A fistful of gems glowed from his neck and wrists. He was giving this everything he had, but he didn’t stand a chance.
The ancient Lawson unleashed his magic. Cayden made a final slash with his pinky finger and thrust his hands forward. His much smallerrune caught the literal spout of power and slowed it, but didn’t stop it. The two streams resembled a faucet trying to hold back a waterfall.
“Cayden!” Quinn tried to rush to her friend’s side, but I grabbed her and pulled her into my chest.
Like a storm sweeping over the mountains, Cayden’s forest-green magic was overtaken by the darker blast. I lowered my head, recognizing this as a distraction to get Quinn out of here.
“Thank you for your sacrifice.” I wrapped my arm around Quinn’s waist and pulled her feet off the ground, reaching for the shadows in the hall.
Her elbow hit my ribs, her foot dented my toes, leaving blood marking my shoe. Surprise froze me in place, giving Quinn the chance she needed to slip out of my grip and run forward.
The two men throwing runes around like they were energy blasts sent one toward her, and she swerved, stumbling against the bed-like altar in the center of the room. The second one flew true. An instant before the second connected, I jumped into its path. The rune collided with my already numb shoulder, and the numbness crept toward my lungs, each breath thinner and shallower.
Quinn didn’t stop. Bloody footprints trailed behind her as she disappeared into the blinding light engulfing Cayden, who somehow, against all odds, remained standing. His outline flickered in the intense spell cast by the ancient Lawson.
I’d let her go. Once again, I’d made a bad call, but this time, she would die because of it. I never thought my heart could break for anyone but my lover. It did. I couldn’t accept a world without her in it. Even if it killed me, I had to try.
Where there was light, there was shadow.
I silently apologized to my lover and stepped.
I spilled out of Quinn’s shadow headfirst. Heat radiated from her. Her big eyes were fixed on Cayden. Sparkling tears slid down her perfect cheeks. “You’re not alone. I’m here. I exploded the collar once; I’ll do it again.” She placed both her hands on his back. The tension in the room eased. Every white tattoo covering Cayden’s skin melted away, and his clothing dissolved.
A shudder wracking his body was the only sign he felt anything.
The collar around Quinn’s neck smoldered with cerulean blue.
I took one step out of her shadow and turned, my other foot still inside. Foreign mists ran up and down my spine. An image of a naked man, lying among a pile of fibers and missing his knees, briefly became my reality.
The image vanished. Every bit of my magic poured through our shadow into Quinn. Cayden’s green twined with my purple, her prisms, and the new cerulean. My teeth buzzed, and my head throbbed. The stream doubled, then doubled again.
Cayden screamed, and his multi-colored stream grew, overtaking the old man’s faster and faster, until only their outline burned through the sizzle of his spell.
“You can’t do this, son,” the ancient Lawson’s raspy voice somehow boomed over all of us. “I’m God’s Prophet! I cannot die.”
“Lies. All of it,” Cayden snarled. A single tear rolled down his face. “Be with your God, father.”
Their outlines blurred, and the room’s pressure increased. My ears painfully compressed as the pressure surged. The wind howled around me, pulling me forward. I managed to grasp the table, shielding Quinn and Cayden’s bodies from the flying glass. Just as suddenly, the wind stopped, and the pressure subsided.
White ash drifted through the air along with curls of smoke. A black scorch dug into the stone floor where the trio had stood.
The room stilled, and stars twinkled above us.
Someone groaned in pain, and green magic shimmered to my left.
I pulled my remaining foot out of Quinn’s shadow. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she crumpled. I was right there to catch her. Her pulse beat steadily against my fingertips, the single thread holding me together.
Cayden stumbled. “Quinn.”
I rushed forward so he could catch himself on me and see Quinn’s breathing body in my arms. The collar on her neck still glowed a cerulean blue, and a bit of frost formed on the surface. Quinn’s unnaturally cold body sank into my leathers. My breath came out in a puff of icy mist in the not-so-cool air.
My brain churned slowly. Unlike my lover, I’d never drained all my magic. It had always refilled, until now. The numbness still radiating close to my lungs made it difficult to breathe.
Cayden brushed Quinn’s face. Pain, confusion, and shock twisted his features.
“I can feel her tether again, despite the collar.” He ran his fingers down her face. “Her feet, gods, she’s been fighting on glass barefoot. I can feel every cut. But her mind’s blank. Nothing is coming from her. The cerulean blue. Fuck me. Did he help us?” Cayden looked at me like a lost puppy.
