Page 178 of Rising Out of the Darkness
Her bottom lip quivered. Pressure began to build behind my own eyes, my vision becoming cloudy. A howl bellowed, followed by several thousands more. The muscles along my spine froze in place.They’re coming.
“Dec…I’m so afraid. I don’t want to die.”
My chest throbbed, but I pulled her closer.
“I can’t lose my friends, my family…I—I can’t lose you, not when I just found you.”
“You will never lose me, love. I told you I would love you forever, and that means even after our bodies turn to ashes in the wind.” I managed to smile, trying to wince from the pain that still radiated through my exhausted body. “You can’t get rid of me so easily, love. When we meet the gods, we’ll do it together.”
With the strength I had left, I pressed my lips against hers. Each brush of our lips left an imprint, an unspoken promise of the love that we would bring with us, even after we left this realm. I closed my eyes, trying my best to commit her scent, her taste to memory. Though it might have been one of the gentlest kisses that we had ever shared, it was full ofpassion. It was one that I will never forget.
Her body jolted, breaking our kiss, at the sound of more howls. They were so much closer now.
“I wish we had more time,” she mumbled into my chest.
“Me too, love.”
The ground underneath us began to tremble.
“We can’t—” Lena swallowed. “We can’t let them live, Declan. There are real people inside those beasts, we can’t let them continue to be hurt and used by Alastor. We also can’t let them hurt the rest of the kingdom. You and I barely were able to kill the three we fought against. Imagine what would happen if there was an attack from all of them at once.”
She was right, there was no way we could allow these beasts to live. However, I was unsure how we were going to get rid of them in our current situation.
“I think I know a way to stop them,” she whispered. Either I spoke my thoughts into her mind, or she could read the emotion written all over my face. “While in the castle, I—” She licked her lips. “What if we used the rest of our dynamis together? Every. Last. Drop.”
“Do you still feel dynamis within you?”
“I feel a little hum, but it feels almost drained completely.”
It could work. It had been a powerful blow to the beasts the last time we’d used it. Now that we had completed the bond, our dynamis would be even stronger together. It also might be the only way we could summon our dynamis from our exhausted bodies.
She entwined her fingers in mine and rested our hands on top of my chest. “When I tell you to, I want you to forget about all of the other emotions swirling inside of you and just focus on one. Every time my dynamis was most powerful, I thought about one and only emotion.”
“Love?” I hummed against her forehead.
“Yes,” she breathed. With just one word, my soul ripped wide open. She sniffled against my chest. “It’s time.”
Digging down to the depths of my dynamis, I called forth the swell of magic. As the presence of dynamis flooded my body, my muscles convulsed. Both of our exhausted bodies shook as they struggled to contain the dynamis we summoned. Taking one last look at my soulmate next to me, I pulled up every memory, every moment that made me burst wide open with love.
Vibrant light flooded my vision. Elena and I were both dripping in violet, her golden glow surrendered for the purple hue. It felt like my skin was about to erupt with fire. Turbulent wind began to swirl around us, tossing our hair back and forth. Her violet eyes held my gaze, even as our bodies began to hover above the ground.
Her lips mouthed words, but the chaos happening around us was too loud for my ears to hear her. Then, she spoke through our bond. I felt her words all the way down to my soul. They flowed through me like the blood within my veins, like the breath that filled my lungs.
“I’m scared.”
“I’ll be right by your side. You’ll never be alone, love,” I whispered into her mind. “I love you.”
We hovered several feet above the ground now. From above, we could see the beasts spread out over the ground like the shadow of darkness itself. My heart thundered against my chest, beads of sweat dripped down my forehead and neck. I glancedover at Elena. Her head bobbed in a nod. This was it. A solitary tear slid down her cheek as she silently counted us down.
One…
My skin began to tear at the seams.
Two…
Fire engulfed my lungs.
Three.
