Page 63 of Love At First Roar
Elric felt it. His smile slipped. “Enough.” He turned the dagger, slicing his own palm. Blood dripped onto the altar. The relic shrieked, runes crawling brighter. Power roared up Cora’s arms, slamming her back against the stone. She bit down on a scream as the chain pulled tight again.
Callum pounded the barrier. “Stop it, you bastard!”
Elric cast one lazy glance his way. “Watch and learn what true control is.”
He lifted both arms, chanting. The blood on the altar spread like ink in water, tracing new sigils. Each stroke dragged at Cora’s core, siphoning pieces she did not know how to name—hope, memory, maybe love itself. Her vision blurred.
Somewhere she heard Callum’s voice, ragged with panic. “Cora, hold on. Remember the Inn porch. Twyla’s tea. The lake at sunrise. Remember us.”
She clenched those images like lifelines. The Griddle & Grind’s cinnamon haze. Miriam’s cardigan sleeves pushed up as she served pie. The hush of Moonmirror and Callum’s arm around her waist. The lion’s rumble against her back while he slept.
A new spark ignited deep in her chest. Small. Gold-white. She pictured cradling it in her palms. It pulsed once. Twice. The chain buckled. Pain lanced through but she welcomed it. Pain meant pressure. Pressure meant the metal might break.
Elric hissed, feeling the resistance. He stepped closer, dagger angling toward her heart. “Submit.”
Her lips parted, voice no stronger than a breath, yet steady as stone. “I choose me.”
The spark flared brighter, spilling gold veins across her skin. They raced to her wrists, met the red cuffs, and sizzled. The cuffs cracked, fissures of light breaking the ruby sheen.
Elric staggered back, surprise flashing across his perfect features. “Impossible.”
Cora gasped in more air. “The Veil chose Hollow Oak. And Hollow Oak chose me.”
Behind her words she felt the forest lean close, the white birch, the mossy oaks, the lake wind, even the distant hum of Twyla’s lanterns. Callum’s unwavering faith had opened a door. The town added its strength, subtle but sure, feeding the spark.
Elric snarled, raising the dagger. “Then you can burn together.” He slashed his bleeding palm through the air. A bolt of crimson shot toward Callum’s side of the barrier, warping the wall. Crack lines spidered, threatening to rip open.
Callum braced but did not retreat.
The blow struck the barrier. Red shards exploded outward, singing the ground with fire. Callum shielded his face, staggered but held. The dome wavered, half destroyed, half reinforced. Forone dizzy moment Cora saw the two halves—his fury and her hope—fighting over the relic’s heart.
Elric turned back, fury warping his calm. “This ends now.”
He plunged the dagger toward her chest.
Cora raised her shackled wrists. Gold met red with thunder.
Blinding light filled the glade. The shockwave hurled Elric across the circle. The dome shattered into jagged arcs, sparks raining down like meteors.
When the glare faded Cora found herself still kneeling, wrists scorched but free. The cuffs lay in broken shards against the altar. Gold light hovered at her palms, no longer strangled.
She looked across the debris. Callum had fallen to one knee, a burn along his cheek, but his eyes met hers with wonder.
Elric rose slowly, cloak torn, hair disheveled. His dagger lay a few feet away. Blood smeared his palm, yet the smile that curved his lips made her blood run cold.
“Well done,” he breathed. “You severed the cuffs. But the chain lives inside you. Let me show your lion just how deep it goes.”
He extended his hand. Pain speared her chest. Her lungs seized, magic searing sideways. The gold flickered erratic, like a candle in a gale. She clawed at her own throat, choking.
Across the ruined barrier Callum roared, shifting mid-charge, golden fur bristling. He slammed the half-formed wall. It held—inches too thick.
Elric’s smile widened. “See? Even free, you are still mine.”
Cora screamed as the chain inside her twisted tight. Vision darkened, sound rushed away in a hollow roar. She felt her body tip, felt moss meet her cheek, distant and numb.
Through a tunnel she heard Callum’s voice breaking, screaming her name.
Then the world went black.
