Page 66 of Storms of His Wrath

“I remember something,” he said slowly, his voice rough with sudden understanding. “Drennek used thennol ttaehh maelon objects too. I watched him bind a section of damaged wall to redirect structural magic back into the foundation.”

Naya lifted her head from his chest, her brown eyes searching his face. “What do you mean?”

“The same principle.” His mind raced, pieces clicking together with startling clarity. “If thennol ttaehh maelcan bind a wound to a specific person, creating a connection across distance...” He sat up abruptly, his muscles coiling with the intensity of the revelation. “We must be able to bind thennin-eellithito a specific place instead of a person?”

Her breath caught, understanding beginning to bleed into her expression. “So we use the same principle but reverse it—instead of binding someone to come to you, bind the magic to return to where it belongs.”

“To the Nnin-kaa Sands.” The words came out as barely more than a growl, possessive satisfaction thrumming through him at the elegant simplicity of it.

“Exactly!” She sat up beside him, her skin flushed with excitement, and the sight of her—brilliant and beautiful and completely focused—sent heat spiraling through his chest. “If I could draw all thennin-eellithito one location, and you could perform the binding ritual there... We could send them home. Not destroy them, not fight them, but return them to where they were originally contained.”

The solution was elegant in its simplicity, terrifying in its implications. “It would require perfect timing. Perfect execution.”

“And it would be dangerous,” Naya added, her voice sobering. “For both of us. I’d have to draw every piece of wild magic in the region to wherever you perform the ritual. And you’d be standing at the center of that convergence, working magic with a technique that could kill you if done incorrectly.”

Possessive fury blazed through him at the thought of her in such danger. Every instinct rebelled against allowing his mate anywhere near that level of risk. “No. Absolutely not. I won’t let you?—”

“Akoro.” She cupped his face, her touch gentle but firm, and the simple contact sent warmth racing along his skin. “This is our only chance. Our only real solution.” Her brown eyes held his, steady and resolved. “And we have to do it together.”

The word “together” struck him. Not just the physical partnership the plan would require, but something deeper. True collaboration, built on trust and shared risk. The kind of partnership she’d described between her parents.

His Alpha nature rebelled against the danger to her, but his strategic mind wrestled it down, clinging to the truth in her words. They were stronger together than apart.

“Where?” he asked, his voice rougher than intended. “We can’t perform the ritual in the Nnin-kaa Sands themselves—they’re too far away, and we don’t have time.”

“Somewhere closer. Somewhere we could create a new containment point.” She paused, thinking, her teeth catching her lower lip in a way that made his focus fracture momentarily. “What about the ruins? The abandoned cities you told me about? Places where the magical infrastructure might still exist, just dormant?”

Understanding sparked through him, sharp and immediate. “Kessarok. The old Vos capital. It’s half a day’s ride from here, and the magical foundations were built to channel enormous amounts of power.”

“Could we get there in time? How long do we need to prepare?”

Akoro’s mind raced through logistics, calculating distances and preparation time with the precision of a military campaign. “Two days to reach the ruins, a day to set up the ritual space, perform the binding...” He met her gaze, seeing his own determination reflected there. “We’d be cutting it very close to the storm’s arrival.”

“Then we need to start immediately.” Her voice held absolute determination, and something primal in him responded to her strength. “Tomorrow, we present the plan to both the Omegas and your council. The day after, we leave for Kessarok.”

The timeline was brutal, the risks enormous. If they failed, if the timing was wrong, if any element of the plan went awry, the storm would strike Onn Kkulma with devastating force. And if they succeeded, if they managed to pull every piece of wild magic in the region to one location... they would both be standing at the center of a magical maelstrom unlike anything the world had seen since the first wave of destruction decades ago.

“Three days,” he said quietly. “Three days to save the region.”

“Three days,” she agreed. Then, with a smile that was equal parts fierce determination and reckless hope: “No pressure at all.”

Despite everything—the danger, the impossible timeline, the sheer audacity of what they were proposing—Akoro found himself almost smiling in return. This brilliant, brave woman who’d walked into his life and turned everything upside down was asking him to trust her with both their lives. To be her partner in the truest sense.

“Together,” he said, the word resonating through his chest.

“Together,” she whispered.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Naya’s footsteps echoed against the stone pathways as she made her way deeper into the canyon, morning light filtering down through the natural crevices and fissures above. The familiar sounds and scents of the canyon drifted from the communal areas—roasted grain and honey tea, children’s laughter mixing with the low hum of conversation—but her mind remained fixed on the conversation from the night before.

Akoro’s solution. To modify thennol ttaehh maelcurse, binding wild magic to a place instead of a person. Brilliant in its simplicity, terrifying in its implications.

Her stomach clenched as she thought through his explanation of how his cousin had learned the curse. The memory of Akoro’s voice haunted her—rough with self-loathing as he’d spoken of torture, of breaking another’s will. And now Akoro wanted to use that same technique to save everyone. The irony burned like hot coal. An Alpha’s solution to a magical crisis, built on knowledge gained through Omega suffering, requiring an Omega’s trust to execute.

Could she really ask the Ilia Omegas to support a plan that relied on such a dark foundation?

The canyon walls seemed to press closer as doubt gnawed at her. She would have to stand before the assembly and ask them to trust not just her magical abilities, but Akoro’s capacity to wield a curse designed to bind and control. The same assembly that included women who’d spent their lives fearful of Alpha cruelty.

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