Page 150 of Kingdom of Chaos
“Don’t you dare,” Talon orders, shaking me.
My eyes snap open, but even so, the edges of my vision start to darken.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he says, his voice rough, his face tight with worry.
Above me, I catch the look the healer gives him.
“What is it?” Talon asks.
She hesitates. “I can try to use my magic to save her life, but I don’t know if she’s strong enough to endure the healing process.”
“She is.” Talon’s face hardens, his words sharp. “She’s the strongest creature I’ve ever met. This won’t break her.”
But that’s the problem, isn’t it? Because I’m not actually a creature. I’mhuman. And I know with certainty that my magic is gone. Not depleted or I just can’t reach it, there’s an empty void inside where it used to be. Maybe I should care about that, but I don’t. In fact, I’m glad. It was never meant to be part of me.
I was enough on my own, and if I’m going to die tonight, I want to do it as myself.
A shadow moves at the edge of my fading vision, and then Becks is there, breathless and wide-eyed.
“I felt it,” he says, voice raw. “My magic came back to me in a rush, and I knew that she’d defeated him, but, what happened?” His face crumples, torn between relief and panic as he takes in my condition.
“She sacrificed herself,” Talon explains, and then turns back to the healer. “You have to do it now. We don’t have any more time.”
The healer nods, her face tight with focus. She places her hands over my wound, and a silvery light kindles between her hands. It’s faint, but I can feel it. The weak spark of her magictrying to knit torn flesh back together, but it’s not enough. My body is too fragile, too drained to respond.
The healer’s breath shudders, her voice barely a whisper. “She’s too weak. I can’t?—”
“Yes, you can,” Talon growls, his voice low and fierce. His tone softens, urgent and raw. “I’ll give her the strength she needs.”
He reaches for me, but Imogen grabs his wrist before he can touch me, her eyes wide with alarm. “Talon, don’t!” she hisses, panic bleeding into every word. “You’ve been lucky so far, but if you give her any more, it could kill you.”
What?
I don’t understand what’s happening. Their voices feel like they’re coming from far away, the edges of their words blurring and slipping.
Talon jerks out of Imogen’s grip, his expression hard as ice. “We don’t know that.”
“Yes we do!” Imogen snaps. “You’ve been feeding her your magic. More than I realized before today. More than you should have. If you push this, you’re risking your life. You’re?—”
“I know what I’m doing!” Talon roars, and for a second even Imogen recoils from the intensity in his voice.
He looks down at me, his jaw tight, breath ragged. His hand trembles as he hovers it next to my face, his voice quieter but no less determined. “If it takes my life to save hers, then so be it.”
Laying his hand against my cheek, I feel his icy magic surge into me, sharp and cold, like plunging into a frozen river. It’s startling at first, an ache that shudders through my chest, leaving frost blooming across my skin.
The silver and gold threads that connect us spark to life, igniting like thin lines of lightning, crackling in the air between us. They pulse in time with my faltering heartbeat, weaving brighter and stronger, wrapping around me like a cocoon.
I gasp, breath catching in my throat as the threads tighten, infusing me with Talon’s magic. It’s not just cold, there’s a familiar warmth beneath it, steady and strong, like a quiet fire buried in the frost.
Talon looks to the side and says, “Try it now,” speaking to the healer, who leans over me again, her magic lighting up her palms as she presses them against my wound.
Almost immediately the ache in my chest starts to ease, the pressure in my head lifting just enough that my vision sharpens at the edges. But Talon shudders, his breath hitching, a flicker of strain tightening his face as the magic drains from him and flows into me.
“Talon,” I rasp, barely a whisper, but his eyes stay on mine, fierce and unyielding.
“Stay with me, Freckles,” he murmurs, voice low and ragged. “Just stay.”
As the healer works, I feel life start to return to me, slow and steady, like a spark catching flame. Strength seeps back into my limbs, my awareness sharpening, the fog in my mind thinning as if a heavy veil is being slowly lifted.
