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Her feet thumped into the rug at the same time her eyes lost their blinding glow and her hair fell back to her shoulders.
"Holy fuck," she rasped and reached for Ark, dragging him into a hug so tight it rearranged his white-hot bones.
He shook with her power, the magic zapping through him and making his fingers twitch as he embraced Maia, pressing her tight to him.Fuck, it hurt, like he’d swallowed a lightning storm, bolts punishing him everywhere.
"Back with us, my highness?" he asked, ignoring the rawness of his throat.
He was alive, and she was back with him, and that was all that mattered. She'd risked her life to follow him into that dead wasteland of the Levaen's; of course he'd do the same to bring her back from the pool of power she was drowning in. Of course he'd share the weight.
"I'm back," she rasped, dropping her head on his shoulder and breathing raggedly. "I ... I'm sorry. I didn't know it could feel like that. Magic."
"You took too much," Bryon said coarsely, drawing Maia's attention—and her ire. A shutter went down over the rawness in her expression and she glared.
"Did Iaskfor your opinion, old man?"
"Youneedmy opinion, little girl," he bit back. "What you did in there—" he stabbed his finger at the mirror— "was the most reckless shit I've ever seen. And I've seen Vawn fight."
The reminder of Vawn doused Maia's fiery temper and she nodded, subdued enough that Ark's heart grew heavy, even charged with the sharp energy of her magic. Life zapped and twisted through his bloodstream, firing every one of his nerves. His mate instincts decided on an outlet for that power before he'd even considered it logically.
"Back the fuck off," he growled at Bryon, letting more than a hint of fae growl into his words. "You say a single thing to upset her, and I'll rip your heart out of your chest and force you to eat it."
Silence fell, tinged with shock. Ark didn't take the words back.
Maia loosened her arms around him, but linked their fingers. "Is it bad that I'm really turned on by that?"
Azrail laughed loudly, drawing a chuckle from Kheir. Jaro watched silently, hovering a step behind everyone.
Ark just glared at Bryon, dissecting the man in his mind. He'd been forced to lead them to Calvo where he lost Vawn's trail—and he had, but here he was,stillalongside them. He'd jumped through a magical mirror that could have ledfuck knowswhere to follow Maia.
If he thought he could seduce Maia away from her mates, the man was delusional. If Ark knew one thing about his fierce, living mate it was that she was loyal.
Maia squeezed his fingers, looking up at him. "You okay, Arkie?"
"Fine, my highness," he promised, ducking his head to kiss her cheek. He'd be fine. He just needed to work this energy and magic out of his system. "Let's get out of here."
He’d walk it off on the way back to the Wyvern’s Rest.
"I—" Jaromir said in a small voice, swallowing when all their attention fell on him. "I found this upstairs. I think the soldier might have left in a hurry."
He held up a scarf with decidedly less dust on it than everything else, the fabric a deep blue check.
"I can ... I can use it to track him. In my jaguar form."
Ark squeezed Maia's hand, urging her to talk to Jaro. The halting way he spoke, as if he wasn't sure his words would be welcome, hurt for even Ark to hear and he barely knew the man.
"Maia?" Azrail asked, assessing her. "How do you feel? Need to go back to the inn?"
"I'm fine now," she promised, giving Ark a soft smile. "Are we going after the soldier, then?"
Azrail nodded, his expression hardening. "Someone who can work the mirror's level of magic and open a doorway to that realm isn't a simple soldier. He knows what's happening on the island we keep hearing of, and he knows why the villages are being destroyed."
"Andwhere Vawn is," Maia agreed. "So let's go find out what he knows."
