Page 41 of Kell

Alana blinked as her eyes seemed to come into focus. “I’m sorry, were you talking to me?”

Allorin’s eyes narrowed on her. “You were communing with the temple. Recall the spell.”

Alana tapped her lips with her finger. “About that... We have a little problem.”

“What problem?” Allorin asked.

“I didn’t actually cast the spell. I simply informed Adara that you had the claw. That’s her power. You can try to sever her connection, but good luck with that.”

Allorin stepped toward them before he blasted them with mage fire. The protection bubble was stronger than ever, and Kell realized his mate was boosting his power. He had heard a druid made her dragon mate stronger, but he had never experienced it. This was the first time she had truly accepted who she was and who they were together.

When Allorin realized his attack was having little effect on Kell. He redirected it toward Alana. The bubble moved, so he sent a dagger through the mage fire. The empowered weapon pierced the bubble and embedded in Alana’s shoulder. Kell had managed to redirect it from her heart, but it lacked enough force to alter its trajectory enough to avoid her.

Alana screamed as she fell to the ground, clutching the burning dagger in her shoulder. She ripped it out as blood sprayed across the dirt and dropped it to the earth. Blood gushed between her fingers as she clutched the wound.

Kell growled. “You will pay for that.” He backed away and reinforced the protection spell.

While the mage threw more power into his attack, with Kell’s bubble smaller, it was harder to penetrate. Sweat beaded on Allorin’s brow before it rolled down his hollow cheeks. The dragon’s claw continued to glow brightly.

“Stop it!” Allorin yelled.

Alana swallowed hard. “I already told you, dumbass. I didn’t start the spell, so I can’t stop it.”

Allorin clutched the dragon’s claw in his hand as he sprinted toward the portal.

“Stop him!” Alana yelled as he reached the swirling purple smoke and disappeared inside.

Kell dropped to his knees and placed his hand over her wound. The tissue knit together beneath his palm. “Will Adara continue to drain the dragon’s claw of its magic while it is in a portal?”

Alana breathed a sigh of relief as her skin healed. “I have no idea. This is kind of a first.”

Kell glanced at the portal as it closed. “What happens if he breaks that connection?”

Alana’s eyes were sad. “Then you will wish he had killed us with mage fire.”

CHAPTER23

Atear rolled down her face as she attempted to connect with the temple. The emptiness when there was no response scarred her soul. She had failed. All that preparation. The years of loneliness when she avoided her sister and family. The torture of learning her mother had died, and she hadn’t returned home to see her in those final weeks. Her betrayal of the people she loved and Allorin had gained the one thing that would grant immortality.

Kell touched her cheek. “Stop. You are killing me. You were tasked with an impossible mission, and you took up the burden when you were little more than a child. I failed to keep the claw safe. This is not on you.”

She swallowed the bile in her throat. “I should have come clean sooner about what I was doing. Mara was right. Once I learned she was the seer, there was no reason not to tell her. I would still have stayed away from her. I wouldn’t have told her about Breggar, but she should have known the temple would fall if I failed to acquire the necessary artifacts.”

“You said you have a list. Are there any more artifacts that Adara can use until Tempest comes into her power?”

“There is only one more, and it is even more powerful, but I need Adara’s power to access it. She no longer has the ability to connect with me. I have tried several times.”

Kell’s eyes glazed over, and she heard a faint buzzing noise that she associated with the dragon party line. He blinked when he finished his communion with his brothers. “It is the same for all the druids. Adara hasn’t answered any of their calls.”

“I assume that the siphoning spell was severed when Allorin went through the portal. Adara didn’t get enough of a boost to maintain it.”

“Where is this other artifact? It may be our only option,” Kell said.

“It’s in the temple of Geram, and only Adara can unravel the spell to acquire it. Even if she were dying, I am unsure she would risk unleashing Geram on the world. He will kill the druids and dragons and enslave humanity. He is the source of mage magic and through him, it could be reborn to the human population like the druids were.”

Kell sucked in a breath. “He would sacrifice himself for the better of his species? That doesn’t sound like the mage we grew up hearing about. He was the bogeyman of dragon nightmares when we were children.”

“He is all those things, and he is more powerful than any mage before or since. He would not need to sacrifice himself, as he alone has immortality. His brethren would age and die, but he never will. It’s the reason he was imprisoned. His own people feared his power when they found no way to kill him.”

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