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I nodded, putting a smile on my face that I only half felt. “I’m perfectly fine.”
Diora didn’t look convinced, but she was satisfied enough to take a few steps back—right into Namir’s arms. Her mate’s shadows slid around both of them, slithering slowly as if they had a mind of their own.
“Laith is going to give Espen his magic,” I told the group, my gaze lifting to Akari’s king’s. He was the oldest one; the one who had stayed the quietest through their torture, and never broken despite the hell they went through. Espen and Laith didn’t have an agreement or anything, but they did respect each other in their own ways, in the memories I’d seen.
“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Namir growled.
Hewas the one that Laith didn’t get along with, or respect. Namir was and had always been the playful one, and my king envied the easy life he felt his brother had been given, even though we both knew there was nothing easy about his childhood.
“You’ll see it, brother,” Laith growled back.
The room was tense as my king closed his eyes, and immediately, his magic swelled around us.
The room darkened, and his grip on me tightened.
His portion of the throne’s magic was leaving him, slowly being stripped bit by painful bit and piece by awful piece. Its removal was fucking torture for Laith, and his grip on me grew painfully tight.
Wanting to give him as much relief as I could, I turned in his arms, wrapping them around his neck and pressing my chest to his. He held me tightly, and the magic grew thicker and thicker until I could hardly breathe.
The final pieces of darkness were removed from Laith’s body, and he sagged against me. I pinned him to the wall, holding us both up at the same time.
A long, tense moment passed, and then another did too. Laith’s forehead was pressed against mine, and the man was struggling just to stay conscious. I wished there was something more I could do for him, but his grip on my waist told me I was doing everything I could.
“Fuck,” Espen finally said from behind us. “Your magic is shit, Laith.”
“We agree on that,” my king growled back.
It took more energy than he would’ve confessed for the words to come out sounding strong.
Laith wasn’t going to admit to his weakness, but he needed to rest. If we stayed with his brothers while he was so weak, his worry about their hatred would kick in and he would grow paranoid and agitated.
It was time to lie again.
“We’ll need to mate now, so his magic can belong to both of us.” My voice was firm and determined, and I looked to Akari because she was mated to the guy who was now sort of in charge. “Do you have a room we can take?”
“Of course. Any one on this floor.” She nodded toward the door.
“Thank you.” I gave her the biggest smile I could manage—it wasn’t large—before I slid an arm around Laith’s waist and we slowly made our way out of the room. We didn’t make it very far down the hallway before Laith’s legs nearly gave out, and then I threw open the door to the nearest room, and very nearly dragged the massive man inside.
It closed hard behind us, my chest rising and falling quickly as I gave one last heave. We both stumbled all the way to the bed, and collapsed onto it together.
“Fuck,” Laith groaned.
“Fuck,” I agreed.
“Let me hold you.” His voice was so very exhausted that I didn’t even consider arguing.
He was sprawled over the mattress diagonally, so I crawled to the side a little, grabbing the edge of the blanket, before climbing up his chest. His gigantic arms wrapped around me as I pulled the blanket over our lower-halves, sandwiching as much of our bodies as I could manage.
He was asleep before I’d even finished settling the blanket over us, and I leaned my forehead against his chin, letting out a slow sigh of relief.
It was done.
We had survived the magic transfer.
Now…
Now, we just had to cross the world.
