Page 194 of Of Nine So Bold

A moment slid past, and then suddenly, my awareness of Niko butted up against a strange sense of crystalline hardness.

My breath caught. In my mind’s eye, it was beautiful. Like quartz beneath moonlight. Yet beneath it was a wealth of emotion that stole my breath—loss and sorrow and confusion, but threaded through with traces of hope that maybe, justmaybe, this pain could still lead to something good. Something right in a future where those who came after could be safe.

This magic could protect us, yes. But it had been bought at a horrific cost, and not all those who paid had chosen freely to do so.

I squeezed my eyes shut. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry. I know I have no right to ask, but… please. Help us stop her so this can end.”

The feeling of hard quartz suddenly moved toward me, passing around me and sending shivers over my skin. A shimmer of opalescence swept across my body, spreading out until it hovered all around me.

Slowly, I let out a shaky breath. “Thank you.”

Turning my focus to the rest of my men, I concentrated on urging the shimmer to pass through my connection to them. My shivering crested and then faded away like the power making me quiver was rushing out from me along channels I couldn’t see.

The shimmer of opalescence flared to life before the men and then ghosted over each of their bodies, translucent and breathtaking.

“Whoa,” Clay whispered.

Eyes wide, Lars nodded, watching the light.

For a moment, it hovered around them before slowly drawing in, sinking into their skin and fading to invisibility.

But somehow, I could tell it was still there, ready and waiting.

A second slid by. “So,” Clay said. “I guess that’s… it?”

Several of them looked at me, questions in their eyes, while Byron and Casimir glanced at the walls like they were trying to read something from the stones.

“Perhaps?” the vampire allowed.

My head shook.

“What is it, princess?” Dex asked carefully.

I couldn’t explain. A strange sense ofknowingnesshad me in its grip. An awareness that, somehow,somethingstill wasn’t complete.

My gaze landed on Lars, and I let myself reach toward his power again, my hands rising as if I could simply take it in my grasp. But when it flooded into me, instead of keeping it inside me, I stretched my other hand out to Casimir on the opposite side of the circle.

Lars’s power flowed through me like a river and Casimir gasped. Heat made the air waver above the vampire.

“Holy shit,” Clay said. “Is that what I think it is?”

I turned to Ozias. Urging and consent came from him, and so I reached out again, drawing in his power, sending it to Niko.

My sweet giant’s eyes went wide. “Ohgods…” He stretched out a hand, and the stone ledge of the pool rippled.

“Don’t stop, princess,” Dex said. “Do that—” He faltered as I sent Clay’s power to him. “Oh, damn.” Water coiled up in twisting droplet-ropes when he lifted his hand.

Exclamations of surprise and wonder came from the others, but I could barely breathe. I wasn’tgivingthe power to the men, exactly. Each magical gift still belonged to its original owner. But with only a thought, I could direct them to another member of our circle for them to use too.

Yet my heart raced. Even now, I had the strangest sense this wasn’t enough. Wasn’t done.

Their words and sounds of alarm washed over me, but my focus was on the power flowing between us. Drawing on their gifts one by one, I sent the energy first to one man, then another, around and around.

With each pass, my men became quieter, until there was only the soft, desperate sound of our breathing in this grotto deep within the earth. Only the glow of plants illuminating our wide, stunned eyes. Every time I transferred their power, it felt like a filament of a magical bond tying us closer together, as if I was a weaver sending the shuttle of my thread back and forth… back and forth…

Until there was no space between us at all.

I trembled, my hands lowering. We felt like something new. Something stronger than we had been, reinforced by one another, and connected in a way that transcended definition.

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