Page 94 of Gift from the Nexus

“Will you tell me what’s going on?” he asks.

“I promise to tell you everything, anything you want to know, once we get this down. I know this will work. Please, Lyker.”

Just the same as when he agreed as a child to have his memories taken from him, his eyes soften a smidge. It’s only enough for me to catch because I’m holding his gaze, but that one little shift makes it abundantly clear he’s made his decision.

“Fine.” He grunts and turns, heading straight for the ward.

“Everyone just stand right here. Give us a little bit of space,” I tell the group.

“You aren’t going up there, princess,” Corentin states firmly, catching my hand as I turn from them.

“I most certainly am, your highness. He needs me,” I say more tenderly, knowing that bossy-ass tone he just used on me is coming from a place of fear. Standing on my tippy-toes, I lay asweet kiss to his lips, then pull away. “Everything will be fine. I’ll be twenty feet from you.”

He’s reluctant to let me go, and I see the war raging in those calculating whiskey orbs of his. He’s running through every scenario, measuring the distance from himself to the ward and how fast they can get to me. With a reassuring squeeze to his hand, I pull away.

Lyker’s standing there, running his hand across the ward, getting a feel for it when I approach him. His nervousness, unease, and doubt come through clear, so I put my hand on the ward beside his.

“It’s going to be okay. Either it’ll work or it won’t, but you’ll be fine,” I whisper.

“You should go stand back with the others.”

“No can do. I’ll stand with you.”

He sighs, shaking his head like I’m the most frustrating person he’s ever encountered in his life, and in hindsight, I may very well be. He doesn’t argue or demand I go, though. Instead, he shifts his claw, slices his palm open, and takes a deep breath.

“Here goes nothing, fortune teller.”

I hold my breath. I don’t move, blink, or react in any kind of way. I stand as still as a statue, watching.

When his bloody fingers caress the ward, a slight tremor runs through it, shaking the ground enough we both wobble on our feet. The minuscule earthquake stops just as fast as it started and we both let out small, disappointed exhales.

“Well, shit,” he breathes, but I just can’t accept that.

Tears of rage and frustration burn the back of my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. It makes no sense. This was supposed to work. I knew it down to my soul his blood would get this ward down. My entire body heats with disappointment, and it gets hotter and hotter the more I try to force an answer to come to me. That and this forsaken fucking itch in my palm is going tomake me lose my ever-loving mind. Now is not the time to be dealing with some damn poison ivy or whatever that cave wall did to my hand.

My hand…

Looking down, my palm is red from my insistent scratching, and those tears of rage nearly burst out of me as tears of happiness when it clicks.

Elementra, please, for the love of this realm, let this be the answer. I’m over the mind games for the day.

“We need to do it together,” I whisper, shifting my finger into a claw.

“What?”

“We need to put our hands on the ward together.”

I could scream at him for looking at me like he’s about to tell me no, so before he has the chance, I slice my hand open and watch the red pool in the center.

“Now,” I order, raising my hand up.

He mutters out a quick “Shit,” and with me, lays his hand to the ward.

Like getting sucked up into the vortex of a tornado, our hands are forcefully tugged through the barrier until our entire arms are through to the other side. Neither of us can pull them free, and we look at each other, wide-eyed, as the ground beneath our feet begins to shake violently.

The others take a couple purposeful steps toward us, shouting our names. Looking at the clear worry written across their faces, they’re all about to attempt to come and help us. We both know it, and like it’s instinctual, together, we command our earth elements out, creating a safe barrier between them and us. There’s going to be hell to pay for that in just a minute, but for now, we know they’re okay.

Just as our wall goes up, the ward thunders. A loud, ear-splintering boom that could compete with the roar of Draken’sdragon. Accompanying it is another violent wave of power that ripples through the ground, splitting it open and knocking me off my feet. Lyker’s quick to snatch me back up, putting a death grip on my arm to hold me steady.

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