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Claire bit down on her lip hard, the pain helping to focus her as she reached for their bonds. She didn’t want to hurt them with the overload of magic but she was going to bury all of them in this mountain if she couldn’t get it under control.
Like she had done with Puck’s bond, she started layering their bonds over her out of control swirling mass of magic in her center. She wove the bonds over the fraying bindings like a net. With each pass, she yanked more and more magic back into the center and under her control. She found she was able to use Puck’s bond despite the familiar not being physically close and used his bond as another layer.
Finally, Claire was able to pull all of her wayward magic back and the ground stopped shaking. Her entire body, however, shook from the effort and Malcolm caught her in his arms as she pitched forward. He scooted them so his back pressed against the side of the tunnel and pulled her onto his lap. She sank into him, just enjoying the feeling of being in his arms as her body recovered.
Chunks of rock littered the tunnel and Claire closed her eyes. She had been so unprepared for losing control like that. One flash of Everett’s pain and she was ready to level a mountain with them all in it. That could not happen again. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she accidentally hurt someone. By the Realm, she might have already hurt someone with this loss of control. No, that could not happen again. She was not going to use her magic anymore. Not till she could develop an ironclad control over it.
When her breathing settled and her muscles stopped shaking, she heaved out a sigh. Malcolm pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, his unwavering presence providing more comfort than he could know.
“Are you okay?” Malcolm asked softly.
“Not really,” Claire answered honestly. It had been terrifying to lose control like that.
“Do we need to stop the exercise?”
Claire shook her head. She didn’t want to even if part of her was tempted. She had to figure this out. She could no longer rely on her magic with it out of control so she was going to need to learn how to rescue her men without it.
“There’s no fault in stopping.”
“I know.” Claire took a deep breath. “But I want to see this training exercise to the end. I just won’t use my magic again.”
Malcolm frowned. “Why?”
Claire’s eyebrows furrowed as she tipped her head back to look at him. Did he not recall the mountain shaking around them just a few minutes ago? What did he mean, why?
He smiled at the confusion in her expression. “You can’t run from your magic. It’s a part of you. A part of you that you need to use.”
“I can’t use it if I can’t control it.” By the Realm, she had almost buried them all alive.
“You can. You were just caught off guard. Use our bonds to ground it but you need to use it to find Desmond and Everett. This place is a maze of tunnels but you can use your magic to map it.”
“But…” Claire trailed off. Her magic was contained now with their bonds grounding it but what if it broke free again?
“We will always be here to ground you,” Malcolm said. “But you can’t be afraid to use your magic. It will definitely overwhelm you that way. You need to wield it, not let it wield you.”
Easier said than done, Claire thought but Malcolm had a point. Even if she hated that he did. Everything he was saying was in line with everything she had learned about magic but the idea of letting it out still filled her with panic.
Her magic danced softly in her center drawing her attention and Claire let herself sink into focus there. She just needed to make sure her magic stayed under control. Layering the bonds over it with her Triad and Puck should help. She should probably double-layer them just to be safe before any magic use.
“I’ll try,” she sighed while Malcolm helped her to her feet. He didn’t let go of her hands as she sank into her center and observed her magic, now tightly bound with her Triad’s bonds as well. She spent more time than she usually did checking to make sure the bonds were secure. As she observed the woven layers, something about the pattern sparked an idea in her brain. Malcolm had said that this place was a maze of tunnels but Claire could use her magic to map it. Surely that would be a lot easier than blindly following tunnel after tunnel trying to find the other two.
She carefully unwound some of the layers of bonds over her magic and called it up into her hands. She formed an intention, making sure she had every detail laid out so her magic didn’t take advantage. She wanted the magic to go out into the mountain and find Desmond and Everett. Once the magic had located them, it would need to map out a path back through the tunnels to where Claire and Malcolm stood.
She slowly let the magic out and it danced away, sinking out around them into the rock. She fed more and more magic out as the range increased. It was slow work as she didn’t want to let out too much magic but Claire was patient. After a few moments, her magic pinged. It had located Everett and Desmond. She called the rest of the magic back and sent it towards their location, looking for the tunnels that would lead them to her mates. Claire fought to not think about Everett being injured, knowing her magic would respond forcefully and instead kept her focus on the intention.
Her magic flooded the tunnels around Everett and Desmond, mapping out a path back and leaving a faint shimmering thread of magic to follow. Once it had the path forward, the magic returned to Claire’s center and she was able to feel the thread it had left to guide them.
“This way,” she said, pushing further into the tunnel.
Malcolm didn’t say anything but she felt his pride down their bond as he placed a hand on her back to steady her.
With the thread of magic to follow, Claire and Malcolm easily made their way towards the others. Claire wanted to kick herself for not doing this sooner but she knew she wouldn’t have thought about this when she entered the tunnels. She had been too focused on losing control of her magic to utilize it like this. Now that she had the bonds to ground her though, her magic came and went much easier. She would still have to test it though.
Within ten minutes of following the path Claire’s magic had laid out, they found the cave where Everett and Desmond were being held. Malcolm and Claire paused around the corner as Claire sensed five dragon warriors guarding her mates. Malcolm went to raise his sword but Claire placed a hand on his arm to stop him. She wanted to test her magic and she had the opportunity to do that now.
She let her magic out into the cave, forming her intention and waiting until it gathered around the five warriors.Sleep, she pushed out forcefully. Five thuds echoed in the cave along with Desmond’s “Holy shit!”
Claire moved anxiously around Malcolm, desperate to see her missing mates. Even though it had only been a few hours since they had been separated, relief still filled her when she finally laid eyes on them. They had their hands bound behind their backs as they sat in the middle of the cave. She ignored the five warriors laying on the ground as she ran to them. Other than Everett’s bloody lip, they looked unharmed.
