“I’m here, Violet, I got you,” he says, his voice full of wistful hope.
I’m cold.
So very cold...
The ley lines settle, and the lightning disappears.
“Can you break her chains?” Bane says as he flashes his gaze up at Wanda.
“Her chains are already broken,” Wanda says softly. “The ley lines are closed.”
Thunder roils in the distance, and I am tired.
I want to sleep...
“You broke the queen’s!” he hollers as his arms tighten around me.
I feel my chains slip away, just as she said. But I still can’t move. It feels like I am frozen.
“I have more power than she does, she is only newly awakened, I—”
My mother clutches to Delaney and Norman as she looks at me with eyes full of tears.
“I have completed my ascent, ages ago. My magic can not be removed,” she said.
“No, no, no, this isn’t supposed to happen!” Bane yells as he pulls me close.
“You’re supposed to... to...”
I lift my arm, but it is heavy. I reach for him, feeling his smooth gray skin beneath my fingertips. Where once touching Bane elicited tiny sparks, now there was only the smooth, porcelain feel of his skin against my fingers.
No fire, no magic, just smooth as a polished rock.
My magic was gone, and perhaps...
Perhaps my fire was gone too; perhaps our bond had died with the magic it bound itself to.
“I’m sorry, I should have told you,” I said as I tugged at his jaw, pulling him to me.
“Don’t talk like that, don’t...”
“Bane, I—”
His lips were on mine in a flurry, his hand pushing back into my hair. I could feel him shake as the rain fell on us.
I was weak, tired, and powerless.
But Bane kissed me like I was the sun, the moon, and the stars, like I was everything despite all I had lost.
Despite the pain I’d caused him.
The earth moved beneath us, and I feared the storm was not over. But the hum of the ley lines started up again, thunder booming, and lightning surging.
Bane’s lips moved slowly against my own, his fingers sliding through my hair. Warmth pooled in my center as his scent surrounded me, as the stubborn embers of love refused to die.
And they spread, igniting to life within me as the rain sizzled against my skin, as the ley lines funneled their way back into me, infusing me with...love.
My hand slid over his, and I squeezed as I kissed him with the fire he revered for me.
