“That’s what Titania was talking about…the day Antenor was attacked. But what will it do to you?” I traced a finger along his wrist. “A blood bond, only…you have no blood. You won’t lose your Lightweaving?”
“No, it would be shared, and I think…it would also allow you to heal me…”
“Oh…” I breathed. “My blood in exchange for your light? You would have—”
“A real heart, yes,” Devil said, smiling and cupping my face in one hand. “If you want revenge for Locksley, if you want to save Will and Tuck, this could be the way you were looking for.”
Without hesitation, I took a half-finished arrowhead with one sharp edge off his work bench and held it out.
“I give them freely. My blood, my magyk…my heart. Weave your stars into my sky, Devil.”
Chapter forty-seven
Blood & Sweat
His eyes flickered frommy face down to the arrowhead and back again, but he took it and pulled in a deep breath. Blood pounded through my skull, magyk pressing against my skin from the inside, as if it knew, and was eager to be let out. With steady hands, he held my chin and gently split my bottom lip open, making me wince.
“Here, do the same to me,” he whispered.
I cut a line down his lip too, mesmerized by the drops of shimmering light that fell onto my sleeve and sat atop the fabric like golden beads.
“What now?” I asked. Devil just held my face and leaned his forehead against mine for a moment, then pulled me into a fervent kiss.
The flow of magyk was instantaneous. I gasped as it rushed through me, the first rays of dawn in my veins—like cool autumn weather after months of wicked summer heat, or a cup of mulled wine after coming in from a blizzard. It was the same feeling I got while eating honeyed almonds, or singing to myself in the Abbey gardens, or when I danced. When I danced withhim.
It was completely overwhelming, but not like the power Oberon had pulled out of me. My Shadowspinning had come on in flurries of righteous anger, desperate need for withdrawal, or a thirst for something I could never quite quench. But Lightweaving was joy—pure and undiluted. It was curiosity and friendliness and mischief, bouncing around inside me with reckless abandon, and there was a fire beneath it too. Something sweet and intimate that scorched through my belly, drawing me closer to him.
Devil’s breaths quickened and I opened my eyes to see that his were wide with shock. He shuddered, stumbled backwards, and clutched at his chest. Wheezing,face contorted, wings splayed, he fell onto the bed and pulled me down with him. Panic rose in my throat when his body went limp and his eyelids drooped shut.
“Devil! No, no, no!” I tried to pull him up, but his head just lolled to the side. “Devil, please wake up!” Close to tears, I wrapped my arms around his back and heaved him up into a sitting position, letting his head fall onto my shoulder. But then I felt his mouth on my neck, and his hands on my waist.
“You humans are such gullible creatures,” he said with a muffled laugh.
“Oh, you sick bastard!” I tried and failed to push him away. “You think I’ll heal you now?” We fell sideways onto the bed, facing one another, and he brushed hair away from my face.
“I think you just might,” he murmured, leaning in to kiss me. His wing folded around us like a blanket, and my fingers brushed over his jaw, where I could still feel the long gash. I pulled away to examine it. The glowing light beneath was gone, and without thinking, I released a small amount of healing magyk. The skin immediately began knitting itself back together, forming a jagged, pink line that would eventually become a faint scar.
“It worked,” I whispered, just as shocked as he seemed to be. “It actually worked! Here, hold still.” I placed both hands on his bare chest, closed my eyes, and poured my magyk out, sending it racing through his body. He put his hands over mine, breathing deeply while I worked to stitch up every wound he’d suffered in Locksley’s defense. I did not have the strength to fully close them all, but at least I could cover them with skin or scab to ward off infection. When I finally pulled my threads of magyk back, everything went still between us, save for our ragged breaths. He was watching me with a look of awe, and pulled one of my hands across his chest.
“Do you feel it?” he asked. The erratic thrum of power that had once kept him alive was gone, and in its place was a heartbeat—measured and steady, if a little quick.
“You have a heart,” I breathed. “Perhaps now you will not be such a gods-damned menace.”
“Even you cannot cure me of that particular malady.” We both stood, smiling and laughing, but I found I couldn’t stop. The sound peeled from me like a chorus of bells, shaking my entire body. Devil watched for a moment, still grinning himself, then dipped down and wrapped his arms around my thighs. I did not fully understand the loud rushing sound around us until we burst through the tree canopy into the clear light of the full moon. His powerful wings carried us upward, arms tightening around me when I seized his shoulders.
“What are you doing?” I cried.
“Keeping that smile on your face!”
There were only a few moments of unsteadiness and fear, but then I stretched my arms out and dropped my head back, letting the wind flow over my skin as we rose higher and higher. When we reached a blisteringly cold apex, he slowed and tilted his wings, allowing the wind, and his magyk, to hold us aloft. My shadows and his fireflies appeared, swirling around us, faster and faster until they were only a blur. Then the channels of magyk burst outward like fireworks, creating a shower of sparks and dark droplets that fell in a gentle cascade over our skin.
“What was that?” I asked breathlessly, examining the small white freckles that appeared on my arms where the sparks had landed. They glowed faintly, much like the snake-scale patterns on his skin.
“Look behind you,” Devil murmured. Pulling my hair aside, I glanced over my shoulder and was met with a wall of iridescent green. At the same moment, a searing heat shot across my shoulders and down my back. I hissed, beginning to panic…until I realized what was happening.
“Wings,” I whispered, twisting my body to try and see them. “I have wings!”
No sooner had a joyful scream left my mouth than I dropped. He had let go, and I was plummeting back toward the trees.
