Page 78 of A Kiss of Flame
Vane’s black eyes grew wild with fury. He did it again; this time, Levian let them all hit the barrier. Each shard turned to smoke and evaporated.
Levian glanced over her shoulder, seeing the shadow creatures attacking Barith. She raised her hand and willed them all to be gone. They all fell away, blending into the purple fog.
"You will die! You will all die!" Vane screamed, his voice laced with fear. He summoned the shadows so that they twisted up his arms.
The magick of the shadow fae pulsed inside her with recognition. Levian reached out, her fingers curling as she took hold of the shadows Vane had summoned. "You should have left the dragon alone," she snapped, twisting the shadows around Vane, binding him in his own power.
His eyes widened with raw disbelief as the magick he wielded betrayed him. Vane fought the bindings, twisting violently, snarling curses and threats at them all.
Levian turned around, her eyes finding Barith. He stood panting, covered in sweat and blood, his clothes torn, his wings still aflame. He looked like an infernal god, powerful and fierce. Levian ran to him, and Barith pulled her into his arms, lifting her off the ground as he hugged her tightly.
"I’m sorry," Levian whispered, her voice cracking with emotion.
Barith grunted, hugging her so tightly she could barely breathe. "Och," he muttered. "I always reckoned if I knew you long enough, I’d lose a limb eventually."
Levian let out a wobbled laugh. "I can fix it," she promised.
Barith grunted again, a smile tugging at his lips. "That’s what ye always say, magick slinger," he said, pressing a kiss to her head.
"Can ye no’?” Cat growled from behind them. They turned to see her glaring at them, the fae silver chain used to restrain Barith in her hands. "There’ll be time for that later,” she snapped, moving toward Vane. "Right now, I just want to get the Hells out o’ this bloody cave."
Barith laughed, pressing a tender kiss just above Levian’s ear.
“Tsuki!” Vane snarled desperately, his voice shrill as Cat grew closer. His transportation magick had also ceased to work.
“Aye, that’s right. Scream for yer wee lass tae come save you,” Cat taunted him.
“How?” Barith asked low, his voice full of concern. It hadn’t escaped his notice that she’d been able to wield the shadows.
“I’m fine,” Levian assured him, not entirely sure she was. “We just need to get out of here.”
In his manic fury, Vane threatened Cat with an array of vivid tortures if she came closer, twisting more violently against the shadowy restraints, his feet slipping dangerously close to the edge of the platform.
Barith cursed suddenly and threw Levian out of the way as a swirl of ash manifested next to them. Tsuki’s sword smashed into the protective magickal barrier around Barith before he could lift his sword, sending her flying back in shock. She crashed into Vane’s legs; that was all it took to send him flying over the platform’s edge. Cat snarled, diving over to try and get him. Realizing what she’d done, Tsuki disappeared in a swirl of ash.
Shouts and snarls echoed up as Levian rushed to the edge with Barith. Levian’s stomach heaved as she heard the distant sound of Vane hitting the ground. She felt she could be sick when the shadow magick settled around her, the threat he’d posed now gone.
Barith cursed with relief as Cat appeared out of the black. “I couldnae—” she panted as she landed. “I got close, but the other—she got hold of ‘im—” The dragon shook her head. “I thought she was gonna disappear, but he said somethin’, and she just let him go an’ vanished without him. The look on his face before—” Cat grimaced and looked away before she finished, “He didnae know she was goin’ to do it.”
Barith wrapped his arms around Levian and pulled her close. “It’s done then,” he said.
Levian didn’t know why Tsuki would let Vane die, but she felt a pang of guilt for the part she’d played in his death. Without his magick, he’d been powerless to stop it. She turned and hugged Barith, planting her face in his chest and pushing away all her worries for at least a moment. He was safe, and that’s all that mattered.
“Come on,” she told him as the purple fog finally dissipated. “Let’s get the Hells out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Barith stood along the dried grasses and dark stone that edged the watering hole he’d swam in as a boy. A small stream that descended from the mountain bubbled as it fell and collected into the dark waters with rippling swirls. The wind whipped his hair, but the chilled air was already growing warmer as winter thawed and spring threatened.
“You’re hard to find when you want to be,” Levian said as she approached the rough path behind him. Barith’s heart thrummed instinctively the closer she came. He’d caught her faint night jasmine perfume in the wind.
Barith hadn’t been trying to hide from her. Knowing the mage had returned to the island, he’d been too anxious and irritated to do anything productive, so he’d gone for a walk.
Levian had taken Catrìona and Judith that morning to give statements before the Wizen Council of Mages about what had happened with Vane. Not him.
The dragon had thought he and Levian had turned a corner since she’d stormed in to rescue him like a commanding goddess. They’d not had a moment alone together in the two days after because Levian had left to report to Council the moment Barith’s tail had been mended. Everything had beenan utter blur, but she’d promised to return to the island—he’d assumed she’d meant she would come back to see him. So far, she’d only made a point of seeing his sisters and mother.
“Is this the place you swam?” Levian asked, peering sideways at him. “The one you told me about at Kamár?”