“Use that adrenaline magic you used on the warriors in the battle at Aes Suri,” Ciaran urged me while the world continued to heave around us.
The last thing I wanted to do was hurt Sage anymore, and I was anxious about jolting him out of a deep sleep. But we needed his active participation. I knew Nuala did not have Rian’s magical stamina, and she would not be able to keep up her strength for much longer.
“Can you hear me, Sage?” I breathed as I threaded my fingers through his and allowed a trickle of magic to flow into him. The only reason I had not yet pumped healing power into his body was because I needed to conserve my strength for what came next.
I clasped our bleeding palms together more firmly with both of my hands and then leaned over him.
You need to wake up now, my love,I whispered down the bond that felt uncomfortably lonely as if he was no longer on the other side. He still did not stir, so I relented in my panic and pushed a sudden jolt of power into him that pulsed through all of his limbs.
I could no longer see his face behind the bone mask. And yet I still felt it when his eyes flew open and snapped onto me as hisbody very nearly bolted straight upright. Our bond flared to life and brought tears to my eyes.
“Summer,” he rasped, recognizing me even behind his skull mask that covered my face. His voice was so rough, and I just knew that it was from fucking screaming.
“I am here! We are all here. I am so sorry for how long it has taken me to come—”
“We need to initiate herright now,” Ciaran broke in, grabbing Sage’s arm to garner his attention.
Sage’s chest heaved as he eased down onto the floor, his limbs heavy with exhaustion as he turned his covered face toward the commotion. He seemed to tilt his head in confusion at the sight of Nuala wielding Rian’s power, but then he turned his face back toward me. I heard him groan in bone-deep pain as he lifted his other arm to reach for me so we were both clasping our bleeding palms.
“I give you my blood, my magic,” he began speaking the rite that Rian had taught me in Sìth Gaeilge. His voice trembled with so much exhaustion that it made me irate. “And I take yours in return so that our essences may be bound to one another now until death,” he finished.
I winced in sympathy when he uttered a growl of pain. It seemed to take an immense effort for him to push just a small drop of his essence into me through the blood that was mingling between our palms. And I understood why once it fused with me, and I felt the rawness of where some integral pieces of him were stripped away.
My teeth clenched so hard they creaked as I struggled to contain therage.
With his magic in me and heightening our connection even more, I suddenly understood exactly why the Sylvan had agreed to my deal. Because although his essence was bruised and battered from the efforts to pull his Light magic from him like a weed, the elves had not been able to fully remove it. Not when it was still rooted inmetoo. So when they spoke about Sageresisting all their efforts, what they meant was that he had managed to shield our bond from them. If not for his unwavering determination to protect me from them, I might also have been subjected to the torture of having his Light carved out. I could see it now as an echo of memory in his blood.
Which only fuelled my determination to find a way to make thempayfor this.
Ciaran had told me that blood bonds could be painful, but binding my magic, my very essence, to my mate was anything but uncomfortable. I supposed that was because we wereanam, and we were already naturally entwined. The heat of his Autumn fire magic seemed to grow roots in me that spread through my veins until they had fully fused with every ounce of my Summer power. And it was all I could do to keep my lips pressed closed against a gasp of ecstasy. The intensity of his magic fusing with mine burst through my pores in spurts of flames. It was so overwhelming that I barely remembered to speak the words back to him and push some of my own essence into him as well. And I watched in awe when his head tilted back in the same ecstasy I’d just felt. The flames around our hands went white and began to bloom like flowers up both of our arms.
I had not realized that I was crying until I felt the tear trickle over my lower lashes and roll down my cheek under my mask.
And then Ciaran unceremoniously wrenched our hands apart, making me snarl at him for the interruption before he replaced Sage’s hand with his own. He quickly recited the rite to me, reminding me that we were short on time, so I obliged him by repeating it back to him.
His magic was foreign, as if it did not belong with me, so this bond was painful to form. It felt like some strange combination of fire crackling sharp and hot in my veins while shadows entwined with it like threads of cool silk. Our magic fused despite the discomfort, but instead of the fiery flowers I produced with Sage, the bond with Ciaran manifested in shadowy vines that curled up our arms.
“Hurry!” Nuala cried as Darragh took Ciaran’s place right next to me. I was glad of the break while I tried to breathe through the aching pulse of so much new and raw magic in my body.
Rian and Ciaran turned from us for a moment to help Nuala push the elves back again, and it was shocking to see Ciaran using my power. I couldfeelhim using it as intuitively as I had when he strengthened my Light shield.
The Sylvanscreamedout their fury at him for using what they perceived to be theirs alone.
Darragh waited next to me until I nodded that I was ready to continue. Our hands clasped together, and then Darragh’s magic began surging into me none too gently. Even though I sensed that he was trying his best to make it less abrasive. It was like a storm of arctic air that froze me from the inside out, making me feel so brittle on the inside that one solid knock could shatter me.
I hissed through my gritted teeth, watching impatiently as frosted leaves grew between our palms and enveloped both of our hands. I glanced up at him, but if Darragh reacted to the pain then I could not see it under his mask.
As soon as we were done, Darragh went to join Ciaran to help Nuala. And then Rian returned to kneeling on the other side of Sage who I could feel watching me.
Forging this bond will hurt more than with the others,my mate warned me mentally, and I closed my eyes to relish the feeling of him so clear in my mind. I could feel that he wanted to reach out and offer me comfort, but his body ached too badly to move anymore.There is a good reason Rian keeps his magic away from the rest of us.
I expected that,I assured him with an internal sigh as the Autumn Prince held out his bleeding hand to me.
Once I was able to work up the nerve, I threaded my fingers through his to press our palms together. I ignored the way the air was vibrating, the light writhing erratically around us while theothers continued to battle the elves. And I stared determinedly into the empty eye sockets of Rian’s helmet. His voice came out in a rough rasp that was enhanced by the magic of the Wild Hunt.
“I give you my blood, my magic. And I take yours in return so that our essences may be bound until death,” recited the Autumn Prince.
And then he pushed his essence into me with as much care as Darragh had tried to use. Only there was no way to gentle the feeling of a merciless tidal wave of darkness laced with fire as it swept through me. No way to ignore how his magic bit and scratched as it tried to consume me from the inside. No way not to feel fear at the sensation of a pull when it stole a sip of me before Rian reasserted his complete control over it again.
