Page 23 of A Lost Light

Leaning in slowly, I pressed my lips to his, finally obeying what thisyearningwas telling me to do.

Dyre froze, going rigid under my touch. I fought a wave of mortification as I pulled back to find him watching me with wary violet eyes.

“I don't think that's a good idea,” he said stiffly.

This was definitely the part where my brethren would curse my soul to eternal damnation or something equally dramatic. I released the necromancer I had just assaulted, and dropped my wings, pulling the last bits of my magic in close to myself. “Apologies.”

Dyre opened his mouth to speak, but I didn't want to hear the careful rejection that came next. I was an idiot. A walking corpse the man had brought to life using dark magic. Of course he didn't want tokissme. Perhaps this borrowed brain of mine was rotting.

Chapter 12

Andy

Well, that was terrifying. And stupidly arousing.

Dyre and Elijah, who knew? Our necromancer was shaping up to be quite the heartbreaker. But also… Goddess, we really shouldn't be fucking around with this level of magical power.

I knew Bella had this crazy idea of turning us all into the saviors of magic kind and all, but I still wasn't buying it. First of all, everyone thought we were villains. Especially me, with my nasty, tainted Lovell blood. And secondly, I think we had just proven that we were playing with fire—literally and figuratively. I had spent my entire life doing my level best to ignore the scary feeling of yawning depth that lurked in my magical well. And most of the others were all staggeringly powerful in their own right. Toying with an amplifier was batshit crazy.

And yet.

I wasn't about to sit around unprotected and unprepared while the SA and the stupid witch supremacist zealots were running around out here gunning for me and everyone I loved. At the very least, we needed to be prepared. Just in case. Even if Iwasn't really convinced about going on the offensive or really taking an active part in Bella's crazy schemes.

Taking a deep, centering breath, I grounded myself in my earth magic and glanced around at my gathered companions. “Alright,” I said, as if we hadn't just witnessed Dyre and Sunny on the verge of wigging out. Or the weird, unsettling way Elijah's magic felt like it could manipulatesouls.Nope. Just stay on task, Lovell. “So, now that we know how we all react to the damned artifacts, I suppose we should figure out if the whole doughnut hole thing works.”

A whole lot of eyes watched me like I was absolutely insane. As if they were just now realizing just what level of crazy ran in my veins. “What?” I snapped, hands on hips. They shouldn't really be surprised. Ihadrelocated us and our entire mansion into an unstable handcrafted pocket world. My craziness was hardly news.

“Andy,” Zhong said gently. “Are you sure we should still try this plan of yours after all that?”

I rolled my eyes. “No. Of course I'm not sure. It's aterribleidea. But when have I ever done the smart thing.” Glancing around again, I threw my hands up in frustration. “What do you want to do? Go back to the pocket world and keep hiding? Hope that no one eventually finds us there? They will, sooner or later. You know our clock is ticking. I don't want any part of this fucking war Bella and Junaid are all wrapped up in. But I don't have a lot of faith that the damned universe is going to be content until we're completely fucked. So, I really think we should find the best way to use every tool at our disposal for whenever the shit inevitably hits the fan.”

Aahil crossed his arms over his chest and met my gaze, his golden eyes flaring with fire magic. “She's right. Ever since being freed from the bestiary, life has been one catastrophe after another. Clearly this is the price for tying ourselves to a Lovell.Especially one with such a soft, sappy heart in that voluptuous chest of hers.”

I shook my head. “Thanks,” I said sarcastically. “What a whopping vote of support.”

Aahil smirked at me. “I'm nothing if not supportive of your dangerous tendencies, Lovell. You know this, pet.”

“I agree with the two crazies,” Dyre said, his deep voice flat, but filled with gravity. “Even if we don't particularly care about the fate of the rest of the cursed world and all the idiots in it, the forces at play around us won't simply leave us alone. Better we know how to best defend ourselves, even if we don't join in the warmongering.” He arched a brow at the wary looks directed his way. “I didn'tactuallyraise anyone,” he said waspishly. “We were perfectly in control. It just took Sunny and I a moment to adjust to the increased power.”

Ha.

I was pretty sure that was the closest Dyre had ever come to losing control over Sunny since they had first been forced into their involuntary symbiotic situation. But I also knew he would never admit that. He had probably been terrified. And Dyre and his passenger didn't react well to feeling fear or uncertainty.

Still. He was right. It might have beenuncomfortable,and it might have taken a little bit of angelic intervention, but in the end it all worked out. No one was bleeding or dead. Or… undead. Except Elijah. You know what I mean.

There was some groaning, and a few long looks were exchanged, but eventually, everyone admitted that we were right. Better overpowered and over prepared than caught by surprise.

So, we set about working out the kinks in the ultimate plan that I had formulated back at the mansion with a little help from Dyre.

The concept was fairly simple. We would combine the powers of the nullifierandthe amplifier to make a sort of… zone of invulnerability. With some spells and wards, and a whole lot of crazy Lovell making-shit-up, we had come up with a way to use both artifacts at once without them cancelling each other out. At least theoretically. We just had to test it.

The result of positioning the artifacts and weaving layers of spells and wards—with the help of all of my magically inclined friends to bolster the effectiveness—was a sort of donut shaped area of effect. The nullifier and amplifier would be temporarily fused together to create a center of amplification surrounded by a ring of nullification. Attuning the amplifier to my aura should allow me—and the people who were bonded to me—to slip magicthroughthe nullified zone while still remaining behind our shield of null. Essentially, any enemies should be rendered magicless, while we still retained the ability to attack with amplified spells.

It would be a circle of death for anyone who picked a fight, moving with us as we went.

In practice, setting up the spells and wards and doing all the finicky weavings was both more simple and more difficult than I had anticipated. It was simple because once everything was in place it just kind of… made sense, to that part of me that was innately Lovell—the part that could see patterns and loved to take things apart and make new, better, crazier things. But it was also difficult, because it all centered around me and my bond to the others. It was our link that made it possible for them to get magic through the nullified zone. And it took ashit-tonof concentration and magical oomph to keep the whole effect going once it was activated.

But we did it.

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