Page 64 of Secrets of Avalon

I pull Melinda’s body closer to mine. Her skin is clammy and her breathing is shallow. She’s trembling under the effort to hold back her magick.

Kellan scoops Melinda into his arms, breaking our handhold. Mine. I want to snarl and fight. I should be carrying her.

His dragon guardian swirls around them both, a protective shield against the world outside. “Come,” he pins me with a hard look and pushes through the crowd. I have no choice but to follow. We make our way through the crowd, away from the festivities and the market, the sounds of laughter and music fading behind us as we turn toward the guest tower and the enclosed garden around its base.

We're almost running now, our steps urgent and hurried, the need to get Melinda to safety a driving force that propels us both forward. The air around us crackles with energy, a static charge that sets my teeth on edge and raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

"Hawke. Kellan," Melinda gasps, her voice strained and breathless. "I can't... I can't hold it much longer."

Panic grips my heart like a vice, squeezing the air from my lungs. I don’t know if the nausea flooding my system is from her or my worry about what will happen if she does lose control.

I need her. I need to touch her. “Put her down.”

“You can’t touch her like this,” Kellan snarls. “I have to help her hold back the magick.”

"They're going to kill him. They're going to take him away from me. I can't lose Hawke. I can't lose this place. I belong here. Kellan, I need him," she sobs, the words tumbling from her lips in a broken, desperate stream, each one a knife to my heart. "Please." The panic in her voice is tearing my soul to pieces.

“Your magick, Domina.”

"I can take it," I say, my voice firm and unwavering, a certainty that I don't fully feel but cling to nonetheless. "Give her to me." The nausea is a living thing now, a writhing mass of agony that threatens to bring me to my knees, but I push through it, my need for Melinda stronger than any physical discomfort. "Now!" I order, my tone allowing no argument.

He hands her to me, a precious, fragile burden that I cradle against my chest like the most valuable treasure in all the realms. Because she is.

He takes a few steps back, his dragon guardian spirit going with him, its ethereal form disappearing from the air and melting back into his skin.

I sink to the ground with her in my arms. Her legs go around my waist and her arms around my neck, a desperate, clinging embrace that speaks of her need, her fear, her love. She does love me. I know it in my bones.

She buries her face in my shoulder and ragged hiccups of breath shake her body.

“I’m here. Melinda, I need you to breathe. I need you to feel me. You’re safe.”

"But you're not!" she wails, the words a raw, agonized cry that rips through the air like a physical force.

The darkness inside me surges forward, a hungry, predatory thing that drinks in her scent, her essence, her very soul. My fangs descend, razor-sharp and hungry. I scrape them along the bare skin of her shoulder, a primal, possessive gesture.

I want to bite. I want to claim her. I want to mark her as mine forever, to bind her to me in a way that can never be undone.

But I can’t do it yet. Not like this.

I have to have my parent’s blessing or I have to wait until I am king, until I can make her mine in the eyes of the law and the realms.

Episode 9

CHAPTER 26

Summoned By The Queen

Melinda Mayweather

The gentle caress of Hawke's hand on my back slowly eases the tremors wracking my body. I'm vaguely aware of the lush garden surrounding us, the soft chirping of birds and the sweet scent of blooming flowers mixed up with anxiety churning inside me.

My chest is tight, each breath difficult. The residual energy from my uncontrolled magick crackles beneath my skin, like a living thunderstorm.

"Breathe, Melinda." The warmth of his breath against my ear sends a shiver down my spine, grounding me in the present. "Just focus on my heartbeat. Let it guide you back to me."

I press my ear against his chest, the steady thrum of his heart a lifeline I cling to desperately. The confrontation with the Darkwoods has left me feeling exposed and vulnerable, as if my very soul has been sliced open for all to see.

My fingers clutch at Hawke's shirt, the fabric rough against my hypersensitive skin. I lost control of my emotions and with them my magick flared into a force that threatens to consume me and anyone around me.