Page 64 of Queen of Legends and Lies
One by one, I let the emotions those memories produce fill me up inside, allowing them to pour through my veins like lava.
A muscle ticks in Sterling’s jaw as he does the same. And with each memory, each burst of emotion, our elements catch and tangle. Growing with every passing second.
Messy and uncontrolled, the merge ignites, crackling between us. It’s working. Inch by hard-won inch, we’re figuring out how to join our powers.
I meet Sterling’s fiery gaze, savage triumph pulsing through me in time with my heartbeat. We’re doing it. We’re one step closer to having the weapon we so desperately need.
Like a star being born, magic bursts to life.
Fire spews forth, crashing against a solid wall of ice that’s suddenly formed.
Heat and ice. Fire and frost. The magic arcs from my body to his and back again in a ratcheting loop.
The combination of power and emotion swells inside me like a cresting wave.
I can feel it, can feel him, can feel everything. The merge is working, a maelstrom contained only by our straining control. Better and stronger than ever. It makes sense now that when this happened before, and I wasn’t in control, our magic affected everything around us.
Sterling’s laugh is fierce and victorious. I mimic that laughter, drunk on the power of our combined strength. This is what will win us the war. How can it not?
Without warning, the white-hot flare of power spikes. Magic sears through my veins.
Too much. Too fast.
Panic flashes across our bond, and I realize Sterling’s control is slipping too.
Before my very eyes, our merging magics start to push against each other. As if both things are trying to manifest in the same space at the same time and fighting to see which will take over.
Shit, shit, shit.
Gritting my teeth, I try to reel it in, to shove it down. But the magic—a living, writhing thing—fights me. Power strains at the seams of my skin, threatening to break free.
Sterling’s eyes widen. “Lark!”
I know what he wants and what we have to do. With a monumental effort, I wrench my power back, holding it in an iron grip. And Sterling does the same, wrestling the merge under control through sheer force of will.
Inch by agonizing inch, the magic recedes.
Power dims from an inferno to a more manageable blaze before snuffing out completely.
In its wake, we’re both left gasping and shaken. For a moment, all I can do is cling to him, my face buried in the perspiring skin of his neck.
That was too damn close.
Way too close.
“We’re getting better.” Sterling voices my earlier thought with grim humor. “Maybe a little too good.”
The trembly laugh that punches out of me transforms into a small coughing fit courtesy of my dry mouth and throat. “You think?” Slowly, I disentangle myself from him, pulling on the reins of my galloping heart. “We have to figure out how to direct it. Control it. Before it controls us.”
He shivers, jaw clenched. “We will.” He clutches my hand, gripping my fingers like he’s trying to convince us both. “We’re going to master this, Lark. Whatever it takes. We don’t have a choice.”
“Sterling,” I wrap my hands around his, shocked at how cold he is, “you’re freezing.”
“Yeah.” He nods, holding back another shiver. “Maybe I’m not as recovered as I thought I was. Or maybe it’s a result of our merging.”
Funneling heat into my arms, I wrap them around him. “Let’s call it a day. I’m parched. You’re cold. Let’s head back to the palace. Your mother has a plant that makes a wonderful tea. It helped me when I was dehydrated before. I’m sure it will help you too. We’ll both feel better after a pot of that.”
With one arm still wrapped around him, I lead us back to the palace.
