“Yes.” Reeve spoke through gritted teeth, fighting hard against the ellixen searing through Viri.
But then she realized, he wasn’t fighting it at all.
He was absorbing it.
Stealing it.
Siphoningit.
A gasp left Viri as the burning eased a fraction and the veins in Reeve’s arms began to change color, right before her eyes—something Viri shouldn’t have been able to see, not without a hunter’s mark. They didn’t turn the inky black of reapers, though; instead, silver streaks shot along his tanned skin and disappeared beneath his dark sleeves. But that was all Viri saw before her inner flames raged to new, excruciating heights, as if the obelisk realized what Reeve was doing and was angry about it. If he siphoned her magic away, then the obsidian stone would lose its grip on her—it would have to let her go.
But by the same argument, if he siphoned her magic away, then—then—
Viri didn’t have a chance to finish her thought, the inferno blazing so fiercely that it was all she felt, all sheknew, and her body simply couldn’t handle the pain anymore.
The last thing she saw before her eyes rolled to the back of her head was Braedan’s terror and Reeve’s determination, the two of them yelling her name, begging her to stay with them.
But she couldn’t.
Because everything turned black.
“You could have killed her! Youdidkill her! What were youthinking?”
“Calm down, Brae. Look—she’s breathing. She’s going to be fine.”
Viri began to rouse, the familiar voices of her brother and Reeve blurring around her.
“She might be breathingnow, but she wasn’t a minute ago!” Braedan sounded furious—and scared.
“Now is all that matters,” Reeve said in a firm tone. “And keep your voice down—she’s going to be in enough shock as it is when she wakes up. She doesn’t need to know what happened.”
“Whatdidhappen?” Braedan demanded. “How is she alive?”
There were arms around Viri—arms that tightened protectively when Reeve answered, the closeness of his voice revealing he was the one holding her. But unconsciousness tugged her back before she could hear what he said, muffling his murmured words, her clarity returning only as he finished, “You know I would die before I let anything happen to her.”
Braedan sighed shakily, his rage having fled at whatever Reeve had told him. “I can’t believe you did that. But I’m—I’m so glad you did. The obelisk was about to rip her apart. And our—our parents—” A choked sound lefthim.
His grief managed to finally pull Viri awake, her own horror returning as she sat up in Reeve’s lap and groggily looked around, seeing the once-perfect grass now charred and the angelrose hedge no longer glowing, but lifeless—just like her mom and dad, who lay mere feet away.
It wasn’t a nightmare, then. It had been real.
But the pain was gone—the burning was gone. And she was no longer trapped against the obelisk, which stood innocently in the center of the scorched grass, as if it hadn’t just shattered her life.
Tears started pouring from Viri’s eyes, tears of shock, of fear, of anguish. Her parents were dead. The obelisk had tried to kill her. Reeve had broken the law and siphoned from her to save her life—and if what she’d heard was true, she’d died in the process, even if she was somehow alive again. It was too much—everything wastoo much—
Her shuddering sobs became so violent that Reeve drew her closer and Braedan’s arms encircled them both, all three of them weeping as they held onto each other. Viri tried to tell them she was sorry, the words tumbling out in blubbering howls, but they kept shushing her, saying it wasn’t her fault, that they didn’t blame her, that they would get through this together. Their strength was the only thing that kept her from falling apart, the knowledge that, while she might have to face a future without her parents, at least Braedan and Reeve would be with her. They had each other, and they always would.
“Oh dear, it looks as if I missed all the excitement.”
The silky, dark voice slid over Viri like oil, causing the hairs on her arms to stand on end. Braedan and Reeve pulled back, scrubbing their cheeks as they stared up at the cloaked figure who had appeared through the dead angelrose hedge. Viri’s tears continued to fall silently, though her sobs had quieted, if only because all her energy was gone, leaving her exhausted and numb. It was better than her grief, though she knew that would return soon enough.
“Who—Who are you?” Braedan asked, standing to his feet and holding his hand out to pull Viri up. He didn’t let her go, his fingers gripping hers firmly as Reeve rose on her other side, moving near enough to brush shoulders.
“Can you h-help us?” Viri asked the newcomer, her voice hoarse from crying. “Our p-parents—The o-obelisk—”
A hiccup left her, but she swallowed it back.
The cloaked figure made atsking noise. His voice was deep and masculine, but his features were hidden by a hood that created unusual shadows covering his face. “It’s tragic, to lose one’s parents so young.” Hetsked again. “But they knew better than to meddle with magic they didn’t understand. What happened here was their own doing—in more ways than you can imagine.”
