Daughter of Tide and Illusion

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The tether of her magic flowing into Jai snapped as soon as both of them knew what was happening. It wasn't fast enough for Mik to not siphon it from his blood after he sliced his fingertip across his forehead, creating a gash that sent blood gushing down Jai's face.

It wasn't her own doing. Not even Mik's.

It was Jai who did it.

He severed that link between them as soon as he realized what Mik was doing with that obsidian stone, sending what was left of Lyv's magic surging back to her, making her legs buckle under her when it hit.

As soon as her hands and knees hit the stone road, she started reliving a nightmare she'd told herself over and over was real in its own sense, but not real in the way she'd thought it had been.

Seeing Jai in front of Mik, looking up at as blood drenched his face, neck, and the front of his tunic...it ripped her in two to see him kneeling, her strong, powerful, beautiful mate brought to his knees in defeat. Images of the Escarrali palace throne room flashed in her mind. A head that wasn't actually her mate's rolling across the marble, disconnected from the body...

No. It wasn't him then.

But now, this was real.

Before, she'd felt every single strike, the fiery rage of the shadows from the first moment they hit him. It was the attack on Asturia all over again, except Jai had been hit this time, his magic smothered. Lyv knew what she had to do, having read stories of mates tethering their magic to one another to make them stronger when they were together. With Jai's magic fully restricted by Mik's shadows, it was only Lyv's that filled him, but it was enough.

It was enough until Jai had snapped that link, sending a following shockwave down that silver chord that connected them.

The obsidian stone glowed as Mik grinned, looking back at Lyv, before his shadows overtook him.

And he disappeared.

Leaving Jai to slump forward onto the ground.

Another scream echoed through the streets.

It was Lyv's as Jai's name tumbled from her lips.

Gideon and Thia were the first ones to get to him, those who had found shelter from the fight slowly coming back out to survey the damage done. Lyv wasn't paying any mind to them, though, screaming Jai's name again as she lunged forward on shaky legs to land beside him.

It wasn't just Chamin citizens who were around them, but also guardsmen who charged through, looking for the male responsible. Lyv already knew they wouldn't find him. Or Allel, since she was never far behind.

Gideon was already pulling Jai onto his back, cursing at the gash that had yet to heal. Lyv's hands shook as she tried to wipe it away as best she could. It wasn't just the gash she'd seen that scared her. Jai's normally tanned, olive-toned skin had turned to an ashy white, skin tight across his muscle and bones.

"Can you...can you hear me?" she asked him, leaning over him as she put her trembling hands against his cheeks. "Oh, gods, I'm sorry. I knew and yet you still came. I knew this would happen. Why couldn't you have just stayed away?"

All she got was a rattling breath.

"Jai?" she whispered. "Jai! I swear to all the gods and the Mother above, don't you dare do this to me, not when I just got you back!"