He smiles. “I love you too, little rebel.” Then he gives me a nod. “Now, do it. I don’t want you to have to carry this alone for even one more second. You’re mine, and I am yours. And we share everything. Our hearts, our minds, our souls, and everything that comes with it. The good and the bad. So let me help you carry this the way I should have done for months.”
I draw my fingers over his cheek, feeling like my heart is going to explode from the sheer amount of love I feel for this extraordinary man. He smiles and then nods, urging me to do it.
After drawing in a breath to compose myself, I let my hand drop back down into my lap and close my eyes so that I can focus on my magic.
Then I reach for that feeling of addictive need inside me. It thrashes there in my chest like a roaring wildfire. Grabbing it, I tentatively stretch it out from me and towards Draven. In my mind’s eye, I can see it whipping there in front of my chest like a vicious snake covered in fire. While one side remains stuckinside my own chest, I attached the other end of the emotion to Draven’s chest.
Relief crashes over me. It’s so intense that I actually gasp.
With half of the emotion gone, it suddenly only feels like a casual option, asuggestion, that I should use my magic again. Not an insistent demand. I can still feel it there inside me, but I no longer have to fight against that awful constant urge. It’s like feeling slightly peckish instead of feeling like I’ve been starving for weeks.
Snapping my gaze up to Draven’s face, I study his features for signs of discomfort. But he looks just like he always does. Calm and powerful and in control.
“How do you feel?” I ask, my pulse pattering.
“Mostly normal,” he replies. “I mean, I can feel it. But it’s nothing that bothers me or distracts me.” His eyes gleam as he gives me a sly smile. “The need to touch you after my side of the mate bond snapped into place last year was much worse.”
I laugh. It’s full of relief and gratitude.
He smiles back at me. But then he cocks his head while a considering look blows across his handsome features. “Won’t this drain your magic, though?”
“Yes,” I admit.
“What if you attached it to our mate bond?”
I raise my eyebrows in surprise. “How?”
“Try joining it with that bond. Like two threads that intertwine.”
While trying to visualize what he said, I reach for that flow of my magic between us and then imagine myself braiding it together with our mate bond. At first, the two forces just twist and roll, as if unsure what to do. But then with my gentle coaxing, they start to flow over and under each other, turning into a glimmering bridge that now shimmers faintly with my magic as well.
A stunned breath escapes my lips when my magical energy stops draining out of me.
I release the grip on my magic fully, but that flow of addictive need is now intertwined with the mate bond, and it doesn’t disappear even though I’m no longer actively using my powers. My eyes stop glowing as I snap my gaze up to Draven in stunned disbelief.
“It worked?” he asks.
I grin.
Relief and strength surge up inside me like a warm summer wave.
And suddenly, I feel as if I can breathe again.
The crushing regret that I will never know if my parents loved me is still there, but now that it isn’t being compounded by the intense addiction to that comforting pleasure as well, I feel like I can finally function properly again. I feel ready to fight. To scream. To rage and burn and destroy until Jessina Iceheart is bleeding out under the blade of my knife.
The difference between how I feel now and the black sea I’ve been drowning in for weeks is so stark that I suddenly feel drunk with power. I can do this. At last, I finally feel like I will actually be able to stand up and fight the battle that is waiting for us when the sun rises. And it’s all because ofhim.
Sliding my hand around the back of Draven’s neck, I pull him closer and kiss him hard. Then I rest my forehead against his. “Thank you.”
“Always, little rebel,” he whispers back against my lips.
I pull back, feeling that surge of fire and fury roar inside me. Draven has saved me. Again. And now, it’s time for me to save him too. To save us all. It’s time to bring down the Iceheart Dynasty and get everything we deserve.
When Draven notices the expression on my face, a wicked smile spreads across his lips as well. “There she is.” He draws his fingers along my jaw. “Let’s go win this war.”
“Yes. Let’s go get fucking everything.”
CHAPTER FORTY
