“Oh my Gods,” she said, rushing to his slumped figure. “Please say you’re not dead. We can’t have killed the prince.”
She attempted to push the magic from her chest into her fingertips, but before she could do so, Idris stirred awake and then snapped upright.
“Alison, get behind me. There’s a wild woman on the loose,” he said, putting himself between her and Rinka.
“I told you to stay down,” said Rinka, moving to charge Idris once more.
He dodged a mean right hook aimed directly for his nose, pushing Alison down and out of the way. Alison crouched back towards Keir, who was still standing by the door.
“What do we do?” she whispered to him as they watched Rinka attempt to topple Idris once more.
“They say passion burns like fire,” said Keir. “Maybe we dunk them in water?”
It was an absurd suggestion, which meant in this silly fairy land it just might work.
“The wash basin is over there.” Alison gestured to a little carved stand near the bed.
Keir went for the basin, flinging its contents at the other pair as they fought.
He missed.
Thankfully, Rinka and Idris didn’t even notice. Rinka was too busy trying to pull Idris’s hair out, and Idris was trying to tie her wrists together with some odd sort of fabric that seemed to vanish at certain angles.
The water pooled onto the handwoven rug.
“Maybe…” said Alison. She grabbed Keir’s hand.
She felt for the source of power and grabbed onto it faster this time. Then she searched Keir for something like it.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Trying to pick the water up again from the rug. Can you help me?’
“How?”
She kissed him.
“I don’t know how that’s meant to help, but I’m happy to do it—”
“Hold on to how that feels, and pull on the water with me,” she said.
It felt genuinely insane but also right, somehow.
Which is to say that it felt like love itself.
The water vibrated on the floor as if the room was shaking and then began to rise into droplets.
“That’s it!” said Alison. “Can you feel it?”
“I—I think so,” said Keir. He looked anxious, so she kissed him again.
“Anything?” she asked as she spun to look.
The water was still rising. Their attention to it caught Rinka’s and Idris’s attention.
“Quick, before he stops it,” said Alison. She imagined the water crashing into their faces and then flicked her wrist.
She didn’t know if the gesture would help, but it felt like a good idea, and sure enough, the water splashed right onto them both.
