I love you, too,Aflora replied, her blue eyes momentarily meeting mine. But we’re escaping this place.
I know we are,I assured her. And when we do, I’ll confess my feelings out loud. Because I hadn’t said the words to her now out of fear; I knew we would make it out of here alive. The moment just felt right.
I pushed those emotions to her now, the certainty of our fate underlined in the love I felt.
She didn’t outwardly smile, but I sensed her responding joy.
Just as I sensed her tingle of uncertainty as Night led us to a bright white light. It blanketed the world in white, chasing away the darkness and leaving nothing behind.
“Kols?” she asked.
“We jump,” I told her as Night disappeared into the horizon.
“Okay.” She didn’t falter. She merely kept running, our hands still linked.
And we leapt into the core of the Dark Source’s power, the light blinding us both. Her palm disappeared from mine, but we woke up in the bed beside one another in the next breath. I inhaled sharply, looking at her and meeting her gaze.
Then the mattress shook beneath us as power ripped through the air.
Zakkai and Zeph were both on their feet, their wands in their hands as they fought an attack from outside. Fuck, I thought, trying to sit up and join them. But my body refused the movement. Aflora appeared to be having the same struggle beside me, both of us weakened by her first ascension trial.
You passed, I assured her. Six more to go.
She groaned in response. Then she closed her eyes and began murmuring enchantments that had my eyes widening. They were advanced incantations, ones I hadn’t taught her.
But a glance at Zakkai told me where she’d learned them—through their mating link. His silver-blue gaze fell to her, pride momentarily lightening his expression before he growled at the incoming attack from the outside.
The foundation rocked around us, knocking me into Aflora. Power blasted out of her, hitting the sides of the paradigm with a fortification charm that had my heart stopping in unadulterated awe.
Energy rippled down her arms, the Dark Source’s mark marring her pale skin with inky lines.
She finished the incantation on an exhale and the world fell silent.
Zakkai and Zeph immediately fell to the bed, their exhaustion evident.
Then Zakkai bit into his wrist and held it to Aflora’s mouth. “Drink,” he demanded.
Zeph followed suit, putting his wrist to my lips. “You too, little prince.”
I tried to snort at the nickname, but I could barely form the sound. So I latched onto his vein instead, sinking my incisors deep into his skin and taking my fill of his blood.
It only took a few pulls for life to thrive through my being, reinvigorating my reserves and drawing me firmly back into the present. The dreamlike filter over my eyes dissolved, allowing me to truly see the damage around the room.
Although, I wouldn’t exactly call it a room anymore.
Because there was no roof.
And the bed?
It was a mound of dirt overlaid with dead flower petals.
“What the fuck happened?” I asked as I released Zeph’s wrist.
“War,” Zakkai replied flatly. “A damn war.”