The Bound (Ascension #2)(120)

They moved together at the same time. All those months they had been holding back cracked open between them. Their lips touched and tongues explored.

He leaned her back on the bed and covered her body with his. The pressure of him against her just made her crave more. His hand slid under the fabric of her dress and caressed her calf, knee, and thigh. Her own hands were clutching his chest and back, trying to get him closer.

Fire built within her body as magic seemed to come alive with their connection. Every place his hands touched her was a shock to her system, both intense and jolting. She had never felt so alive.

When she pushed him back to tug his shirt over his head, her heart was hammering in her chest. She was entirely exposed and vulnerable to him. But Dean gazed at her with the most caring and wonderful look in his eyes. Those eyes swore to her with everything he was that he loved her…and they were going to be together.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

She nodded. Her body was shaking. Her powers were alive and pooling inside her, like she was about to release more energy than she ever had in her whole life. It was a buildup that could tear down kingdoms or re-create the world.

“Yes,” she confidently told him.

And then, as their bodies came together, she released that energy. Every last ounce of it, she let flow from her, and with all her might, she pushed it out into the world. It was like heaven and bliss and sweet pleasure. It was the best feeling in existence.

There was a split second of perfection. A perfect calm. A perfect stillness. A perfect being.

And then the waves started.





Cyrene and Dean made it above deck just as the first wave crashed on board. She almost lost her footing as water sloshed over her dress and under her silk slippers. Dean caught her at the last minute. He shoved her toward the railing.

“Hold on!” he cried over the sound of the storm.

Wind whipped her hair around her face and whistled in her ears. Her heart was still hammering after what had happened. Then, she looked all around her in horror.

The water that had been a little rough when they first went out on the water was now devastating. Thick black clouds hung overhead. Sheets of rain could be seen in the near distance, and it was traveling fast. The waves themselves were already ten feet high and growing. She dipped with the rocking of the boat, thankful for her sea legs.

“When did this start?” Dean called to one of the crew working on the deck.

He had huge frightened eyes. “Just now, Your Majesty. It came on so suddenly. We had mostly clear skies, and then, out of nowhere, the world erupted.”

Dean shook his head. “That’s impossible.”

“I saw it, too, Your Majesty,” another sailor confirmed.

Cyrene felt sick about what the sailors had said. The storm had just come upon them. With no expectation for a storm of this magnitude. Her hands were shaking with the realization.

“Dean…” she said shakily. She could barely be heard over the wind.

“Not now. Let me find out what’s happening. Go below deck, and get out of the rain,” he said.

“Dean!” she cried.

He turned to her with concern in his eyes. He took her hands. “Please, go below deck. We have a very small crew, and this looks like a full-blown hurricane. I have to help get us to safety. I don’t think there’s time to get us back to the capital.”

“I can help,” she said warily.

“No. Even if you were a sailor, you don’t know these waters.” Dean shook his head. “The Creator must be punishing us.”

“What? Why?” she demanded.

“Brigette threw the ring in the holy water without a prayer. She did this.” Cyrene was about to open her mouth to protest, but Dean shook his head. “She’s cursed us. Now, please, get somewhere safe.”

Dean ran off to help the sailors on board, but she could see that it was no use. The waves were too high. The hurricane was coming in too fast. The rain was too heavy.

And she had done this.

When she had pushed her magic out into the world, she had called forth this storm. She, Matilde, Vera, and Avoca had been working on pushing a storm out into the ocean to prevent Ahlvie and Orden from being pursued and to hopefully prevent the Byern army from coming into open water after her. Matilde and Vera had told her that it would never be of full magnitude because they couldn’t go out on open water, and they didn’t want to push Cyrene too much. She was the first magical user in two thousand years with abilities to control the weather…and she had just brought a hurricane down on top of herself.

Dean could try all he wanted to get them to safety, but she had to do what she could to try to stop this. No matter what happened, she couldn’t unleash this on the world.

Bracing herself against the wind and rain, Cyrene reached into herself for her magic. She nearly gasped when so little of it came to her. She had used so much to draw in this hurricane, and she hadn’t even meant for it to happen. She had been so caught up in Dean that her magic had just worked its own way, feeding off of her adrenaline and energy to create something beautiful…and terrible.

Cyrene held on for dear life as the boat dipped and curved with the force of the waves. She dug deeper and deeper into her core, demanding more energy. She needed to control it, contain it. There were consequences for tampering with the weather, especially to this degree. She didn’t want to find out what would happen if she couldn’t stop this. But she hadn’t used this much magic without being linked to Avoca since she had fought off the Indres. And that felt like a lifetime ago.