I’d had more than enough of that.
It hurt.
Not burning, not biting, but fucking crushing.
Crushing all over, and my hands, my whole body, was shaking trying to withstand it.
I grunted, then snapped my palms up and called my necromantic power, amber flames erupting.
I pushed harder, pouring more and more into it, and not feeling the strain at all, because of all that training I’d had with my dad, learning how to release it, how I had so much capacity, and how not to be afraid of that anymore—to embrace it. Embrace it all.
Within moments, the flames were shooting up in controlled streams three feet above, while my shadows followed, ensuring it didn’t touch Ruxnoth’s magic in the core. At the same time, my frost covering my skin thickened. It wasn’t cold to me. Instead it felt like the softest blankets gliding up and down my skin soothingly.
If only it hadn’t been for that awful pressure of this bastard’s power, it would’ve been one of the best things I’d ever felt—outside of being with my three loves, of course. I couldn’t wait. I couldn’t wait to feel that with them again, to be immersed in them.
A satisfied sound from Ruxnoth jolted me from that brief reprieve, then I heard gasps and awed chatter from the necromancers positioned around the room.
“Do it,” I told Ruxnoth. “I’ve got it. Do it now.”
“This could have been a great deal more gratifying if it hadn’t been for your obstinance.”
“Just do it… I can’t hold against the pressure of your fucking True Celestial power much longer. And just so we’re clear, if you do something to punish me for not doing it your way to get your fucking dick hard, and you employ your warping ability, you’ll send any hope of me bonding with the Core to hell.”
“Deathborn bitch,” Ansel hissed. “How dare you?”
“You wanna come here and do this in my stead?” I bit back.
Okay, I was losing my mental composure. Choking down all this bullshit, and being so close the end of it now… yeah, I was clearly at my wit’s end.
I looked out, finding Wesley there. Smiling kindly. Gently. Knowingly.
He’d endured similar violating weight down here, and he’d been punished brutally recently, too. And he also… he’d become a friend. He didn’t see me just as a necromantic powerhouse like everyone else here—even my other allies. He’d asked about my parents—not just Dad because people got a kick out of his Almighty Necromancer status—and talked with me about my loves in those moments I’d allowed myself to let go of my compartmentalization. He saw me as a person.
And right now I was seeing that reflected back at me.
A person.
A friend.
A student.
A son.
A lover to Evira, Vax, and Zayn.
A whole being… beyond allthis.
All this fucking madness.
I gave a slight nod, then drew in a steadying breath.
Tiberia and Matteo moved forward, about to shoot their mouths off, but Ruxnoth held up a hand. “Silence!”
“But, Sire—”
“I adore you also, but Winter is not in his right mind under this extremely taxing undertaking. Accommodate that. If it persists afterward, I will allow you to see to him.”
I glared out at him.
