Nox stepped forward and said what Kit didn’t. “What if your shadows leak out? What if the obsidian senses it within you, regardless of whether you’re actively wielding it or not? There are too many variables, too many unknowns.”
“And we don’t have many other choices!” Elyria threw herhands in the air.
“Why can’t we just merge power again?” The ground rumbled the instant the words left Cedric’s mouth. The flames lapping at the shore jumped at the mention, and Elyria swore it was as if the Sanctum was issuing its disapproval.
Cyren barked a wary laugh. “If we’re worried about her shadows and the obsidian, what exactly do you think will happen should she be primed with the rest of our magic? Or, worse, should any of us be offered the temptation of wielding hers?”
Kit frowned as she looked Gael over, taking in the blank expression on the flamecaller’s face. “I doubt we’d be able to get this one to willingly contribute, anyway. Let alone cast as necessary to activate the merge.”
“Well then. If everyone has said their piece, mind if I get on with it?” Elyria didn’t bother hiding her annoyance as she pivoted to face the fiery lake. They’d already wasted so much time arguing about this.
“I can help.”
She felt Cedric’s presence before she heard him. Turning her head to where he now stood beside her, her eyes darted to the token hanging from his neck. The green emerald embedded within it pulsed dully. “I think it’s better if you sit this one out. Save whatever human magic you have left for when you really need it.”
Squaring her shoulders, Elyria tried to block out the heat pressing in on her from the outside, as well as the doubts crawling through her insides. It was fine. This was fine. She was fine. She could do this.
“Thraigg, tell me the best places for me to pull from,” she said.
He nodded, his thick brow creasing as he knelt once more. “Aye. Right about”—he slapped his calloused palm against the ground—“here.” The dwarf stood, brushing rocky sand from his hands. “Best start pullin’, lass.”
35
HOT GIRL THINGS
ELYRIA
Elyria closedher eyes and raised her hands, letting her focus slip back into the ground at their feet. Further, deeper, cutting through fire and flame until she felt it—the obsidian that lay beneath.
She paused, sucking in a sharp breath.
“What? What is it?” Cedric’s voice sounded far away, but she could hear the concern in it.
She didn’t answer him. It didn’t feel like the rock and stone she was used to reaching for. It felt like a wall. A wall made up of thousands of steel bands. Keeping her out.
Making sure to keep her shadow tucked away, Elyria reached out with her wild magic. She searched. She prodded. She tried to pull the bands apart, to get through to the thread of magic that she knew mustlay within. Each band felt like a shard of ice against her own power—sharp and jagged, so cold it burned.
She dropped her hands.
Cracking her eyes open, she said, “I—I don’t know if I can reach it. It’s fighting me.” She took a single step closer to the edge of the lake, the heat licking at her like a taunt.
“Like outside the labyrinth?” Kit asked.
“No, not exactly. It’s more like...I don’t know how to describe it. Not so much tangled as...inaccessible? I can’t find a way in. I just need...” Elyria closed her eyes again. Tried, again.
She let out a frustrated huff. And then a hand was resting on her shoulder, a warmth seeping into her that felt so different from the boiling air around them. That familiar feeling in her chest throbbed, as if her body recognized his touch.
“Let me help,” Cedric murmured, his breath caressing the shell of her ear. “Just tell me what to do.”
A shudder trailed up her spine. Her fingers twitched. And her voice was barely more than a whisper when she said, “Okay.”
Elyria and Cedric drew a deep, synchronized breath. The warmth trailing through her intensified as he stepped squarely behind her, and thattuginside of her pulled her backward until she was leaning against his chest. He rested his other hand around her waist as she settled, and Elyria had to push aside the warring, conflicting thoughts that entered her mind.
Later, she thought.I’ll deal with that later.
“Follow the trail of my magic.” She didn’t know how much he would really be able to do, but she understood enough about human magic to know that the mana he wielded should be able to recognize her own, at the very least.
Cedric adjusted his hand on her shoulder to touch his token. His mouth moved against her hair, a silent spell on his lips. Elyria extended her senses once more, letting the wild beat of her magic hum in her veins. She followed it down, down, through the dancing flames. And this time, when she reached that steel-banded wall of obsidian, he was there too.
