Jasper stood at the center, his hands pressed to the stones, his body silhouetted against the pulsing darkness. His eyes found Chloe across the distance, and he smiled.
"Perfect timing."
The well exploded with power.
It hit Chloe like a tidal wave, slamming into her chest, her blood, her bones. She felt the channel rip open, the connection Jasper had been building for weeks finally completing itself. Her druid blood surged up to meet it, responding to the call of corrupted earth magic without her consent.
She screamed. Her knees buckled. The frozen ground rose up to meet her, but she barely felt the impact. Everything was fire and darkness and a terrible draining sensation, like her very essence was being pulled out through her pores.
"Chloe!" Corin's voice, distant and desperate.
She could barely see, let alone answer. The world had narrowed to the burning in her veins and the dark presence forcing its way through her connection to the land.
"This is what you were made for," Jasper's voice echoed in her skull. "A perfect conduit. Pure druid blood, untrained, unguarded. You're going to help me purge every drop of power from this soil, and when it's done, I'll have enough magic to reshape this valley however I want."
She tried to fight. Tried to close the channel, to sever the connection, to do anything but lie there while he used her like a battery. But she didn't know how. Had never been taught how tocontrol what she was, had spent her whole life running from it instead of learning to use it.
"Get away from her!"
Corin's roar split the air. She heard the crack of bones shifting, felt the ground shake as every pound of Corin’s grizzly headed toward the well.
Jasper didn't even look. Just raised one hand, dark energy crackling, and threw Corin aside like he weighed nothing.
"You can't stop this, bear. No one can." Jasper's voice was triumphant. "The channel's open. The power's flowing. In a few minutes, it'll all be over."
Chloe lay on the frozen ground, her body convulsing, her blood on fire. She could feel the land dying around her, feel the ancient magic being ripped from the earth and channeled through her screaming veins. And she couldn't do a single thing to stop it.
31
CORIN
Chloe was dying.
He could see it happening. The way her body convulsed on the frozen ground, the way her skin had gone gray, the way dark veins were spreading up her arms like poison climbing toward her heart. Freya was running toward her, but Corin couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Could only watch as the woman he loved was torn apart from the inside.
His bear roared, and he forced himself back to his feet.
Blood matted the fur on his shoulder where he'd hit the tree. His ribs screamed in protest. None of it mattered. The only thing that mattered was Chloe, and the man who was killing her.
Jasper stood at the well, his hands still pressed to the stones, dark energy flowing through him like a river. He looked stronger than before. Younger, almost. His weathered face had smoothed, his posture had straightened, and his eyes blazed with stolen power.
"You can't stop this," Jasper said, not even bothering to look at him. "The seal is empty. Everything that was bound inside, all that ancient magic, it's already flowing through me. Through her." He smiled. "The well is just a doorway now. I'm the vessel."
Corin charged to hit Jasper, claws slashing, teeth snapping. For one glorious moment, he felt flesh give beneath his paws, heard Jasper's grunt of pain as they both went sprawling across the frozen ground. Then the dark energy slammed into him again.
It was stronger this time. Jasper had more power now, more magic, and he used it like a weapon. Corin felt himself lifted, thrown, his massive body crashing through the underbrush. He shifted back to human mid-tumble, unable to hold his bear form against the onslaught.
"Persistent." Jasper rose to his feet, brushing dirt from his jacket like nothing had happened. A shallow gash bled across his cheek where Corin's claws had connected. "I'll give you that."
"Why?" Corin pushed himself up, his arms shaking. "Fifteen years you've lived here. This is your home. Why destroy it?"
"Because it was never really mine." Jasper's voice went cold. "I came here with nothing. A hedge witch's bastard with barely enough power to light a candle. I watched this town thrive while I scraped by on deliveries and odd jobs. Watched the old families, the powerful families, pass down magic like it was their birthright while leaving me for scraps."
"So this is jealousy?"
"This is justice." Jasper's eyes flashed. "Those druids who sealed this well didn't do it to protect anyone. They did it to hoard power they didn't deserve. They locked away enough magic to reshape the valley, and for what? So it could sit in the ground for centuries while people like me went hungry? Druids have always been thought of as the lesser of magical beings. I’m here to prove everyone, including you, they’re wrong."
Corin circled slowly, trying to put himself between Jasper and Chloe. She was still on the ground, Freya crouched over her, and he could hear Freya's voice, low and urgent, trying to reach her.
