“I gathered as much,” Lukas whispers back, drawing away slightly and giving me a serious look. “He’s amplified something in us both. I’ve a much clearer sense of your magic. I can sense its strength and flow even when I’m not touching you.”
A rattled surprise takes hold, since I know Lukas has never been able to read my magic without touching me, and he’s never been able to read anyone else’s magic but mine. “Can you sense the magic in the room, as well?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “No. Only yours. And only faintly when I’m not touching you. When we kiss, though...” He pauses, his fire surging toward me. “It’s like your lines are as clear to me as my own.”
“I’ve a clearer sense of your affinity lines as well,” I shakily tell him, “and it’s heightened when we touch.”
Lukas smiles slightly at this, his brow lifting. “Should make for an interesting evening.”
I frown at him, put off by his penchant for humor at fraught times. And really concerned about Vogel’s effect on our power. “What if Vogel’s permanently corrupted our magic?”
Lukas frowns. “I don’t think he’s seeded any magic in us. I don’t sense any lingering thrall. He probably tried to permanently invade our lines but wound up amplifying our perception of external power instead.”
“That Wand he has,” I whisper, “Lukas...he can tether Mages to his power with it.”
Lukas draws back a fraction and meets my eyes, his expression darkening. “Are you sure?”
I nod. “The four soldiers Vogel keeps behind him—their power flows right into his wand. When I’m not shielded by you, I can sense it clearly. I think that Wand he carries gives him the ability to bind others’ magic and control it.”
Lukas considers this, his jaw ticking. “I’ve noticed he’s rarely apart from those soldiers. And his two envoys, as well.” His gaze narrows in thought. “I don’t have any sense of his power tethered to ours.”
“I don’t either, but if he can tether those Mages to his Wand, that means he might be able to tether us. And possibly, the entire Gardnerian Guard.”
My anxiety gains ground as I turn these new realizations over in my mind, along with our odds of escape.
Lukas and I are surrounded by an army of Gardnerians, and yet another army of Vu Trin could be making its way toward me to strike at any moment. Assassins of every stripe could be closing in.
And Vogel might be close to realizing that I’m the Black Witch.
If he hasn’t already.
“Vogel’s...sending power out to me,” I tell Lukas falteringly. “I can feel it. He’s testing the shield. Lukas... I’m scared.”
Lukas looks closely at me, his thumb tracing over the back of my wand hand with slow deliberation, as if he’s reading the flow of my magic in it. My power has revved up so chaotically hot beneath his shield that I can barely think around its force.
Lukas caresses my back, his green eyes intent. “Kiss me, Elloren,” he says, his voice a slow, gentle thrum. He reaches up to stroke my cheek as he gives a swift glance at the crowd beyond the pines. “You’re so worked up that you’re laying waste to the shield. And I can access your magic more intensely when we’re close.” I nod, and Lukas brings his lips to mine.
Our magic bucks hard toward each other, his breath hitching as I grip his hand and tunic more fiercely. Lukas tightens his hold on me, one hand coming up to cup the back of my head as his fire sears into me in a hot, blazing stream.
I gasp against his mouth, my breath shuddering through my lungs as I cling to him, and Lukas kisses me so intensely that every one of my affinity lines tightens and grows as molten as wildfire, then becomes more contained as Lukas coaxes my fire magic into a controlled stream and the violent rush of my fire steadies. I pull in a tremulous breath as he kisses me long and deep and twines his magery around my lines.
Lukas draws back a fraction, his gaze fervid with heat, both of us breathing hard. “Better?” he asks.
I nod as he holds me, his molten heat reverberating through my reshielded lines. “Much better,” I say, giving him a slight appreciative smile as my skin prickles with heat.
“Good.” His lip lifts. “I’ll kiss you more later.”
“All right,” I manage, breathless from the strength of our magical pull.
We’re quiet for a moment, the dire nature of our situation cutting through our haze of affinity desire.
“Are you ready to leave?” Lukas asks, his fervid gaze turning searching and serious.
“Ancient One, yes.” My flush deepens as soon as I say it, every last boundary between us about to fall. A heightened awareness of his body takes hold, his hand loosely on my waist, our bodies pressed against each other, and I can feel the hunger our affinity attraction has kicked up in both of us.
A different type of trepidation rises.
Lukas and I have kissed on more than one occasion to the point of wrapping around each other quite passionately.