Page 86 of The Warlock's Kiss

One of those things had already been shared—he could sense it inside her still. Along with the other two, the binding could be completed.

As gently as he could, Merrick moved up off the stairs and laid her on the floor. He pressed a hand over her chest; her heartbeat was muted, weak, slow.

“No,” he growled, easing magic into her, fanning that little spark inside her. “Just a little longer, Adalynn.”

The darkness surrounding that spark lashed out at him, sinking its tainted claws into his resonance, but he did not relent. He hadn’t allowed himself to be consumed by the ley line, and he would not allow himself to be overcome by any disease—mortal or otherwise. Not while she was at stake.

Danny’s feet thumped along the hallway as he sprinted back to Merrick. The boy fell to his knees, catching himself on one hand, and handed over his sheathed bowie knife.

Merrick tugged the knife out of its sheath. “Whatever you see, boy, whatever you hear or feel, do not interfere. Stay back.”

He didn’t allow Danny time to respond; he could only keep Adalynn’s spark alight for a short while, and he couldn’t waste even a fraction of a second. He lifted her hands one-by-one and cut her palms. Blood oozed from the wounds. Once he was done, he cut his own palms and dropped the knife onto the floor beside him.

Shifting to straddle Adalynn, he hurriedly twined his fingers with hers. A soft, rasping exhalation escaped her; she drew in a shallow, labored breath afterward.

Their blood mingled, and Merrick felt the first hints of her mana song in his veins. He latched onto that sensation, clenched his jaw, andpulled.

He acted purely on instinct, with little conscious understanding of what he was doing. The air between him and Adalynn glowed as snaking tendrils of glimmering magic flowed out of him—and out ofher. Merrick’s mana was a familiar blue—strong and bright, building rapidly in front of him. Adalynn’s was a muted green, thinner, weaker, and slower to form, but no less real.

The still flowing magicks met in the air between their chests and swirled around each other. They moved sluggishly at first, but as Merrick tensed his muscles and poured his concentration toward it, the tendrils of magic sped until they were so fast they could no longer be distinguished from one another. The two mana sources coalesced in a vibrant teal orb. Adalynn’s mana song rose to match Merrick’s, becoming louder and stronger than he’d ever sensed it, taking its place not just as a piece of his own but as its equal.

A sense of euphoria spread through Merrick as he stared at that wispy, pulsating orb—at their combined essence. There was nothing more intimate thanthis. No way to be closer.

The magic split in half. One piece flowed into Merrick’s chest, the other into Adalynn’s. It rocketed his euphoria into unbearable ecstasy, making him shudder and growl as though he’d just reached a climax.

Adalynn’s back arched. She sucked in a deep, gasping breath, eyes suddenly opened wide, only to sag back down once the glow of magic had faded. Her eyes fluttered closed and her head lolled to the side as Merrick fell forward, catching himself on his elbows without releasing her hands.

Panting, Merrick stared at Adalynn’s face. It was relaxed, free of strain and pain; for one fleeting moment, he feared he’d lost her, that it hadn’t worked.

But he couldfeelher, could feel herinsidehimself, suffusing his every cell, singing within his mana—their mana.

He knew she was alive just as certainly as he knew he was.

And she washis. She’d always been his. Though he’d not understood what that meant at the time, he’d known it from the first moment he’d seen her.

“M-Merrick?” Danny asked. “Is she…is Addy…”

“She’s alive,” Merrick replied, his voice hoarse. “She’salive.”

Danny crawled closer, placed a hand on the side of Adalynn’s face, and kissed her forehead. When he pulled away, he wiped the tears from his cheeks, sniffled, and looked up at Merrick. His eyes were red from crying, but there was immense relief and gratitude within them. “Thank you.”

Merrick slipped off Adalynn and gently gathered her in his arms, drawing her close to his chest so that her head lay on his shoulder. He stood up and carried her toward his bedroom. His heart only gradually slowed, and his breath remained ragged as he walked.

She was alive, but was she all right? Her mana song was stronger than ever…but he could sense that her body still wasn’t well, that her illness still lingered. Had he only extended her suffering?

No, he sensed that dark taint weakening, receding; he sensed her body healing. Relief flooded him.

Danny hurried ahead to open the door to Merrick’s bedroom, and Merrick stepped inside. He crossed to the bed and laid Adalynn atop it. Blood continued to ooze from the cuts on her hands.

“Bandages,” Merrick said.

“Okay.” Danny’s hurried footsteps faded down the hall.

Delicately, Merrick brushed Adalynn’s sweat-dampened hair out of her face, tucking the strands behind her ears.

“Come back to us, Adalynn. Come back tome.”

Danny returned a short time later with a wet cloth and his backpack, which he dropped heavily onto the floor next to the bed. A moment later, he produced a packaged disinfectant wipe and a roll of gauze, handing them—along with the cloth—to Merrick.

---