Page 179 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

“It’s okay,” Niamh said reassuringly. “It’s much harder under these circumstances.”

“Because last time, if we didn’t make it work, Kierse was going to die.”

“That’s right,” Niamh said. “You’re in no immediate danger.”

“I can try,” Ethan said. He looked sheepish as he added,“We’ve been working on projecting our magic, and I’ve managed it with a handful of my plants.”

But no matter how Ethan tried, the connection wasn’t there.

“Kierse?” Niamh said. “Your turn.”

“All right,” she said with an unconcerned shrug.

When she reached for her powers, they slid against her skin with ease. She’d been working with Graves on her absorption for weeks. This was not so different than turning it on or off with him, only this time she wanted to link with the people who could touch her magic. A thing she and Graves couldn’t do.

Kierse found the sources of Ethan’s and Gen’s magic like a brush of a feather compared to Graves’s torrent—such small and fragile things, it seemed as if they could be snuffed out with a whisper against the flame.

She gingerly reached for them, trying not to blow them out. As one, Ethan and Gen yelped. Gen put her hand to her chest, and Ethan stumbled out of the circle.

Kierse retreated. “Sorry. Sorry. Too much?”

Gen rubbed her chest. “It was like a sucker punch.”

Lorcan took a step toward her. “What were you thinking about?”

His eyes probed hers as if he could read her thoughts. Immediately, the memory where she opened and closed the vault sprang forward, a reflex. But no one was trying to get inside her mind. This was an exercise in lowering her defenses to let people in, and she had been doing that successfully for weeks.

“I was worried I would snuff out their magic. It was so light.”

“You went straight to the source like you’d done it before,” Lorcan said.

She had. She’d reached for Graves’s magic.

“I’ve been training, too,” was all she said.

He pursed his lips in disapproval, but Niamh took back control of the session.

“Good. Let’s try that again, but instead of thinking about avoiding snuffing out their magic, think about offering a hand to it. You don’t want to sucker punch them,” Niamh said with a quirk to her lips. “You want them to come to you.”

“I’ll try again.”

This time she reached out for their magic but ignored that hers felt like an inferno in comparison. These were her friends. Her best friends. They had saved her when all was lost in this world. She would choose them every time. She always had. No matter what came between them. And they would choose her, too.

When she offered her hands to them, their magic embraced her like an old friend. The link settled into place like they were physically holding hands and not standing several feet away from one another.

“Yes!” Niamh cheered. “That’s it. Now hold it steady.”

Kierse kept her hand up, holding the line for all of them. She wasn’t sure either of them had enough magic to link them together normally. Not without some real strengthening. Kierse was naturally gifted, and she hadn’t quite realized it until this moment. Not when she was surrounded by Graves’s raging magic all the time.

“Excellent,” Lorcan said. “Should we try to power share?”

Niamh frowned. “No. Let’s unlink first and do thisagain a few times before they move on.”

“What’s a power share?” Kierse asked as she let the link drop.

Ethan and Gen gasped as they nearly doubled over from the effort. Kierse had been the one holding the whole bond up. While she did feel marginally drained, she wasn’t going to collapse. Not compared to doing draining mind work with Graves. Had he been leveling her up?

“You move up and down the bond,” Lorcan explained. “Kierse would give power to Ethan, who would pass it to Gen and back. Then vice versa. You want to get used to feeling the sense of the bond and sharing the energy.”

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