“Right.” I pulled her hands from my face. “Okay, well, just humor me and get further back than you were before.”
“Really?”
“There’s a small chance that Orion is correct, isn’t there? And if I lose control of my magic, not only could I lose my mind, but I could dissolve everything around me.”
“Dissolve,” said Shai.
“I’m serious,” I said. “I don’t care if you don’t believe it. I felt the Lightbringer power about to explode, and I don’t want you near it. I’m talking, like, get on the other side of the Acheron River. I don’t care if you’ll all recover because you’re demons—I don’t need more horror burned into my memories.” I pinned Kas with a serious stare. “I mean all of you. I’ll come find you if the spell works.”
Shai took a deep breath. “Fine, but we should FaceTime it.”
Legion frowned. “Is that a spell?”
She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and waggled it. “We can watch her through video, and if anyone tries to assassinate her, or on the off chance she loses her mind, we can save her.”
“Fine.” I pulled my cell phone from my jeans and propped it up against an oak. “Call me when you’re on the other side of the river. And if my phone suddenly goes dead, it’s either poor reception, or I exploded.”
Shai’s forehead wrinkled. “Right. Okay.”
Night had fallen in the City of Thorns, and my friends quickly disappeared into the darkness, leaving me alone like I’d asked. As the sounds of their footfalls faded, the air seemed to grow colder.
On my forehead, the witch blood tingled.
It seemed like ages before my phone rang, the little screen lighting up with Shai’s picture. I crossed to the oak tree and flicked it on to answer.
Shai’s face popped up on the screen. “We’re here. Hanging out by the river.”
I waved at Shai. “I’m ready.”
“Go for it, Sunshine!” Kas said from behind her.
Rolling my eyes, I stepped back into the grove. Barefoot, I took a deep, shuddering breath.
As I did, I called up a memory certain to instill fury in me—Orion standing over King Cambriel and slaughtering the man I’d vowed to kill. Taking my revenge from me…
In my mind’s eye, I saw the hot splatter of blood on the stone. Anger started to rise, tightening my muscles. Just the right amount of power…
I opened my eyes to see the wind whipping through the trees. A faint golden glow emanated from my body, and I started to recite the spell, reading from the book. As I read, goosebumps rose on the back of my skin. From the corner of my eye, ghostly images flickered past. Between the trunks, shadows seemed to twine with wisps of light.
I glanced down at the page once more, but it took me a moment to find my place again on the page. I started again, pronouncing each word carefully. The hair rose on my nape as I felt I was opening the door to an ancient, powerful world. In the corner of my vision, silvery lights twinkled. From the soil upward, power rushed through me.
Glowing, I felt a primal connection to the world around me—to the generations of mortals and demons who’d come before me, who’d grown from the forest soil, then fed it with their bodies. The night spread its shadowy mantle, and I breathed in the humid, ancient air of the woods. This was where the Lilu belonged—in the wild.
Magic slid around me as I neared the end of the spell. But unwelcome memory started to intrude along with it: Orion’s fingers tightening around me as he hoisted me up against the bedpost to kiss me hard. That deep, sensual kiss was too powerful for me to think of—
I tried to push the lust to the back of my skull.
“Chemosh,” I said, completing the spell once again.
Light poured from me, and I tried to dampen the ardor of my emotions by thinking of the worst day of my life. But I felt like I could smell him now, the scent of burnt cedar wrapping around me. His skin tinged with gold.
Orion’s eyes were on me as I leaned back on the bed, darkening because he liked what he saw. He was about to lose control of himself…
What are you so afraid of?
You.
Distantly, I heard Shai calling my name. But I wasn’t in her world anymore. My body grew hotter, brighter. Shaking with the power of the stars, until my mind no longer formed words. I lived in a world of light now.
But I no longer knew where my feet met the earth, or if I had a body at all.
*
I woke in Orion’s arms, to the sound of him swearing. When I opened my mouth to say something to him, I couldn’t remember how to speak, or how I got here. I only knew that I needed to heal, and that I craved his body on mine.