Page 164 of Master of Storms
“Then why is he awake and Marduk… like this?”
“A broken mating bond sometimes takes years to kill the one who remains behind,” Andromeda said, “but Marduk has lost more than that. If he was somehow channeling Ishtar’s magic, then to have it ripped from him like that…. It creates a vacuum within him.”
“Marduk was bonded with Ishtar,” she whispered, easing Marduk’s head back down on the moss and bending to kiss his temples. It all made so much sense.
She’d been able to feel the mating bond, buthenever could.
Because he was already bound.
“If he was truly bound to her, then he was bound to her magic too.” Andromeda shoved forward and slid her knees under his head.
“What does that mean?” The frustration made her want to scream. “How do we fix this? Can’t you use your magic to put more… Chaos inside him?”
“It means he’s dying,” Andromeda warned. “There’s nothing I can do. Chaos magic doesn’t work like that. His spark is gone. And while he couldn’t use it, the magic was threaded all through him.”
“I bound myself to Haakon when he was dying,” Árdís said suddenly. She looked at Solveig. “Is there… any chance?” She looked desperately toward Andromeda. “If he was linked to Ishtar’s magic, then maybe he could survive if he’s linked to Solveig’s.”
The pair of them stared at her.
“It’s possible,” Andromeda said.
Possible. Solveig’s breath came raggedly as she clutched his hand.Never,she had sworn.Ever.
But this was not capitulation to a stranger. This was not surrender. This was… Marduk. To save his life, she needed to be able to share some of her life force.
She tried.
“Please,” she whispered, reaching for him psychically. Harsh wings stirred within her. Fury at the cage closing around it. A tear rolled down her cheek.Don’t fight me, don’t fight me, don’t fight me. Just this once, please don’t fight me.
She was one with thedreki, and it was one with her.
And she could feel its rage and denial.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” she blurted.
“It just happened for me,” Árdís whispered.
“Can you… link us?” Solveig whispered.
Both of the other women looked at her sharply.
“Not a bond. Just a tether,” she added. “Enough for him to use me as his link, until he’s recovered.”
Andromeda shook her head. “If you can’t hold him, then he will take you with him when he—"
“I will hold him,” she said fiercely. “I will hold him here, no matter what I must do.”
Andromeda exchanged a look with Árdís.
“She can do it,” Árdís whispered, reaching over and giving Solveig’s hand a squeeze. “Please try.”
* * *
There weresome moments Solveig would remember forever.
She winged through the air, light flashing off the polar caps ahead of them as she threw a glance over her shoulder to tell Siv to hurry up, only to see an enormous chain lash towards her sister’s form. Wings tore. Siv screamed, and then she was falling, falling… plummeting toward the earth, and there was nothing Solveig could do to stop her, no matter how fast she swooped….
She stood alone on a rocky mountain, covered in blood and crawling toward her fallen mother even as Siv sobbed.
