Page 79 of To Crave Truly

“Of course, anything,” I shouted as the wind began to howl.

The old man pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “Give him that, and tell him he is loved.”

Then he was ripped away from me as the world disappeared, torn apart by the wind, and everything went black as I was thrown back towards reality.

Ilanded on my feet inside the circle, the impact jarring my knees. I patted myself down to make sure everything was where it should be.

“Lori!”

I turned around and found Jasper staring at me with a thunderous expression on his face.

“Are you out of your fucking mind? Why the Hell did you jump?”

“I thought it was a good idea. And look, I’m fine.”

He sighed in exasperation. “Not the point. You can’t just jump into danger and hope for the best. I don’t care how powerful you are, you could have been killed.”

He was right, but in my defence, I thought his reasoning was sound. Wasn’t going to tell him that though. He might never voice an idea ever again.

“You’re right and I’m sorry. Let’s table this and talk about it later. Right now, we need to figure out how to save Iveri.”

He nodded but I knew he wasn’t going to let this go. I walked around Iveri, taking in every detail of the vines curled around her arms and legs. They looked solid and I touched the edge of my scythe to one. Sparks flew off the blade when I tired to slice it. Okay, the scythe was out so I sent it back to the shadows until I needed it again.

I held my hand over them. Perhaps my magic would react, but nope. Nothing. I could feel the magic, but I couldn’t make any sense of it.

…focus, power and love.

The words circled my brain like a whisper, and I closed my eyes, trying to reach out and remember more but they were gone.

“Of course,” I gasped.

“What?” Jasper said.

“I know how to save her.”

Jasper raised a dark eyebrow. “And it just came to you, like an epiphany.”

“No,” I said, “like Divine inspiration.”

I rushed to Iveri’s side and dug deep into my core. This was likely going to take everything I had and then some, but I had to try.

“What are you doing?” Jasper panicked as he walked around the circle until he stood opposite me.

“I’m going to try and used the life spark.”

“No. Absolutely not. You’ve no idea what you’re doing.”

I didn’t have the first clue what I was doing, but something inside of me said I was going to be okay. That this would work.

“Hold on,” I said to my demon. “This might be a bumpy ride.”

I’m with you, she said, and I felt something squeeze against my hand.

“Lori, stop!”

“This is the only way. Don’t you see, Jasper? The siphon is draining the magic that is keeping her in this state. If I can change it, make her mortal, then the siphon will stop.”

“I don’t like it,” he grumbled.

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