Page 101 of Shadow's Heart

He hadn’t imagined that spark as they’d claimed each other. His sorcery had simmered, just untapped. If he could create a desert rose, he could bring a reckoning.As with a building, the only difference is scale.

Kristoff scowled at Lothaire. “You went straight to assassination? You never even considered the Ring of Sums for her, did you?”

I did!

Lothaire said, “As you remember, Dorada already controls me. And my new ledger isn’t yet big enough to tempt her.”

“Youhavethought about it, then.”

“Attributing decency to me is the foremost mistake of my fallen enemies,” Lothaire said. “Will you join their ranks?”

“You didn’t deny it!”

While they argued, panic filled Adham, supplying him with enough adrenaline to shove his dislocated shoulder against the rock behind him and work it back into place. Function returnedto one hand. He used it to grip a leg bone. Choking back pain, he manipulated his splintered femur back under the skin and muscle to speed along regeneration.

Lothaire asked, “Do I look like the type of vampire who would bargain his soul away for a distant, inconsequential relative?”

Kristoff paced. “Use all your knowledge to figure this out!” He must truly care about Kosmina.

“Wendigo toxin responds to salt. Nothing in my memories hints at a similar weapon against ghouls.”

As the realm spun, Adham cobbled together his other leg. Somehow he stayed conscious. Even with regeneration, he wouldn’t be able to walk, much less fight, for hours. Unless . . .

Could his atrophied power compensate for his broken body? He needed substantial amounts of sand, yet none was here for the taking.

You’re the King of Sand—it’s there for themaking.All he had to do was conjure millions of years of mechanical force and energy.

Lothaire and Kristoff’s argument faded as he concentrated. Kosmina needed him; she needed a reckoning.You are magic.

Instead of trying to force his sorcery to obey his commands, he recalled what had occurred whenever it had sparked on its own.

Bonding with Kosmina. Dreaming of her.

The divine. The mystery. She was both.

He’d realized that he was a protector, born with one job: to keep Kosmina Daciano safe. He’d been equipped with a sole power. He stiffened as recognition hit; pain made him dizzy, but he held on to the thought.This sorcery is as much hers as it is mine.

Instinctively, he knew that if he allowed it, his power would grow to match his love for her. No time to waste. Once more, hedropped his shield and bowed his chest, opening himself up to her. To them. To everything.

His hands began to glow. He clenched them, concealing that light from the vampires. For now.

Sorcery burgeoned inside him infinitely, the wellspring in the desert, the oasis just waiting for him to find. In the deepest recesses of his mind, he could see his power overrunning all obstacles, bursting through a dam of silt. Crystalline?—

Light beamed from his eyes. Sorcery sparked his regeneration, his heartbeat thundering to pump magic and blood to injuries.

All the while, the vampires argued over Kosmina’s fate, never knowing that they would have no bearing on it.

When his jaw healed enough to speak, he said, “I won’t let you hurt her.”

Lothaire turned to him with a laugh. “And what are you going to do about it, Sandman? It’ll take you hours, if not days, to regenerate your limbs.” He told Kristoff, “I’ve made my decision, and quarrelling with you no longer amuses me.” Lothaire turned to size up the landslide.

With a curse, Kristoff followed. Still sniping at each other, they began moving the boulders that divided Silt from Kosmina.

Those rocks should pay a price for that. He waved his hands, deploying sorcery until the stones glowed gold.

The vampires leapt back.

With a yell, Adham levitated the boulders.You are magic.In midair, he crushed them down to rock . . . crumbled them to pebbles . . . pulverized them like gritty fireworks.

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