Page 103 of A Baron of Bonds
“Karus!”
I heard his fear and could do nothing for it.
The simulated sun was heavy, and I remembered that, too.
I fell to my knees as it grew to the size of the door and began to pulse.
“Rev,” I whispered, terror gripping me to a standstill on my knees, memories of that night still flashing before my eyes.
And then…darkness.
I blinked on my back, wondering if I had fainted.
The sun was gone, but the heaviness remained, pumping through my blood rapidly and pressing on my chest in the dim room with only a sliver of light seeping in from the hallway.
No, that wasn’t the sun’s residual weight.
That was Rev.
“Are you alright?” he breathed above my face, smoothing hair back from my head and murmuring, “Incendo.”
I squinted in the sudden flare of light as the sconces along the walls flickered to life. I nodded, my eyes darting all over the room, my pulse still reflecting my panic.
“Karus.” He cupped my cheek, easing off my chest. “I breathe, you breathe. Ready?”
I kept my eyes on his and inhaled long and deep through my nose, exhaling out of my mouth in the same beats as he did. I followed his lead four times before I felt my heart settle, and I sat up, taking his hand to rise off the floor.
A muscle ticked in his jaw as he looked over my appearance.
“That bad?” I asked, holding my arms out in front of me to see specks of black remnants of the Blight.
“Your hair. It has more streaks of white.”
I touched my head, pulling strands in front of my face. There were certainly more of them, but I sighed in relief to find that the color still mostly held a chestnut hue.
“Is it hideous?”
“No.”
“Are you…are you upset with me?”
He laughed sardonically and pulled me close to his chest. “Absolutely not. You were glorious.”
“Why can’t I break that spell?” I questioned, my cheek pressed to his neck, flecked with the same black spots of liquid that splattered mine. I traced a small burn there, whispering a spellto mend his skin.
“I wish I knew.”
“You can’t just knock me over every time I use it…though that seems to be the only thing that works.”
“What makes you think you’ll ever be using it again?”
I pulled back from his neck. “How else are we going to rid Felgren of the rest of the Blight? And Viridis? How will we return Viridis to what it once was?”
“Certainly not by that spell, or at least certainly not from you using it.”
I scoffed. “I’mfine. It’s the only thing we’ve found to work, and I can hold the spell longest. Unless you want to train for it.”
“I think I will.”
