He raised a brow, considering. “You think I don’t speak the spark’s language.”
“No. I think she’s deaf to your commands.”
His frown lines deepened for a moment, then softened. “I think you might be right. Okay, let’s try it.”
We each took a small step back.
I looked at Thaddeus, and hesitated, afraid of hurting him. He nodded in encouragement, and I opened my palms, focusing.
“Sphaorah,” I whispered. Instantly, a brilliant light filled the room.
Thaddeus wrapped his hands above my orb, seeking its energy. Visible ripples converged toward him, and as they reached the aura where he conjures from, it snapped. The backlash sent him stumbling, but he managed to keep his footing.
“That was markedly better,” he observed.
“Maybe the sphere is the wrong way to go,” I said.
He raised a brow, questioning.
“Think about it. The sphere is the manifestation of my command. You need the raw energybeforeit’s wielded by a spell. Asking the sphere to do something different is like asking it to morph into something different, which it can’t do.”
He smiled and leaned down to kiss me. “That’s an excellent observation.”
“I have an idea.”
“What is it?”
“Take off your shirt,” I said.
He gave me a lover’s smile.
“Take. Off. Your. Shirt,” I ordered, ignoring that smile, lest I get distracted.
He did as asked, that look still staring down at me.
I tore my eyes away from his rippled stomach, stepping behind him. The sight of his broad shoulders and defined back made me want to take him up on his silent offer. He glanced over his shoulder at me, the subtle motion accentuating those beautifully sculpted muscles. I bit down on the urge to trace my lips along his spine and drag my hands over his body. Shaking my head, I dispelled the temptation and refocused on the task at hand.
Placing my palms flat against his back, where power entered him, I closed my eyes.
I allowed myself to float into the calming space where I’d sought the Mother countless times before, and gave in to it, to him.
Calling upon the spark, I allowed her tingling essence to leak past me until a steady stream of power filled the space where he pulled from.
“Now,” I said.
The shifting muscles under my hands let me know Thaddeus was readying himself, and as if he’d whispered in my ear, I heard the wordssphaorah nemoisai. A sudden surge of energy passed through me into him, and the world around us seemed to hold her breath. Our surroundings became distant, and for a heartbeat, everything was suspended in a silent, bright equilibrium.
Then, the balance shattered.
Back arching, my eyes flew open in shock as I was being cleaved in two. I tried to move, tried to pull away, peel my hands off, anything, but I was no longer in control of my body, myself.
Thaddeus gasped as a sphere of light formed before him.
Maiattor. Maiattor.
His silent demand filled me, and the sphere before Thaddeus grew as power was ripped from me into him—each drop yielded like tiny shards of glass being pulled through my veins.
I cried for the spark to let go, to release me. Tried to coax her. Nothing, as if she were now deaf to me. My body was no longer mine. My power was no longer mine.
