“What did you say?” he asked in a low, dangerous tone.
“I can't twist. I may have lost more of my magic than I thought.”
Everan's eyes sparked lavender and his breath came in heavy pants. “I'm going to hunt down this thief and strangle the magic out of him!”
“I'll probably kill him when I remove all of the asha,” I reminded him.
“If you can still do that, Amara!” Everan snarled.
I gaped at him. “Oh, no.”
“Yes. Now you understand how important you are—both to me and the healing of this realm—and why I didn't want to risk you.”
“Maybe if you get the thief to touch the mantle again, he could put the asha back,” I suggested.
“You think that if we're able to subdue the thief—and that's a lesser possibility now—that he or she will just willingly put back the asha instead of using such an opportunity to take more?”
“If you threaten him with one of those incinerator wands he might,” I shot back. “And this is moot. We don't know if my ability to take asha is gone. That's something I gained from the Fusion so it's probably fine.”
“Yes, but you only gained it because of the magic you had previously. If you lose your color magic, you'll likely lose everything else.”
I switched into my second sight urgently, then breathed a sigh of relief. “I still have it. I can still see asha.”
“But can youtakeit?” Everan challenged. “Try to take mine.”
“I can't, remember? The Fusion prevents us from using our magic against each other.”
Everan grimaced. “You'll need to test it as soon as we get home.” He held a hand out to me. “Come then, Shalani. Let's get you back.”
I glanced over to say goodbye to Adhara again but she was already gone. “I guess she got tired of listening to us argue.”
Everan let out a long breath and his shoulders slumped. “I'm sorry if I sounded harsh. I'm very worried.”
“It's okay.” I took his hand. “I understand. I'm worried too.”
“If you can't take asha, I'm going to twist you back to Earth,” he said firmly.
“Everan, no!”
“How could you help us here, Amara?”
I gaped at him.
“I'm not saying it to hurt you. I'm trying to point out that without your color magic, you don't have anything that can help us. I'm sorry, Shalani, but you wouldn't be equipped for this fight and I can't have you here if you can't defend yourself.”
“Fine,” I snapped. “I'll go if I'm useless.”
“Amara, please.” Everan took my other hand and pulled me around to face him. “You know that I will worry about you to my detriment if you have no magic to defend yourself with and can't even twist away. You don't send soldiers into battle without a weapon, not even the best soldiers.”
“The best soldiers don't need weapons.”
“Yes, they do,” he insisted softly. “Even if it's only their body, they still need a weapon. Your body, although dangerously sexy, is not a weapon, Shalani.”
“All right. You've made your point,” I gave in. “Can we go home now?”
“Yes, let's go home.” Everan pulled me into an embrace and twisted us to the Southern Stronghold.
Chapter Twenty-Six
