Page 115 of The Storm of the Empire

“That would be helpful. Thank you.” I just didn’t know if it would help enough. Luka had come a long way in a short time with shielding his thoughts and even better than he already was about sharing his power with me. But how could we train something we knew nothing about?

Not even Kiera could find any information on what to do with foresight.

“Let me know if anything changes?” Kiera came around the desk to grab my hand.

“I will. Is there any update on Kol? How is the mind healing going?”

“It’s slow. They need him to wake up to do more. He’s too shielded and trapped in himself. Gran thinks he did that to protect himself.” Kiera squeezed my hand. “He may never wake up, and we have to be prepared to lose him all over again. Nyx as well.”

“No!” I gasped. I couldn’t accept losing them both, and we couldn’t do this without Nyx. “Who will handle the King if that happens?” My mind reeled.

“We don’t know.”

“You healed Nyx once—can’t you do the same thing?” I pressed my palms into my eyes. Everything was falling apart, and I felt guilty for being worried about my own mate.

“I don’t know. This is worse almost. The guilt is eating him alive. It’s not physical or magical, so none of us know how to help him with it.”

“Are you looking for answers?” I asked, knowing in my heart she was spending more time on Luka.

“Some.”

The bells rang, and I jumped to my feel. “I have to get to a meeting.”

Kiera grabbed me before I could leave. “Do you remember the lessons on syphoning magic to share with your ryder?”

I closed one eye. “Yes, mostly.”

“You could try that but in the other direction. Instead of giving magic to Luka, syphon his off to pull it away from him and discard it. If he gets too bad, try it.”

“What? Why?” I searched her face. “You want me to starve him of magic? It could kill him.”

“It might also snap him out of it. All this functions on power. If he has less access to his power, it might just work.”

“Wouldn’t that be just like putting the pendant back on?” I challenged, the idea making me sick.

“The pendant will make you go mad. This, at least, you have control over.”

“I don’t know if I can do that to him.”

“Won’t it be better than losing him?”

I nodded. I didn’t know what else to say.

She hesitated. “But by the Goddess. be careful. It’s a fine line. If you take too much, you could kill him”

“I know.”

I walked in on Nyx and Luka going back and forth, but I wasn’t quite sure about what.

Nyx sighed and waved me further into Kol’s room. “Do you need him?” he asked absently.

“No, we have a meeting scheduled about the dragon force depletion estimates. Did you forget?”

Nyx scrubbed his hand over his face. “Of course. Sorry.”

I looked between them. “Am I interrupting something?”

“No Luka was just updating me on his intelligence gathering. I’m still trying to piece everything together into one big picture somehow.”

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