Page 160 of The Dryad Storm

Tierney’s power shivers. He’s soclose... she almost forgets herself as they both draw closer, and she angles her lips toward his...

She gives a start and jerks back, remembering the pain of his lightning, their magic dauntingly incompatible, save in thatdream...

Bitter chagrin slices through their thrall and they both stiffen and move farther away, even as Tierney’s heart and the rippling energy of the Vo itself seem to urge them to do exactly theopposite—a pull she knows Or’myr can also feel through Viger’s damned bond.

Or’myr’s brow furrows and he gives her a charged look, a sliver of his magic breaking loose to brush against hers in a heated sizzle. The contact only intensifies the ache in Tierney’s heart as she forces her water aura into a churning barrier to try and wall off his power, instantly strung up into tighter conflict as she catches the tension around his eyes.

Or’myr forcibly withdraws his magic, then lets out a sigh, peering into the bonfire’s leaping purple flames. An uncomfortable silence descends.

“So, you bound yourself to the Death Fae,” he comments. “Xishlon night. With a kiss.”

Ah, there it is, Tierney thinks, hollowing out. The conversation she knew would rear its head the moment they both had a chance to catch their breath. She meets Or’myr’s gaze, a frisson of remorse tightening her gut. His words were idly said, but there’s a flash of purple lightning ringing his irises and leaping around the edges of his power. Clearly this has been eating at him, shoved aside as they’ve dealt with securing the Vo.

And thisbond... it has a way of dredging up matters of the heart and putting them into blaring focus.

“I did,” she admits, throat dry and tight.Go ahead and say it, Or’myr, she thinks.“You kissed him right after you kissed me.”

But he doesn’t voice the words. Instead Tierney feels them hanging in the air, weighted with tension.

Another uncomfortable silence ensues.

“Was it good?” he finally asks, and Tierney can feel both things in thequestion—her friend falling into heartfelt conversation with her... and the pained bitterness of rejection.

Grasping at their friendship,needingtheir friendship, she decides to level with him as she recalls Viger’s astonishing Darkness. And the sensation of being pulled to the very center of Erthia.

“It was otherworldly,” she admits.

Jaded amusement flashes in Or’myr’s eyes. “Otherworldly?”

She scowls at him. “It’s not what you think. It was... revelatory.”

His eyes widen. “Revelatory?” he echoes, his expression turning a tad too mocking for her taste.

She glowers at him. “You don’t understand.”

He loses the smile. “Nor will I ever.”

Tierney’s water power gives a defensive flare. “Bitterness doesn’t become you, Or’myr.”

He spits out a mirthless laugh. “Says the woman who can kiss anyone but me. Who has a multitude of men mooning over her.” He shakes his head and looks away, his unspoken words like a bolt through her emotions.Including me.

Ire rises. “Is any of this important right now?” She gesticulates wildly toward their shielding, the Vo, the surrounding land.

“No, Tierney,” Or’myr says, leveling his lightning gaze back at her. “But it doesn’t change the fact that we’re bonded in a way that draws all of this straight to the surface.” He shakes his head, cursing under his breath. “This bond feels like someone bottled the Xishlon moon and fed it into our damned veins.”

His tattoo flashes into Tierney’s mind—the Xishlon moon emblazoned on his chest—as she’s cast into another heated memory of the feel of his body pressed against hers. And how good his lightning felt, cracking straight through her...

Tierney tenses against the accompanying vortex of emotion, speechless for a moment and feeling frozen. “I don’t want to lose you,” she finally rasps out. “Even if we can’t...” She pauses, not able to finish the sentence. Instead, she looks at him full on and bares her heart. “Or’myr, I don’t want to lose you.” She stops, scared that the tears stinging her eyes might give way in a torrent.

Or’myr loses his guarded look and peers at her, his hand coming to hers in a gentle caress. “You could never lose me,” he reassures her, his voice heartbreakingly kind. “We’re allies and close friends.Always.All right?”

Tierney nods stiffly, blinking back tears. “Everything that’s happening in theworld right now,” she roughly manages, “it’sfrightening.”

“It is,” he gravely agrees. “But we’ll fight the Shadowtogether. And I know that despite the madness of this bond, Viger and Fyordin are with us in this fight too.”

Tierney nods again, some of the tension in her shoulders, her body, slackening as she gives him a grateful look.

Or’myr removes his hand, sits back, and regards her squarely. “So,” he says, cradling his teacup and taking a sip of his tea, “you had sex with all of us in our dreams.”

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