Page 22 of The Bound Mage
“Since the first time you touched me in my dream.” His gaze searched hers, pleading. “That kind of connection isn’t given to just anyone,ael’sura.”
“But—that was before I even knew you were real.” Hurt sliced through her shock, sharp and angry. “Are you saying you knew theentire time? And you saidnothing?”
“It’s not that simple.” Loren’s throat bobbed, his voice shaking. “I’m not the male I thought I would be. Being my mate—look what happened to my mother. If the Shaws or Hale ever figured it out…” He looked at her then, his eyes shining with unshed tears. “In my worst nightmares it’s you locked in that cell under the Aetherium, trapped and powerless.”
Araya gaped at him, every word lodging somewhere deep in her chest, twisting and tearing at her heart.
“That’s why you can’t go back to him,ael’sura,” Loren said. “I’m sorry. I never wanted to take your choice away from you.”
“But youdidtake my choice,” she said. “And now what? You tell me I’m your mate and that’s it? I just stay here forever because you say so? How is that any different from what Jaxon did?”
“I don’t own you,” Loren protested, his words tumbling out like they’d been dammed up inside him for weeks. “Yes, I claimed you—but only to get you to safety. I swear, I have no expectations that you’ll complete it. Eloria might make an issue of it, but?—”
“Eloria?” Araya stared at him. “Why would your sister care?”
“She thinks completing the bond will help me control the shadows.” Loren glanced away, like he couldn’t bear to meet her eyes. “But I don’t care. I didn’t even want to tell you?—”
“You weren’t even going totellme?” Araya pressed a hand to her chest, trying to relieve the pressure as heat coiled under her skin. Loren’s mouth was moving, answering her. But she couldn’t hear him anymore—her world narrowing to the fury boiling in her blood.
Magic rose to meet it, a rising tide of aether that bloomed behind her ribs, splitting her skin?—
“Araya—” Loren froze, his shadows rising around him. “Your magic. You have to?—”
But his warning came too late.
Sparks leapt from her fingertips, racing up her arms. Then floor shuddered under their feet, sending her to her knees as chips of stone rained down on them. Araya pressed her hands to the floor, fighting to ground herself—but the pressure just kept building. Her blood burned in her veins, the wild tang of aether searing her nose as it pressed against her skin.
“You have to control it.” Loren’s voice cut through the roaring in her ears as he dropped to his knees beside her. “You’re going to bring this crypt down right on top of us.”
“I—I can’t,” Araya choked out, the words nearly lost in the rush of power drowning her. “I don’t know how.”
She could feel it slipping—no,crashing—out of her control. Threads of aether lashed like bolts of lightning, sparking against the stone. The world tilted on its axis, that wild, uncontrollable power spiraling closer and closer to the peak where it would rip her and everyone around her to pieces.
Loren hesitated, his eyes flashing. But then, with a muttered curse, he surged forward, closing the distance between them.
“Let me help you,” he begged, holding out his hand. “Before you kill us both.”
Araya’s mind screamed at her to push him away, to refuse his help, but the power still churning inside her didn’t leave room for pride or fear. She reached for him, their fingers tangling. Aether roared down the bridge between their bodies, pouring from her like water over a shattered damn. Araya gasped, collapsing against him as relief and agony twisted together in a dizzying spiral. Gods, it felt?—
Wrong. It should have feltwrong. Her whole life, having her power drained had left her hollow. Weak. Like something vital had been scraped from the core of her being. Butthis?—
This felt like the first deep breath after drowning. Like the sun thawing her from the inside out after an endless winter. Heat uncoiled in her chest, settling deep in her belly where it pulsed in time with something ancient and primal.
She shuddered in Loren’s arms, caught between the urge to pull away and the dark, undeniable certainty that this was different.
Loren’s lips brushed her ear, whispering something she didn’t quite catch. She shivered, losing herself in the feel of hishands stroking down her back, the scrape of his nails against her scalp as he combed the sticks and leaves from her hair. The shadows curled around them both, pulsing with the same frantic rhythm as their hearts. Araya didn’t know how long she floated there, melting into the warmth of his embrace until she couldn’t tell where his power ended and hers began.
By the time she came back to herself, she was curled in his arms, her fists tangled in the fabric of his shirt like she’d been clinging to him for her life.
Araya wrenched herself back, scrambling out of his arms. Loren let her go without protest, even the shadows dropping away to gather at his feet again. He watched, not speaking as she hastily smoothed down her clothes.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Araya managed a shaky nod, pressing a trembling hand to her chest, trying to steady her racing heart. Gods, she’d nearly killed them both.
“Fine,” she croaked. “I’m fine. Thank you. I’ll just?—”
“You won’t doanythinguntil you explain what just happened,” Loren said, his voice sharp. “Why is your magic surging? Didn’t Ilyana give you exercises to do?”
