Tezurit’s snarl echoes through the thunder.I can’t. You need to run. I’m going to kill you.
The distress lancing through the bond is almost more than Lucien can bear. “It’ll be okay. Whatever happens, it’s okay.”
It’s not okay!Tezurit snaps.Fucking move!
Lucien slides out of the way before Tezurit shatters the pillar hiding him. Fuck. Fear breaks through his determination. Lucien shoves it aside. He can’t be afraid of what might happen. All that matters is what he’s facing, and what he can do about it.
He could beat Imrik. But not with Tezurit turned against him, too.
Lucien lashes out his flames into a concealing billow of steam, then ducks behind a shattered piece of ceiling. Nearbymovement makes him flinch, but he holds back his magic just in time.
“Did she get Tezurit?” Kazia demands, breathless. He presses against Lucien’s body, against the jagged stone and metal.
Dismay cracks through Lucien’s entire body. Kazia can’t still be here. Lucien can’t let Kazia get hurt. “I told you to get out.”
Kazia doesn’t move. His hair is loose and tangled around his shoulders, his thin face smudged with dirt and ash. But his eyes are clearer than ever. “I was right. You need more power.”
Swearing, Lucien lobs a fireball across the room. Lightning cracks around a nearby pillar, and Lucien slumps back against the fallen ceiling. Sweat pours down his neck as he weaves flame into a sheltering wall. Hot and powerful and magic enough that it will hold off the lightning. It will hold off Tezurit.
But not for long.
“Get out,” Lucien rasps.
Pale as bone beneath dust, Kazia says, “Break my arm.”
“I can’t do that,” Lucien says, nauseous. He can’t become Imrik Dire. He can’t hurt Kazia for power.
Except he needs to save Kazia. And he needs to save himself, to put any of this right.
“I love you so much,” Kazia says, like it’s a threat. Like it hurts to admit. “Break my arm, or I’ll fucking kill you myself.”
The wall of fire falters, but the light in Kazia’s eyes remains true. Lucien swears and grabs Kazia’s left wrist.
And slams it into the jagged stone.
?
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Kazia
Molten power rips from Kazia’s soul. His strangled whimper is lost beneath the roaring flames. Lucien’s magic sinks into him like burning claws, dragging out pieces of him to fuel the inferno.
A sphere of empty air encircles them. Everything outside is smoke and flame. Lucien wraps around Kazia as the fire whistles past. “I’m sorry,” Lucien gasps into his hair. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
Kazia’s eyes sting with smoke and something more painful than simple hurt. His arm isn’t that bad. Just a normal fracture. He’s been hurt plenty of times before.
Just, nobody has ever apologized for it.
He trembles in Lucien’s grasp. The agonizing moment stretches on—then ends. There’s no more lightning, no more roaring flame. No more magic shredding into him. All that remains are Kazia’s throbbing arm and the minor scrapes and bruises of his rush to reach Lucien.
Kazia cradles his wrist close as Lucien strokes his hair.
“I’m never doing that again,” Lucien whispers.
“It was a one-time offer.” Kazia looks into Lucien’s red-rimmed eyes. “Is everything over?”
Lucien presses a kiss to his forehead. “Let’s double check.”
