Daughter of Tide and Illusion

Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Death of me.

Death of me.

Death of me.

Gods, Jai's words were still ringing through her head, even hours after Lyv left him. It was morning now, that much she could tell by the sunlight that washed over the ornate carpeting beneath her. She hadn't slept yet either.

She found refuge in Kalla's office, which was a library in and of itself, having not changed since the last time she was there the year before. She went up to her room before, though it was only to pull on her silk robe to cover herself since Jai had torn the buttons off her dress. She would fix it by hand, putting those long-forgotten needlework skills to good use.

Even hours after she left him standing wide-eyed and worried in the kitchen, she could still taste him on her tongue, feel his hands all over her, and the want and need that continually coursed through her. The mating bond had been so close to becoming whole. It still sang and shone brightly and she knew it would even more whenever Jai was around, just as it always did.

She could have been lying in his arms right now, tired and glowing happily, her body wholly satisfied.

Could have been his in every sense of the meaning.

And him hers.

Lyv cursed herself, pulling her knees up to her chest as she ran her fingers through her hair. She shouldn't have left him, but what Kalla said about the darkness in Corliss killing the brightest thing in her life – her mate Meron – had Jai's statement twisting itself into something different than how he intended it. She should have taken the time before they left the night before to tell him everything, but she was still trying to wrap her mind around it herself. She already thought she lost him once as Amory by Guinevere's hand. She couldn't let it truly happen by her own.

It was her hands she was looking at then, shaking and glowing...but not just from the fire in the hearth in front of her or the sunlight coming through the windows. Her magic was trying to calm her, growing from that flicker of light to a glowing ember. She tried to be happy as it filled her more than it had since she woke up, but all she could do was panic. Because now that it was growing stronger, she had no doubt in her mind Corliss would send Mik to get more from her, drawing it into that obsidian stone. What she needed Lyv's magic for, she was still trying to piece together, but there had to be a significant reason other than the darkness was drawn to it.

Lyv didn't realized she was still staring at her glowing hands, feeling her magic continuously grow inside of her as her thoughts raced and emotions jump all over. And her magic grew...and grew some more, filling every space inside her as it once did, then overflowed and spilled over. Her hands weren't just glowing then, but burning with white hot flames and cooling with droplets of water that turned to a swirl of vapor in the air above her palms.

She still barely registered what was happening, even as the chair started to smoke beneath her.

Not until someone knelt in front of her, their face blocked by the magic she emitted, and wrapped their hands gently around her wrists.

"Lyv?"

She blinked...and the magic she was manifesting in front of her disappeared. Gideon's worried face came into view, blond hair slicked back and still damp from his shower, clothes freshly washed. Thia was standing beside him in a simple, flowy dress, her hair in a knot on top of her head. Her eyes were wide as she reached forward and placed a gentle hand on Lyv's arm. A significant glow surrounded both of them, a mating bond fully forged and unbreakable.