Page 33 of Dragon Unleashed

“It’s an abolition stone.” My tongue trips over the word Silas taught me. I’ve no idea if he’s heard of this. I hadn’t. But then, he’s lived with a slave bond for years.

“Satyr shit, Lore,” he says on a breath out. “This is priceless.”

“I know.”

“But do you? There is one of these left in existence. This one.”

Okay, so Ididn’tknow that. I was going to ask Silas if he could get me another. I shrug, patting his hand.

Zephyr pulls away from me, his expression hardening.

“I’m not some charity case,” he grumbles. “I’m more than this slave bond. IlikeFarrell. He’s my friend.”

In his agitation a dark whirlwind of magic swirls above our heads, magic he shouldn’t have. My magic. It uproots pictures from the walls, pulls floating fabrics across the room into the vortex, and builds until it’s touching the vaulted ceiling. From there it blooms out, creeping across the room toward Hewie in a pitch-black fog. The magic well in my chest sputters as he pulls more and more of my aether down our allegiance bond.

He has to stop. I need him to stop. The emptiness inside me yawns as my magic drains. I can’t just pull back. When Farrell ripped magic down our bond, he made things so much worse. I wanted to kill him. Mymagicwas ready to kill him. I can’t pull my power away from Zephyr. It could backfire on me, or him.

With a deep breath I ignore my screaming muscles and push more aether toward Zephyr, offering up my power. Letting him know he has the choice.

Hewie’s eyes widen and he backs toward the door as the darkness expands in a sudden whoosh. My legs tremble to maintain the effort. Will Zephyr keep taking until I’m spent? Gnawing hunger erupts in my stomach and my gums start to ache. I bite down on my tongue to stop from crying out.

Slowly, Zephyr stops drawing on my magic, and the darkness recedes, paling to a fine mist then vanishing entirely. I flop back onto the beanbag, my body aching.

Holy hags, I don’t want to do that again. Not ever. For a split second I thought my vampire side was going to explode and tear into the nearest available jugular. My stomach rumbles and I push myself up to sitting. I need to feed. Soon.

“Wh-wh-what the hellish hells was that?” Hewie’s trembling voice grounds me in reality.

He swallows.

“It was Zephyr getting a bit too handsy and intimate with my aether. You know he fucks with anything that moves.”

My joke doesn’t even raise a flicker of a smile from Hewie, but Zephyr splutters a giggle. Then he groans.

“If only. Damn Alice to hell. But really, Lore, what did I just do?”

Grinning back, I quickly explain that as allegiance there was a risk they could pull on my aether, about how Silas and Lady Tenebrae are monitoring them for exactly this. And how dangerous it might be.

“That felt like you were cutting me with a hundred knives, but it’s worse than that. You could kill yourself. And even if you survive doing it again, you could seriously screw things up for me if someone sees. The Virrey…” I glance at Hewie. “The Virrey will tether me if he knows I’m too powerful for him to control otherwise.”

Hewie emits a sound that’s something between a chimera hacking up a hairball and a strangled scream. He thuds down on his ass in the middle of the floor, and rocks back and forth, clutching his knees to his chest.

“I should have left. I should have left. Didn’t need to see, didn’t need to know,” he mumbles. “Why would you talk about this in front of me?”

“I didn’t plan to, Hewie. Zephyr wouldn’t let you leave.”

“Didn’t know your aether was going to go for a piggyback ride with me, did I?” Zephyr says.

“I trust you. You’re our friend, Hewie,” I say quietly. He looks like I just handed him the world.

“What if I tell someone by accident?”

“You won’t,” Zephyr reassures him, standing and moving toward the shivering banshee.

Watching Zephyr awkwardly pat Hewie on the back, it crashes home: Zephyr is a good guy.

“Z? I didn’t mean you’d need to use the stone against Farrell,” I say. “But our situation is messed up.” He glares at me and I sink further into the beanbag. This is going to hell again. “I don’t mean Farrell would force you. But his father… Ugh. My point is the stone was meant as an apology, not a dig. I might not like you very much right now, but I do worry about you.”

A ghost of a smile graces Zephyr’s face, and for the first time I let myself believe we might come through this.

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