Page 112 of Mother of Death and Dawn

“We are simply removing sensory distractions,” Blif’s voice said.

I still had many sensory distractions.

“And we will be assisting,” Klasto added. “From out here.”

“I won’t lie to you, this can be dangerous,” Blif said. “The walls that are blocking you from your magic are strong, especially yours, Maxantarius. But neither of us, not even Klasto, can break those down for you. You have to dismantle them yourselves. If things get… difficult… we’ll be here to pull you out.”

A drop of blood rolled off my palm and soaked through my trousers. I’d barely felt the cut, not when the rest of me was still a web of aches. Before throwing us in the closet, Klasto and Blif had slit both of our hands and explained to us that by sharing our magic again, opening our minds to each other, we could potentially break down the barriers between us and our magic.

Did I have any better ideas? No. It was worth a shot.

This… box, closet, whatever… was clearly soundproofed with magic. I heard only my own heartbeat and Tisaanah’s breath.

I leaned slightly closer. “You ready?”

Our hands found each other’s easily, even in the darkness. Her blood was hot and slick.

“Yes,” she whispered.

I nudged open the door to my magic and my mind. Let her draw from me.

The rush came all at once.

I didn’t expect this to be so easy. It was like burning up and loving every fucking second of it. I felt her everywhere. Her heartbeat matching mine. Her breath growing rapid. That scent of citrus surrounded me, and with it I disappeared intoher—her presence. Strong and determined. Sheer force of will.

Images fluttered by like butterfly wings. A starry night sky over the plains. A stern, beautiful woman’s face. A sneer, a whip, blood on a marble floor. Barely hidden—for a moment she didn’t want me to see it—but fear, and fear that still lingered. Her fear in the past as she thought,He’s going to kill me.Her fear in the present as she thought,What if this doesn’t work?

She resisted this vulnerability at first. It was my impulse, too, as she pressed against the darkest crevices of my mind. I didn’t know this woman. I didn’t want to show her all my secrets.

Is that what it is? Or do you not want to see them yourself?

But when I began to cede to her—when we began to cede to each other—something between us began to swell to life.

Warmth suffused my face. Distantly, in the physical world, I heard the snap of flames. Tisaanah’s hand tightened around mine. But that was a million miles away. Here, we were falling, deeper, deeper, through a flaming sky. I looked up and saw glowing threads rearranging, like scars healing.

But so quickly, it fell out of control.

A grinding halt. We hit a wall. Tisaanah tried to push past it, but that sent pain spearing through me, enough to disrupt my focus.

Focus.

It’s not a wall. It’s a door. Open it, Max.

Before me was a door with a lion’s head at its center.

You don’t want to go here anymore,a voice whispered.

I placed my hand on the door.

Don’t be a fucking coward,I told myself.Open it.

Everything was spiraling, dancing the line between power and chaos. The fire in the sky was breaking, falling like shooting stars. Beside me, Tisaanah was still trying to push through, charging at the walls that boxed our magic in with everything she had.

My hand was still on that door.Open it.

But the door would not give.

The force that had formerly seemed so invigorating now threatened to consume us, with nowhere else to go.

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