Page 138 of Our Radiant Embers

“Like, if you picture the ley lines as an electrical grid, right?” One of his hands fluttered in a vague arch. “So they zip and zap energy across the globe, and here and there, people have figured out how to install a socket.”

“Yeah, baby, speak engineer to me.” My amusement faded almost immediately. “But why three? If it’s about…God, I don’t know. Plugging into the ley lines somehow—why three?”

“I don’t know.” Liam sounded about as lost as I felt. We stared at each other, my thoughts twisting this way and that. I couldn’t fully make sense of things yet, still felt like I was missing crucial pieces of the puzzle. How? But if Gale’s magic really could see a boost…

A boat passed on the river, its lights leaving streaks of colour in my mind. Orange and blue and white and green. The elements as seen through Liam’s eyes. Did Isabelle Blanchard have the same ability?

“Do you think that Isabelle Blanchard can see magic the way you can?” I asked.

“I have no idea.” Liam’s voice was tentative, and I’d been so caught up in my spiralling thoughts that I hadn’t even realised…Shit.

“They don’t know about you.” I reached for him with both a hand and my magic, drawing him close. “Even if she can—it would take a leap to realise what it means. And another leap for her to go running to the Duvals. Who may be beyond caring, at this point.”

“Fuck, Adam.” Liam sagged into me, tiredness coating the words. “When did my life turn into…I don’t even know. This.”

“Around the time you rained on my parade by competing for the Green Horizon Initiative?” I suggested gently, wrapping an arm around his back to bring him even closer. God, I loved him. Right now, that was just about the only thing I knew for sure. Everything else was a spinning kaleidoscope.

His chuckle was slightly halting, a hint overwhelmed. “Yeah, sounds about right. What are we going to do? I’m still—I don’t know how it all fits. But with all those nightmares I keep having, and I know it’s your family, but what if they…This is powerful magic they’re messing with, and it feels wrong.”

It looked wrong, too.

“First things first. We”—I buried my nose in his hair—“will get some sleep. It’s been a fucking awful week?—”

“And whose fault is that?” he cut in, humour blended with a subtle hint of lingering hurt.

“Mine. And I won’t repeat that mistake.” I exhaled, inhaled. “I’m here, and I’m all in.”

He was quiet for a beat, then he raised his head to look at me, night shadows catching in his eyes and voice. “I believe that you believe that.”

Trust still pending. Yeah, I got it. So I kissed him—right there on that public promenade, one hand in his hair and the other flat against his back, his taste familiar and warm. “Get it!” a hooting group of teenagers commented in passing, and we pulled apart, breathless laughter on my tongue even though none of this was a laughing matter.

“Let’s go home,” I told Liam, “and get some sleep. We’ll figure out the rest tomorrow.”

“We will?” He sounded desperate to believe me, so I smiled and pushed my own confusion and questions aside, infusing my voice with certainty.

“We will.”

* * *

Liam’s nightmare jolted me awake.

His breath came out in a gasp, his arm clenching around my chest like a vice. He shifted uneasily behind me, neither away nor closer, just restless. I twisted to look at him in the golden slant of morning light that angled into the room. His features were tight with discomfort, an unhappy pull to his mouth.

“Liam.”

He hissed in a breath and buried his face into the pillow.

“Hey,” I tried again. “Liam. Babe.”

Nothing.

I touched his shoulder. His eyes snapped open, startled and confused, slowly focusing on me as the fear ebbed away.

“Another nightmare?” I asked, voice pitched low to fit the quiet air around us.

“Yeah.” He rolled onto his back and sighed. I tucked myself up against him and we lay like that for a minute, breathing together.

God, I’d thought I’d lost this.

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