I scooched beside Kai on the bed, carefully drawing his head into my lap. There was a lump at the base of his skull, but no blood. Gently, so gently, I pushed on our bond and brushed the hair from his forehead. A little skin contact and some hope, that was all I could offer. While I prayed for that to work, I sent my magick out.
Only the smallest tendril, undetectable unless you knew to look for it. That stream of magick raced for the guarded mind surrounded by a wall of ice currently searching a dorm on campus. I gave a solid knock to that barricade, hoping now wasn’t one of the times Ezra chose to be stubborn. I had a plan, and I needed his help if we were all going to make it out of this in one piece.
Kaiden
The pain was enough to make me think my skull was split open, but there was a sense of calm running under the agony. My chest thrummed with contentment, and I sighed. Wherever I was, despite the pounding in the back of my head, I was safe. Fingers threaded through my hair and down my cheeks. The scent of lavender filled my nose. The bed rocked to and fro in a gentle lullaby that called for me to let go and return to sleep.
Wait.
My bed didn’t rock. Not unless I had my bond under me and a whole lot of time to play. And lavender usually meant danger—either Eryn having to use her magic, or Ezra had left a damn candle lit again. The fingers in my hair paused when I frowned, and the lack of touch made my head hurt even worse. Fuck.
Come back.
“Kai?”
No. All at once, the fog lifted from my mind, and I sat up. I clenched my eyes as vomit burned the back of my throat, and my head swam. What the hell did that guy hit me with? My hand instinctively reached for the tender spot below my left ear. Last I remembered, I was zeroing in on the group of djinn down on the beach.
Hidden in my shadows, the plan was to let the time for our meet-up pass and then follow them to wherever they were holding Rani. But one of them got the jump on me instead. One minute, spy kid, and the next, lights out.
How long was I down for? It couldn’t have been too long. And how was Erynhere? I didn’t need to open my eyes to know it was her beside me. There was no way they got past my wards, which meant…
“Please tell me we’re home in bed, and I fell asleep watching a movie,” I whispered, deadly calm.
“Well, we’re in a bed but—listen, there's not much time.”
I held up my hand, eyes squinting open despite how it madeeverything spin. It was dark, and abnormally humid. I wasn’t sure if I was moving because I was dizzy or if the room was actually unstable.
“I’m going to give you one last chance to tell me youdidn’tsneak out after me. That wearen’tboth captured by the guy who almost succeeded in killing you not once, or twice, butthreetimes, and that you aren’t once again at the mercy of a motherfucking psycho.”
Silence. My shadows grew restless with every roll of what was now obviously a ship, andnotmy living room couch, and I opened my eyes fully to see Eryn sitting on a dingy little bed beside me. Her eyes glowed, an iridescent green like a cat caught in the beam of a flashlight. Lavender was still heady in the air—I’d be suffocating on it if it wasn’t my favorite fucking scent in the world.
“You can be mad at me later,” she started.
“Oh, I’m going to be mad at you right fucking now, princess. I can be mad and get us out of this at the same time. Multitasking.”
I can’t fucking believe she didn’t listen to me. Actually, strike that. I one hundred percent should have expected it, and I had. What I didn’t account for was being knocked out and waking to find not only myself trapped but my bonded as well. Of course she came after me. She was going to whether I was in danger or not, it’s who she was.
But,fuck, I wasn’t used to feeling like this. Out of control. Like every step I made was the wrong one. I had to get us out of this. We were obviously out on the ocean, but if I could get up top and see how far from shore…Possibly drive the boat back if there weren’t many djinn on board… We had options. I could work with options.
“Are you done being a control freak and trying to figure this all out on your own, or can I tell you my plan now?”
Eryn stared at me with the grumpy frown I loved so much, the one that made the spot between her eyebrows furrow and her delectable lips pout. My girl had a plan.
I grinned, pride filling me all the way up. “All right, let’s hear it.”
“I reached out to Ezra,” she said, and my brows flew up.
“Like, you called him from my cellphone that you secretly snuck in here with us?”
She smirked and tapped the side of her head. “Like, I’m done pretending to be powerless because I’m scared of what might happen when I show the world I’m not.” She reached out and grabbed my hand, easing her fingers between mine. “I’m not scared anymore, Kai.”
I swallowed past the lump growing in my throat. “No?”
She shook her head, and I got another look at those eyes, so full of magick and confidence. “Ask me why.”
“Why?”
She leaned forward and placed her lips on mine. It was tender and slow, like what our first kiss would have been had I not ravished her against that stairwell wall. What I always dreamed our first kiss would be. Her lips were soft and plump and yielded with the slightest bit of pressure. I tasted her slowly this time, losing myself in the swirl of her tongue on the roof of my mouth and the little gasp she made when I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close.
