An even stronger pull came from deep inside my belly, and when my magic sparked at my fingertips, I let out a strangled whimper. Brenton’s hand went to my stomach, his other hand cupping my cheek.
“I’m here with you, Lolli,” he said quietly. “I put up a protective barrier around Solana and us. If she’s wrong, your magic won’t harm the others. But she’s not wrong, Lolli.” He took my hand to hold against his chest. “I feel it in here. There’s more to your magic. Let her show you.”
I shook my head, still fighting against Willow’s incessant request. “What if I hurt you?”
“Your magic won’t hurt me,” he said. “It never has, even before your training. I’m safe with you.”
He was right. Even before I’d learned how to control it, my magic had never struck him.
“Willow and Solana?” My voice wobbled with the weight of what he was asking of me.
“This is Willow’s decision with Kassidy’s approval,” he said. “You are not responsible for their choices.”
My bottom lip wobbled.
“Let go, Lolli.”
His hazel eyes centered me, so steady in the storm of my doubt. They weren’t demanding or teasing, but certain. Sure in me and in the magic I despised.
I wanted to laugh or scream. Let go? Did he know what he was asking of me?
Yet his hand waited, palm out and inviting. I slid my fingers through his, grasping him like the tether I needed at that moment.
I shuddered out a breath, the threads of my magic coiled tight around my veins. Willow’s presence tugged again.
Brenton’s thumb grazed across my knuckles, his eyes never leaving mine.
So I let go. I didn’t surrender control but opened myself enough for Willow to weave her own binding through my magic. The dark pulse of my magic spilled out. I squeezed Brenton’s hand, for once not caging any part of myself in.
The magic surged. Stronger, faster. My primal instincts rose with it, panic gripping me with the need to seize it back.
“I’ve got you, Lolli, always.” Brenton’s voice came steady, his gaze never wavering. “But you’ve got this, too.”
I sucked in his words with a greedy breath. He didn’t offer to be my shield, but he reminded me that he believed in me.
So I opened myself wider. Willow wove the red threads of my magic, her binding making it glow in the darkened cavern as if it were something alive and fierce. A pulse of it went through Solana’s massive body, sinking below the dulled scales.
The draga’s body shuddered, the first movement she’d made since our arrival. Then her labored breaths eased. It was subtle, but Willow’s attention flickered to mine, tears clinging to her lashes as she continued to work my magic through Solana.
My chest tightened as I witnessed the impossible.
Death’s hold withdrew to give way to life.
Still, my magic wasn’t gentle. It hissed and lashed, yet Willow kept it grounded, while Brenton grounded me. His presence was comfort and freedom, all at once. It was holding me steady while never holding me back.
As I watched, Solana’s scales shed their dullness, making way for bright scales that shimmered as embers fanned to life. Her massive muscles twitched, a ripple running down her spine in a shiver that overtook her. The cavern air shifted along with her, carrying the scent of smoke and earth where it had once felt stagnant. Then her reptilian eyes fluttered open.
A sob caught in my throat, caught somewhere between relief and awe. My magic still burned through me, but for the first time, I didn’t fear it.
I let it flow.
The weight of the release lingered in my chest, neither heavy nor light. When Willow’s gaze settled on a nest of hatchlings, I understood her silent request.
I nodded to Brenton, giving his hand a gentle squeeze, and he dropped the protective barrier around us. Reluctantly, I followed Willow to the nest, fear wanting me to recoil when she dropped to her knees.
But Solana was awake. She was breathing easier. Healed. Because of me.
Brenton went to his knees with me, his hand and support remaining constant.
