Page 24 of The Immortal Covenant

“See?” Sarilian murmured, brushing his lips over Malorg’s ear. “Good as new.”

A shiver raced down Malorg’s spine. Tentatively, he raised his arms to return the hug. “Good.”

Sarilian shifted against him. “You know, I’m surprised that infusion of duskflame you gave me worked as well as it did. It’s already fading, but while it lasted, I felt ready to take on a Light-blinded void lord all by myself.”

“Perhaps you should wait until you have a few more battles under your belt,” Malorg said with a spike of alarm.

Sarilian chuckled. His hand rubbed soothing circles of heat into Malorg’s back. “Not to worry—the weakened one I faced during my first battle was quite enough for now. Still, I’m intrigued by the potential. Even a brief enhancement to bolster an Immortal’s natural defenses might mean the difference between life or death in a particularly dangerous situation.”

Malorg grunted in agreement. At the moment, however, he was more interested in Sarilian’s nearness than in discussing hypotheses concerning their combined magic.

Movement caught Malorg’s attention from the corner of his eye, and he broke away from Sarilian, turning to look.The last voidspawn.Bereft of the rest of its brood, it had resettled into a tangle of branches in a vain attempt to conceal itself. As if Malorg would allow anything that dared hurt Sarilian to escape. Baring his teeth, he forged a duskflame dagger and took aim.

“Wait!” Sarilian rested a restraining hand on Malorg’s arm. “Allow me.”

Malorg opened his mouth to protest but reconsidered when Sarilian narrowed his eyes. “Fine,” he grumbled. “But just so you know, you have nothing to prove. Not to me.”

Even with his Infernal disguise in place, Sarilian’s answering smile sent jolts of electricity rippling across Malorg’s skin. “Thanks. For the record, neither do you. Although I must admit it was incredible watching you in your element. The way you moved with such deadly grace…”

Sarilian bit his lip, a spark of gold smoldering beneath his obscured eyes. The static charge sizzling Malorg’s skin burrowed straight to his core. He cleared his throat and directed his gaze back to the last voidspawn. “If you’re going to kill it, get on with it then.”

“Right. Of course.” Flickering dawnflame gathered around Sarilian as he fell into a crouch, a new spear coalescing in his grip. “There’s something I’ve wanted to try ever since my first battle. I’m not sure how well it’ll work in the Dusklands though, so I wouldn’t say no to a little boost.”

Frowning, Malorg studied Sarilian’s nascent spell. “What is it?”

A smirk curled Sarilian’s lips. “You’ll see.”

Malorg scowled, continuing his examination another beat before giving up. Whatever Sarilian was planning, the magic was too different from Malorg’s for him to decipher. Still, he didn’t need to know the spell’s purpose to align his duskflame with the dawnflame.

As soon as he had, Sarilian shoved off the ground and launched himself into the air. Surprise flickered through Malorg when the rough outlines of wings sprouted from Sarilian’s back, blazing with a penumbra of gray and gold light. The magicseemed to amplify the Celestial’s leap so that it carried him in an impressive arc toward the hidden voidspawn.

Once it realized it had been spotted, the creature attempted to flee, but Sarilian lashed out with his spear. His whoop of victory at impaling the voidspawn transformed into a startled shout when his crude wings abruptly evaporated, sending him spiraling downward.

Concern rippling through him, Malorg rushed to where Sarilian had crashed to the ground only to find the grinning Celestial already bounding to his feet. “Did you see that? I got the idea from watching Darius, the Aspect of Justice. It’ll be alongtime before I can sustain the spell like he can, but with some practice, I bet I can manage at least a controlled jump!”

Malorg shook his head, exasperation mixing with fondness at Sarilian’s misguided enthusiasm. “No regular Immortal can hope to match the power of an Aspect, Sarilian.”

Seeming suddenly self-conscious, Sarilian kicked at the gray kaleidoscope of lines spiraling along the forest floor. Malorg’s heart sank. He hadn’t meant to dampen the Celestial’s good mood. As if he needed any more evidence that this relationship was a bad idea.

“You’re right.” Sarilian fixed Malorg with a determined gaze as he set his jaw. “Which is why I intend to become an Aspect myself someday. I’ve seen how the other Celestials look up to Darius. He’s more than a commander to them. His mere presence is enough to bolster their hope and embolden their spirits. I want to inspire Immortals and mortals alike as he does—to put myself in a position where I can accomplish the greatest good.”

Each impassioned word Sarilian spoke drove another razor-thin spike into Malorg’s chest. He had watched the pursuit of power corrupt his once-friend Pelorak until, by the time Pelorakearned a seat on the Dusk Council as the Aspect of Ambition, little remained of who he’d once been.

From Malorg’s limited experiences with the Dawn Council, they were little better. If Sarilian followed a similar path to ascend, how much ofhisnoble aspirations would endure?

Squashing his churning unease, Malorg offered a nod along with a noncommittal shrug. He would not be the one to disabuse Sarilian of his folly—not yet, at any rate. Council seats rarely changed hands. He’d have decades, perhaps centuries, to help Sarilian see wisdom.

Assuming you’re still speaking to one another a month from now, let alone years.

“Whatever you think is best,” Malorg forced out. “Are you ready to bring this hunting trip to a close?”

Sarilian’s eyes widened. “But we’ve barely even begun! There are still so many joint spells I’d like to try, from a blinding light to—”

“I think we’ve experimented enough for one day.”

“All right, no more experiments. But that doesn’t mean we can’t slaughter a few more voidspawn for good measure.” When Malorg hesitated, Sarilian made a show of begging, complete with puppy dog eyes, quivering lips, and excessive sniffling. “Pleeease. Don’t you want to spend more time together while we can?”

Malorg scowled.Way to fight dirty.“Fine.But,”he added in response to Sarilian’s immediate grin, “only if we shift our hunt to the Dawnlands.”

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