Page 57 of Shadowbound

“That’s right, Mistress—drink!” I tell her and hold her even closer. “Take my blood—replenish yourself.”

Her lips move again and this time I feel faint suction and know she’s beginning to drink. Relief floods through me and I stroke her back, urging her on, offering myself. I just want her to be all right—I don’t want to lose her!

She’s drinking more deeply now and I can feel my power flowing into her. The Holy Fire inside me is fueling her own magic, replenishing what was taken by that fucker, Kraven. Only it’s not really Holy Fire—it’s my Drake’s energy. But he loves my Mistress as fiercely as I do—I can feel him pushing more of his power into her, willing her to live as I cradle her against me.

At last she stops sucking and pushes at me. Taking the hint, I loosen my grip and look down into her face.

“Alaric…my Paladin…” Her eyes are wide and I can see that she’s definitely feeling better. “Too much,” she whispers. “Your blood…so powerful!”

“It’s what’s inside me,” I tell her and feel the Drake roar in agreement. “He wants you to live as much as I do.” I stroke her cheek. “Are you better now or do you need more?”

She shakes her head.

“No more—I fear I might explode!” She reaches up to touch my throat. “Let me just lick the wound to seal it.”

I bend my head again and she does as she promised, sealing my wound and staunching the flow of blood. Then she murmurs in my ear,

“My Paladin—thank you for saving me.”

“Mistress…Sylvanna.” I cradle her to me. I’m so relieved I can feel tears stinging my eyes. My skin is still so hot they sizzle and turn to steam but as always, my heat doesn’t bother my Mistress. She caresses my cheek and nuzzles against me comfortingly.

“It’s all right now, my Paladin. Kraven is gone and I’m all right. There’s just one more thing we need to do.”

“What’s that?” I ask, frowning.

“We need to cure the Queen and mend the rift between our kingdoms,” she tells me. “But in order to do that, we must awaken The Heart.”

31

Sylvanna

“Are you ready?” I ask and my Paladin nods.

We’re in the Solarium, the round glass dome at the very center of the Royal Palace. It shows the night sky outside with the full silver moon shining down from above. Around us are plants of every description, all lit up by their own magical luminescence. Pink and purple, blue and yellow, orange and red—so many flowers and leaves flowing with color—it’s a truly beautiful sight.

But even more enticing is the sight of my Paladin bound in the middle of the room. He is lying on his back, his arms and legs secured to the corners of the stone altar, though of course, no cords or bindings of any kind could hold him if he wanted to be free. The Drake inside him is too strong to be restrained if it didn’t wish to be.

He doesn’t want to be free, though—and his Drake has no problem being tied—as long as I am the one doing the tying. I know all of this now, even though I’m not wearing the Jewel of Knowing. I don’t need it anymore. The blood Alaric gave me deepened our Bond and I’m about to strengthen it even more.

Of course, I know this is going to make parting agony. But I won’t think about that now—we have other business at hand.

Alaric is naked—his strong body bound to the altar. I myself am wearing nothing but a long black silk robe, open at the front to show my bare body. Soon I will shed even that. I must be sky-clad to gain the power of the Moon that shines above us.

I step up to the altar and lay The Heart of the Eclipse on my lover’s bare chest. So I name him for so he is. No longer will he be my Blood-servant—not if this ritual goes as expected.

I found the spell at the very back of the Thornheart Grimoire. I don’t know why I never saw it before, back when I first had The Heart. I think I probably wasn’t ready for it yet and the grimoire knew it. But now that it has shown me the ritual, I hope it will allow me to awaken The Heart and heal both my Queen and my country—and possibly even Solaris as well.

But such rewards don’t come without risks. This is dangerous and Alaric knows it. Still, he wants it as much as I do. When I explained the ritual as well as the risks, he only nodded his head and said,

“Let’s do it.”

And so, we are.

Dropping my robe, I ascend the steps leading up to the altar naked. I take the silver goblet beside Alaric’s head and lift the ceremonial dagger. I prick my finger with it and let a few droplets of blood fall into the spiced wine. Then I prick Alaric’s finger and do the same with his blood.

I swirl the goblet, looking down at him, waiting for the blood and wine to mix.

“This could kill us both, you know,” I remind him.

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