Fear and worry didn’t come this time.
That seemed impossible now… for some reason.
But his words did register, the danger from a logical standpoint at least. “If anything unexpected happens… or I do anything unexpected… they think I’m… unstable?”
“Unstable. Compromised. Out of control. Out oftheircontrol, Winter.”
“And paired with you… a perversion of Celestial power… that’s… heightened?”
“Exponentially.”
“Why a perversion? When I felt it first… expelled it after… I thought it was like Draco’s power.”
“Draco was far weaker than I am. But, yes, he also used his power outside expectations. Unfortunately, his goal was to do harm, so now anything similar is likened to wrongdoing and evil. My power is interpreted that way because I have used it to create what was not sanctioned.”
“Sanctus.”
“That, yes. But also things like this.” His hands left me and then he upturned his right palm. His midnight-blue magic sparked and a jagged rock materialized. “This is in its natural state. I just pulled it from our immediate surroundings.”
With a dazed nod from me, he swept his other hand over it, glowing with his magic. Sparks rained down over the rock for several moments, and then I jolted at a burst of white and blue film obscuring the sight of the rock. In seconds, it dissipated, and the rock was gone, another object in its place. It was a black lacquered twisted cone with a needle-sharp tip that had a gold band wrapped around it and midnight-blue gems set into it.
“A Spiral Thorn,” he told me.
“You… how? Black magic can warp the intent of things, but this is… you’re reshaping reality?”
“We’ll refer to it as that for now.” He spun the thing in his hand, eyeing the gems etched into it with admiration. “Until you are ready.” With a flick of his magic, he freed my left hand from the binds, then drew it toward the Spiral Thorn.
Instinctively, I tried to jerk away, but he held fast. “Shh, all is well. This will not even sting in your current deeply comforted physical state. The act itself will last merely a moment, yet it will assist you greatly.”
With another sudden flick of his magic, he drew a tiny cut across my wrist, just deep enough to make a couple of pearls of blood leak out.
He was right, I didn’t feel a thing.
He smiled, then did the same to himself.
And then he pressed our wrists together.
When he pulled away, our blood smeared his arm only.How the—
He swept the tip of the Spiral Thorn through it, then slathered it all over in the combination of our blood. His blue magic radiated out, enveloping the entire thing, before then dematerializing. I saw the Spiral Thorn glinting a moment before he stowed it away with his power.
“What was that?”
“They come this way. Our time is at an end. For now.”
“And the blood… the Spiral Thorn?”
He wove his fingers in mine. “When you’re ready, miraculous boy. You are already overwhelmed with what I’ve imparted to you. You require time. And when they reach you in moments, that overwhelm will intensify.” He grimaced. “Unfortunately, it won’t be helped when my warmth leaves your system. I cannot maintain it over a great distance, especially not between planes. At least not in my current condition.”
“I… what? No, that—don’t. Don’t—”
“I’m not doing anything. It’s their interference. Their lack of understanding when it comes to you and what you actually need.” He released my hand and it fell heavily against my side. I felt a cold infecting me, the warmth retreating. “I will return. In the meantime, before you are ready for me, you may reach out whenever you like.”
“How?”
He smiled. “Should you wish it, you’ll know, believe me.”
“Was that what the Spiral Thorn was about?”
