Page 78 of Realm of Wind and Vines
She simply stabs Bane again.
Abandoning my attempts to convince Isera, I instead desperately summon my magic. I have never tried anything like this before, but by Mabona, it has to work.
Pain pulses through the mate bond again.
The moment I feel it, I shove my magic down through our mate bond.
Normally, I can only connect to someone’s emotions when they are within a certain geographical distance. But through the mate bond, I can already feel his emotions, even when he is out of range of my magic. So this should work. It has to work.
I gasp as my magic connects.
It feels different than usual. Stronger. And more complex. Like two separate threads, the mate bond and my magic, woven together to form one braid.
World-ending pain hits me like a boulder as my magic latches on to the violet wildfire of pain in Draven’s chest. The force of it is enough to make me stagger back, my vision blacking out for a second, before I manage to raise my mental walls to protect myself. Once they’re in place, I decrease his pain in one massive push.
A shuddering breath escapes me when I can almost feel a sigh of relief through the mate bond.
Isera slashes Bane across the chest with her ice shard.
Pain tries to spike in Draven’s chest, but I keep my magic pouring down our mate bond so that he can’t feel it.
Isera lifts her shard again.
But then she is suddenly wrenched away from Bane.
Snapping my gaze towards her, I find Orion pulling Iseraaway before setting her down on the floor far out of reach from Bane.
“That’s enough, little viper,” he orders.
She fights against his arms around her chest before managing to tear herself free. Death flares in her eyes as she locks them on him. “Get out of my way.”
“No.” He stares her down with equally commanding eyes. “Unfortunately, we need the brooding beast in order to win this war. So you need to stop stabbing our hostage.”
“I won’t?—”
“Yes, you will.For now.” He takes a firm grip on her chin. “We need Draven. You know that. But once we have him back, I swear to both Malachi and Mabona that I will help you get your revenge.”
It looked like she was about to snarl back at him, but that apparently surprises her enough that she hesitates. Confusion flits across her face for a second, and her mouth remains slightly open, as she just stares back at him.
“I know what it’s like to never have anyone to lean on,” he continues, his gaze searing into hers. “To always have to do everything yourself. To always be alone and unapproachable. But I will help you shoulder this.” A truly wicked smile spreads across his lips. “Trust me, if there is one thing I do really well, it’s revenge.”
She blinks. Then her gaze darts to me, and a flash of guilt flickers in her eyes. Slowly lowering her hand, she lets the shard of ice fade into nothingness.
In the chair, Bane is still bleeding. But since no new stabs of pain hit him, Jessina stops hurting Draven as well. I still keep my magic pouring down our mate bond until our flickering connection is once more broken on its own.
“I want them hurt,” Isera says, her voice full of both pain and anger. “Both of them.”
“Oh, they will be,” Orion promises. “We will make sure of it.”
The memory of what Bane just told Isera, of what he did to her mother, echoes through my mind and mingles with the memories of the pain that Draven is currently enduring. I squeeze my hand into a fist.
Yes. Yes, we will make them both hurt. For this. For everything.
But first, we need to get Draven back.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
When we step through the portal, my mind is calm and clear. I have been able to wrest the black rage and dark hatred back behind the walls inside me again so that I will be able to make smart decisions during this hostage exchange instead of letting Jessina provoke me into making stupid mistakes.
