The Bound (Ascension #2)(121)

More magic filled her veins, but it wasn’t enough. She could almost cry. It definitely wasn’t enough. She was depleted and drawing this much out of her reserves was painful. She could feel it singeing through her fingertips and down to her toes. If she drew more, she could black out…or worse, burn out.

But she couldn’t stop.

She swirled the water back in the way it had come. When she had released before, she hadn’t even thought about it. It had left her body, fully formed. Now, she needed to counteract everything she had done, and the scary part was that she didn’t even know how to do it. They had only worked on starting the disaster…not fixing it.

Fear pricked at her. She didn’t want to let this thing run its course.

“What are you doing?” Cyrene heard Dean yell, even over the sound of the wind.

That broke her concentration, and she felt some of her magic dwindle. She contemplated ignoring Dean’s call, but then she heard an unexpected voice.

“Did you think you would just get away with it?”

Cyrene frowned. “Robard.”

How had he gotten on board? She hadn’t seen the crew, but she was sure that Dean would not have included him as part of this. Her stomach dropped. She had a horrible feeling about this. Holding on to her magic as best as she could, she gave up her position on the deck and dashed toward the sound of Dean’s voice.

She found Dean and Robard squared off on the slippery deck. They both had their swords in their hands, and their feet were planted in defensive positions. She was facing Dean, but when he saw her, he actually looked fearful. That must have gotten Robard’s attention because he turned around and lunged for her.

Cyrene screamed and dived out of the way. On instinct, she called up a wave to push him away from her as she ducked and rolled. Her shoulder was already throbbing from the impact. When she looked back up, Robard was a few feet away from her, drenched from head to toe. He looked at her as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened.

“Witch!” Robard called. He regained his footing and looked ready to attack her. “Is this why you’ve been harboring her? She’s a black magic user?”

Cyrene nearly laughed at him, but she wanted to get as far away as possible from him. He had murder in his eyes. She scrambled to her feet and dashed to Dean. He held his sword high to protect her even though it was clear that she could hold her own. At least until she depleted her energy source.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dean said.

“She just used an evil spell on me.”

“I did nothing of the sort,” Cyrene said defiantly. “All I did was keep you from attacking me!”

“What is this all about, Robard? Why are we fighting? You used to be like my brother!”

“Like your brother,” Robard cried. “Close but never close enough. You were promoted as an officer first, and you became Captain first. You’ve gotten everything because you are the Prince.”

“I’ve worked hard for what I’ve achieved. Maybe if you stopped complaining and put that energy into something worthwhile, you could have made Captain instead of trying to cheat me into it,” Dean cried.

“I put everything into my training. I came from nothing and worked harder than anyone. I lived in the training facility, but it was never enough. There was no way I could ever be the prince. Then, she walks into your life,” Robard cried, pointing his sword at Cyrene, “and suddenly, everything is just perfect. Now, you’re going to wed, and once again, I have nothing.”

“What does Cyrene have to do with anything?”

“Because the Queen, your mother, refused to give me Alise’s hand!” Robard roared. “I did everything I could to show her just the kind of person Cyrene was. Then, even when she is forced to go back to where she belongs, you find a way to get around it.”

Cyrene gasped. “Wait, this was your doing? Did you send the letter to Byern?”

“I had Alise officially send it,” Robard taunted. “But everything was my plan, and it would have worked, too, if Dean hadn’t proposed!”

“You dirty bastard! Can’t have everything you want, so you try to take away my happiness! You will pay for your sins.”

Then, Dean hurled himself at Robard.

It was as if Cyrene were watching the two fight in the sand pit to see who would become Captain all over again. Except, this time, there was no general to determine the winner, and she doubted either of them would stop before the killing blow.

Robard countered Dean’s attack, and then they paced together in a choreographed dance. They knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The last time she had seen their sword fight, Dean had won, but Robard had forced him to concede to his weakness. He couldn’t kill his friend. Cyrene saw that Dean was not going to have that problem today, but Robard seemed confident. Recklessly confident. If he overestimated Dean’s ability to forgive him, then he would be in a world of hurt.

Cyrene hurried out of their way so she could fix this. Because she had to fix this. She concentrated on what was going on around her and felt her powers push out into the atmosphere. She didn’t know what she was doing, but she had to try.

Holding on to her powers with a tight leash, she propelled them outward until she could feel almost a residue of what she had done before. Her powers were everywhere. In every drop of water and every air current and every cloud. The ocean teemed with her magic. It was too much and not enough. She could have sat in this trance forever, like a purgatory for her powers.