Page 63 of The Mating Frenzy
“Of course. Your instincts are becoming more honed. The instincts come first, and then the powers.” Drust sighed. “It would be more useful vice versa. Next time, Lady Ella, curb your instincts. Consult with Kieran first as I will not be around tobarbecue.”
Kieran stared at his hands, still stunned by this new ability to conjure ice and snow and cold. “What happened to me? Why can I summon the powers of the Winter Kingdom? Is this a newtrait?”
For a moment Drust said nothing. Then the dragon sighed. “No. You always had it within you, Kieran. Every time you visit the Skin world, you could manifest it. It only appeared now, because you were in direneed.”
Shock slammed into him. All these years, he’d had this talent and no one toldhim?
“You bastard. You mean I could have used it to helpKiera?”
“The power is within you when you need itmost.”
Tension thrummed through him like a live wire. He could have saved his sister. Except he had not known he’d held this magick. He’d been too frantic, tooupset.
Drust gave them both a long, meaningful look. “You are on your own now, cat. Be on guard. I warded this area with magick, but the dark creatures will know you are here, and find a way around the shields to get to you. The sooner Lady Ella comes into her powers and destroys the crystal, the safer both of you willbe.”
Drust bowed again to Ella and then shifted into his dragon form. He flew into the blue sky andvanished.
Torn between needing to stay and guard Ella against the increasing threats surrounding her, and taking time to indulge his grief, he paced wildly. And then a man materialized on the beach next tohim.
Tristan, the Silver Wizard. Dressed all in black, his dark hair tipped with silver, the wizard lookedsympathetic.
“Go run, Kieran. I will watch overher.”
Tristan sat on the sand, hooking his arms around his knees. Ella sat next tohim.
Kieranran.
He raced down the beach, through the low surf, pounding the sand with his feet. He ran until reaching a grove of mangroves and the beach vanished. Kieran pushed past them and finally dropped to his knees in thewater.
A single low, long howl came from histhroat.
“Why? Why?” He shook a fist at the sky. “You bastards, all of you. I could have saved my sister! I could have given her a fighting chance with my powers! I hate all of you. You let herdie!”
Tears streamed down his cheeks, mixing with the salt water sloshing against him. “She was so sweet, so innocent. Kiera never harmed anyone. I miss her so much. I want her back. Please, bring her back tome.”
Only the wind rustling through the mangrovesanswered.
“Kiera,” he whispered, his sobs wracking him. “Oh, Kiera. I’m so sorry. I let you down. I let you die. I miss you so much. I miss the way you used to laugh when the wind teased your hair, how you ran through the forests here, and climbed trees and pelted me with snowballs. I’m sosorry.”
He could not go on. It hurt more than the flames that had seared his back. This burning was inside him, a wracking grief as piercing as when he’d buried his littlesister.
Because back then, he felt he’d done all he could to protect her. Now he knew that he’d held powers that could have let herlive.
Back then, the Skins had weapons he could have frozen with a flick of his hand. He could have turned them into ice sculptures and spirited Kieraaway.
A gentle voice spoke into his mind. “You were always the strongest, Kieran. You are a survivor and you were meant to surviveall.”
No. He wasn’t. It was a freak of nature that he lived, not because he was strong. He did not care that he could save the entire damnworld.
“I give up,” he told the sky. “I’m not doing your damn dirty work for you any longer. You want Ella to find her powers and save the world and her mother? Do ityourself.”
For a few minutes, he sat in the surf, letting the grief work through him. And then he realized how foolish he looked andsounded.
Something had drawn him to Ella. She needed him, even if he didn’t think he could be of much use. And if he abandoned her now, she was good as gone. The connection between them was strong and solid. He didn’t like it, didn’t want it, but there was no denying thetruth.
He might have failed with Kiera, but resolve filled now him. He would not fail withElla.
Running away solved nothing. As much as he hated this world, and hated the fact he could have saved his sister and did not, he had a duty toElla.
