But I understand what he means. I can sense it, too: He can carry my power. He can wield it, if only I let him have it.
Can I make that choice, to give up a piece of myself? Can I truly trust him with it?
Yes, my soul screams in return.
“Have it,” I think.
His mouth is my mouth as he breathes in the shadows. I’m intensely aware of the rub of his fingers together; it’s like a featherlight touch on my own hand. The touch of his long eyelashes on his cheek are like a kiss on my skin.
I gasp. My body is alight with heat and pleasure.
And so is his.I’m in every inch of him. His muscles tightening, the flex of his hand on his sword. The hot desire that burns so bright it’s blinding.
He’s in me, too. Sensing the way my body responds. The tempest of need that whirls through me, dangerous as an ice storm.
Our link completes, our overlap total.
Dark power erupts between us.
The power flows through me and into him and back to me.
We no longer need words to communicate—we are bound so close together that his thoughts are my thoughts, his desires my desires.
I grasp on and align my mind with his.
Together wePUSH.
The world loses all sound and color. Time suspends.
And then with a resounding roar, darkness streams out from us in all directions.
The shadows spread and then bear down,down, in crushing pressure. Every Siphon in a hundred-foot radius of us is suddenly shrieking, their bodies slammed into the dirt.
The magic rushes on, stretching farther and farther. Reaching more and more of the enemy.
The unrelenting pressure pushes in on me, and on Stark, our minds intertwined. I grit my teeth and fist my hands and pushmore. All around me swirl the sounds of armor cracking and skulls smashing and screams cutting short.
I scream in pleasure and pain, the power and connection overwhelming.
Stark’s voice melds with mine.
And then together as one, we let go.
The power dissipates.
Light leeches back into the world.
I flutter my eyes, sight slowly returning to normal as our minds detach and we snap back into ourselves.
Everything near us has gone quiet. Deathly still.
I keel over on Anassa’s back as the last of the power leaves me and exhaustion floods in.
“What was that?” I mind-speak to Stark, the barriers between the four of us still fuzzy.“What the ever-loving fuckwasthat?”
His face is confused, wondering.“I… don’t know. That connection was… I don’t know.”We stare at each other.“And then, with your power, it came through me, and together, we could control it, tame it.”
My cheeks flush at that. There’s an echo of our connection, his skin burning hot, the swipe of his tongue across his lips. I shiver.
