‘Okay, I’m ready. I think,’Zilon said.
“Okay,” I said out loud, so that Faustus knew we were going to begin.
This time, I let the tingles build up, and then I directed it all at Zilon. Zilon’s dragon body stiffened for a moment as he took in a breath, though not as deeply as before. That breath still enough to visibly expand his massive chest. Then, he lifted his head and blew out fire. Usually, it felt like the tingles whooshed through our bond, but this time, it merely trickled.
Yet, Zilon’s fire was just as effective and strong as the other times.
“Excellent! This is what I am talking about.” Faustus seemed way too excited as he moved his hand from my head. “Rayna has a lot of power in her, and when she sends it to you, it’s in excess. You guys tend to take as much as you can, not only for what you need in the moment but to also save up for later. You cannot do that. You suck out her magic, and while she has plenty, eventually, Rayna will be depleted if you continue to abuse her like that. Do you understand?”
‘So, we take what we need, and Rayna will be safe,’Philit said. ‘The Fae isn’t that bad.’
‘You got to be fucking kidding me. Where is the proof behind all these theories?’Landers asked, his patience finally running out.
‘If it means we can be stronger as a unit to survive, I don’t care,’Zilon said. ‘If we can do this, we won’t have to worry about accidentally killing Rayna.’
Philit responded a bit icily. ‘We would never do that to her. She’s our mate.’
‘You don’t know that. Even if it took years, apparently the way we have been treating her meant there would have come a day we’d all have to face the consequences of doing this wrong, even if we hadn’t done it on purpose.’Zilon’s words felt all too real at the moment.
‘His theories do make sense,’Philit said.
‘We’ll figure this out,’I added in. ‘Then, no one will be able to use us ever again.’
‘But learning this shit from these Fae bastards. This is fucked up,’Landers said.
‘Even so, let’s keep learning,’I said. ‘I don’t want to be in a position where I can’t do anything while you guys are having your wings bound. I want us to be free.’
That seemed to calm Landers down, and the other two fell silent too. We were all feeling it at this point: the exhaustion of being used, bound, and controlled.
We had a chance to change that now, even if it meant learning from a Fae.
“If you’re done chatting, shall we continue? This time with Landers.”
Zilon sent Landers some tips on how to build the imaginary dam. Then, we had him do it, except it wasn’t gentle like with Zilon. My magic was ripped out of me like all the earlier attempts.
‘Fuck!’Landers cursed.
‘It’s fine,’I said.
‘This shit isn’t fine,’ Landers said.
‘We’ll figure it out,’Zilon said. ‘It’ll take practice to understand, but once you get it, it’ll be easier.’
“Philit next,” Faustus said, not sounding too happy.
It ended up taking two tries with Philit for him to do it, but he was able to figure out the trick. Unfortunately, we were on attempt number four with Lander’s, and he still wasn’t getting it. In fact, he more frustrated he got, the more he drew from me with each attempt.
On the fifth attempt, it actually hurt, and I cried out, dropping to my knees.
‘Rayna!’
Voices echoed in my head, but it took a moment for me to process what they were sending me.
‘I can’t do this. I’m going to get you killed. Fuck. This is so fucking ridiculous.’The air around us blew around as Landers flapped his wings.
‘Wait, stay!’
But he was already in the air taking off. I gaped after him as he disappeared into the distance, his frustration and worry curling in my stomach and settling heavily on my consciousness.