Ancient Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress #1)(59)

I sucked in a shuddering breath. He was right. I didn’t want to take his power. I didn’t want to become a true FireSoul. But this boy wasn’t bad. He wasn’t evil. What had enslaved him was evil. What hunted me was evil.

And he was dying. So I’d make his death count. I’d use his power to save myself and my deirfiúr. To defeat what came for us.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Aaron.”

“Thank you, Aaron.”

He nodded.

“How do I do it?” I asked.

“You’ve already killed me. Now you must be the flame. Make a channel for the power to pass. Light us up.”

“I’m not an Elemental Mage. I have no fire.”

“Yes, FireSoul, you do. It is within you. It is you.”

It is me? I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind, to seek out and feel the power that was within me. I’d repressed it so long that at first it felt wrong. Dangerous. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, competing with the sound of Aaron’s ragged breaths. Tears rolled down my cheeks at the knowledge of what I was doing.

“Try harder,” Aaron croaked. “Use your fire.”

I didn’t know what that meant. I pictured fire, imagined its heat and flicker. The flame I saw in my mind’s eye was a shimmering white. It was my flame. It was me.

Slowly, I felt it build. The flickering white flame filled my body, warm and growing hotter. It filled my chest and then my limbs, until finally it escaped and crawled across my skin.

“It’s hot,” I breathed. It was starting to hurt.

“Nothing is without price,” Aaron said.

I opened my eyes. Aaron’s face was peaceful. White flame flowed from me, extending out to him. It enveloped him, making him transparent enough to see through.

“Now take,” Aaron said. “Lightning is my root power. That will become yours.”

The flame was starting to really burn. I had to hurry. My power reached out for his, searching for the signature of lightning. I felt the dark magic poisoning him and tried not to gag. My magic skirted around it, reaching into his soul. It was pure and bright there, entirely separate from the dark magic I’d initially felt from him.

When I felt his sense of peace—the relief he felt at this moment of death—tears of gratitude rolled down my cheeks. I hated that his life had brought him to this, but I was so grateful he was content now. I could never steal the gifts of an unwilling supernatural. It would destroy me.

Finally, the feel of his lightning butted up against my magic. I’d found it, deep in his soul.

It crackled and burned, electric in its intensity. My magic twined with it as my flame grew higher around us. The pain of the fire turned to the spark of magic. Aaron’s lightning traveled across the fire—a conduit, I realized—and found its way into my soul.

Inside my chest, the lightning jumped and crackled. The burning pain of the flame had faded, and I felt electric.

“Thank you,” Aaron breathed.

I opened my eyes. He was gone. Stone still and lifeless, I could no longer feel even the dark magic that had polluted his body.

“I’m sorry, Aaron.” I collapsed next to him and lay by his side. Though my chest felt full of electric magic, my muscles felt like jello. Too much magic in too short a time.

But I couldn’t stay like this. Aaron’s master was coming here to meet him. There was no way I could defeat him like this. We had to get out of here or my deirfiúr and I would end up like Aaron.

I pushed myself up. The lightning cage that had trapped Del and Nix had disappeared. They lay on their backs. Aidan was still on the ground as well.

Fear pushed the feel of the lightning out of my chest. I crawled over to Nix and Del. They were so pale, their dark hair spread out around their heads and their weapons lying useless at their sides. Their clothes were singed.

“Nix! Del!” I shook Del’s shoulder.

She moaned and opened her eyes. “I feel like crap,” she croaked.

“We’re going to feel worse if we don’t get out of here. Can you transport us?”

Weakly, she raised herself into a sitting position. “I think so. Just give me a second.”

“Okay.” I took one look at Nix to make sure she was only passed out—which she was, thank fates—and then crawled over to Aidan.

Sometime while I’d been with Aaron, Aidan had transformed back into a man. My hand trembled as I pressed my fingers to the pulse at his throat. Steady, but faint. I nearly collapsed in relief. He would live.

He was sprawled across the stone floor, easily two hundred pounds. We weren’t going to be able to carry him. I’d deal with that in a minute, though. I had only a bit of strength left—enough to destroy the scroll or to borrow Aidan’s gift and heal my friends. They could be healed after Del transported us home, but the scroll needed to be destroyed now, before Aidan woke. It was ruthless, but it had to be done.

I pushed myself up and staggered over to the black bag that lay near Aaron. It was a crumpled black gym bag—not nearly impressive enough to contain what it did. That little bit of humanity made a lump rise in my throat.

I picked it up and undid the zipper. An unimpressive scroll of vellum and the two chalices were inside. I wanted to open the scroll and see exactly what it said about me, but we had no time. Aaron’s master could arrive any minute. We should take the scroll back and destroy it at Ancient Magic, but I wanted to be able to tell Aidan that it had been destroyed in the lightning battle and hadn’t made it back with us. Besides, this was the perfect place for my brand of destructive magic. I couldn’t burn all this stone.