Page 77 of Clash of Storms
Sirius loomed around her, as if he were cupping his hands around the small flame that was her. In that moment she felt both protected and cocooned by the feel of him. The link between them forged, and suddenly she could feel him inside her.
There was no hiding here.
Thoughts brushed against her like the flicker of winds; an odd sadness that lingered from the mention of his mother; delight she was accepting his touch; worry for his brother; and something else....
He was hiding something.
"I'm hiding a lot of things,"he breathed into her mind. "But I'll assume if you mean to push forward through my inner walls, then I may answer in kind?"
Like hell.
Sirius chuckled.
"I thought so. Think of fire, Malin. Reach for that coal within you, the one you use to conjure flames. Let it burn within you."
Sweat dampened the back of her neck. This was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do. She felt her magic smoldering within her, banked and resentful.
"Don't wrestle with it,"Sirius told her."Embrace it. Open yourself to it. It's a part of you."
"I don't know... how." The words came from between her grit teeth.
"Then trust me. Let me show you."
The pressure of his mind intensified. Malin panicked as she sensed him pouring through the bond like an overwhelming wave of Sirius. He spread through every nook and cranny until she was surrounded by him; trapped in his heat and scent; helpless before his every whim; splayed open against every little secret he might wish to steal from her.
There was no pushing him out, but she tried.
"Trust me,"he whispered, and the lash of his mind brushed against hers, akin to the sensation of his finger stroking her palm."I shall take nothing that isn't given freely."
She could sense him waiting patiently, not pushing any further.
Malin swallowed, staring up into his eyes, but seeing so much more.
And suddenly she opened, blooming like a flower.
Down they spiraled, Sirius taking her with him. The ember of magic within her heart pulsed, as if it sensed his presence and warmed to it. Instead of locking around it and forcing it to his will, he showed her how to cup it gently until rivulets of lava poured between her metaphorical fingers.
Heat burned within her. A flicker of pure flame lighting as her magic reared its head, intrigued by this new proposition. Malin's breath escaped her. She could feel it welling up within her.
"Embrace it,"he told her."Breathe life into it. Let it fill your veins with magic."
A flutter came from within, soft wings unfurling as if something felt her reaching for it and woke.
Malin gasped and her eyes blinked open as she lost the link between them. "What was that?"
Sirius smiled with pure delight.
"It's there, Malin," he whispered. "Thedreki'sthere. I can feel it within you. Try again, this time without me."
She took a deep breath, and reached within herself.
Wings whispered against her consciousness. She tried so desperately to grab on to them, to throw herself at the flutter of her innerdreki, but it slipped through her fingers like gossamer silk. Transparent and weightless.
"You cannot force it, sweetheart. Surrender to it. Let it slip beneath your skin. Feel it in your bones and your heart. Fan those flames. Give them room to breathe. Give them life."
There was nothing there to grab.
Nothing substantial enough to give life to. That whisper of wings vanished as if it had never been, leaving her empty.
