Draygon Frost | Book 1 | ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Five

Natalia jerked on the cross, her arms pulled on the wraps binding her to the wood. Both legs did the same to their restraints, her knees locking and unlocking with every twist. Energy pooled toward the center of the cross, coiling around her in orange vines snapping and crackling like fire on wood. Her back curled upward, lifting her chest as high as the restraints would allow. There was a hiss as the power hit her chest.

Siobhan narrowed her eyes as a white mist formed around her fingers. Magic curled around her outstretched hand. She glanced to Wren. He'd lifted his free hand and red circled his fingers same as white did hers. The eye she could see had changed to the same color she saw in the spires, only brighter. Wren gritted his teeth and both arms quaked. Sweat glistened on his brow and stuck his now shaggy hair to the back of his neck.

He can't draw this much power without training, Siobhan thought. She looked back to Natalia whose body continued to thrash against the cross, the energy shifting through her and fighting against the black of her veins. Siobhan's eyes drifted to Natalia's bracelet. The emerald swirled with color, the metal glowed bright with molten fire.

Siobhan looked back to Wren. He rocked in place, his eyes drooping. Skin sagged from his cheeks as if melting away. Power continued to swarm his free hand, joining with the magic of the High Mages and Siobhan. Neither of them wanted to be part of the ceremony, they hadn't expected it. The last time she'd witness an attempt to free a mage, it hadn't lasted nearly as long. As soon as the energy hit the mage, it was over. The bracelet exploded and sent a shockwave to the heart that killed him without pain. At that ceremony, Siobhan watched from a safe distance and never once felt compelled to step forward. Her magic didn't pull from her body without control. She was safe.

"This is killing you, Wren," Siobhan said. "Can you feel it? I can certainly see it."

"I'm . . . not . . . trying . . ." He gasped. His head rolled forward, blood dripped from his nose and mouth. "Is . . . it . . . working?"

Siobhan looked back to the bracelet. Truth was, she couldn't tell if it was working or not. Would it matter if it cost Wren his life? To him, probably not. He'd have done anything to save Natalia, even give himself over to the Crimson-cloaks without a care. Maybe with more training he could withstand the power coursing through them, but even Siobhan was starting to feel lightheaded. A few more minutes and she might look as bad as Wren.

Natalia's binds broke free from the cross. The young shifter rose from the wood, hair grew from her arms, the tail of her lioness form ripped from the robes and swished beneath her. One ear twisted into the pointed triangle of a cat.

Goddess, free her before it kills Wren. I beg of you, Siobhan pleaded in her mind.

A boom rolled over head, too loud to be thunder, but not an explosion either. Light from the cracks in the ceiling brightened, the cracks widened until no ceiling remained. It was a sheet of orange glow, fissures exploded from the fast moving surface. Siobhan's lips trembled as the light pushed into Natalia, wrapping her in a blanket. It was working, it had to be working.

She closed her eyes as blood dripped from her nose. Both legs wobbled under her. The hand with the power exploding from it shook, and the one connected with Wren joined in his jerks. Their hands released when Siobhan dropped to her knees and fainted.

***

"M'lady?" Elias' voice echoed.

Siobhan forced her eyes open. She lay on the ground of the cathedral, staring up at the domed painted ceiling. It was no longer the dark, dreary place of the ceremony. This was what Siobhan remembered. Bright colors, blue skies mixing with night skies painted on the ceiling. Elias leaned over her, his hands touching her temples, silver hair hung limp over his shoulders.

"Natalia?" Her voice cracked.

He shook his head.

Siobhan sat up, twisting to look for the cross. It remained in the center of the cathedral with Natalia motionless on top. Wren stood over his loves head, his hands brushing both hair and cheek. Even from that distance she saw the tremble to his arms, the shudder to his torso. She stood slow, unsure how her body would feel after the magic she exerted. To her surprise, there were no ill effects, it was as if she simply woke from a normal slumber.

Natalia could've been asleep, and Siobhan wouldn't have suspected otherwise. Both eyes closed, hands resting on her chest. It was peaceful looking. Her body was in mid shift, the lone sign of something being amiss. Fur grew in scattered patches along her skin, mouth in mid shaping of the flattened lioness nose and jaw. The bracelet lay in pieces on the ground by Siobhan's feet, the emerald no longer glowing.

"I'm so sorry, Wren." She didn't know what else to say but she knew sorry wouldn't ease his pain.

He leaned over her, kissing her forehead. Tears and snot dripped onto the lifeless girl as Wren cried.

"It was killing me," he said. "I could accept that. Then I looked at you. It was killing you too, wasn't it?"

"Honestly, I don't know. Maybe."

"No. It was. You were bleeding from your nose and ears, shaking and barely able to stand. I felt your heartbeat, the pain, your body screaming . . ." He kissed Natalia again. One hand rested on her shoulder and gripped her robes. "I'd give up my life a thousand times over if it meant saving her. I couldn't ask that of you. It wasn't fair. So I stopped it."

"What do you mean you stopped it? How?"

Wren lifted his head. Both eyes were back to normal, blue, and surrounded in the red veins of his tears. Streams of water stained his cheeks, his lips shuddered. Siobhan wanted to hug him, to pull him away from the pain she was all too familiar with. Losing her father was like losing a piece of her soul. She'd never met her mother, but she suspected the feeling would've been the same with her death. It was with Cion's, though she hadn't had a moment to properly mourn him yet.

"I let go of your hand. That's how I stopped it, I let go." He leaned back into Natalia, crying into her forehead. Siobhan touched a hand to his before turning away.

"Stay with him," she whispered to Elias.

"Of course, M'lady."

Her fangs dug into her lower lip as she stomped out of the cathedral, slamming the stained-glass doors behind her. Ayla sat outside and opened her mouth to speak, but Siobhan ignored her. There was only one person she wanted to talk to, nobody else. Flurries of snow brushed against her face and stuck to her hair as she crossed the courtyard. Stone stairs led to the second level, Siobhan took them two at a time. Her nails dug into her palms as she fisted her hands. Magic begged to be freed, called for her to unleash more snow upon Raiven, but she had to ignore the call. Giving into her anger too soon would get her nowhere.

She marched to the only turret in Raiven rising opposite of the cathedral. The door splintered under the force of her shove, but she didn't care. Again, she took two steps at a time, climbing the circular building with her hands still fisted. A mahogany door with an oval eye carved in the center, spiked vines curled outward around the shape, greeted her at the top of the stairs. One boot kicked it open, slamming it against the wall and knocking books off a nearby bookcase.

"How dare you enter the Prime High Mage's quarters in such a fashion!" Gerda shouted.

Siobhan ignored her, her eyes focused on Rufus sitting slumped over at his desk. She marched toward him and slammed both fists on his stone desk. Fissures of frost webbed from the force of her slam as she leaned over, growling.

"How the hell are Wren and I connected?"