Braving the Elements (Darkness #2)(43)

“Suck it in, Sasha! Consume it. This place is collapsing.”

I heard distant metal clanging. The building roaring. Voices shouting and screaming. Still, I stared at those pale blue eyes, the sky seen through an overexposed picture. I could win this war of might, but it would take too long. Plus, if he grew some brains and stopped thinking with his testosterone, he’d realize all he had to do was switch it up a bit and I’d be lost.

Closing my eyes, hoping this wasn’t the end, I did as Stefan said. I opened myself up, let go of the corporal world around me, and sucked with one painful, scorching draw.





CHAPTER TEN

WHY THE HELL WAS I ALWAYS COMING TO OUT OF A DEEP SLEEP? WAS THAT

my default in dangerous situations—passing out?

“What was that, love?”

Stefan sat at the edge of my bed, holding my hand. Bruises and gashes marred his handsome face, and cuts and scrapes gouged his body; but he was alive. I was alive.

“I am alive, right?” I clarified.

He smiled. “Yes, you saved the day.”

I chuckled then winced. My whole body felt unnaturally sensitive. “What happened after I took in the magic?”

“You passed out.” Charles sat in the corner, knitting needles thrashing out the finishing touches of the hideous scarf he was making me.

“What happened to you?” I asked in a voice tinged with fear.

Half of Charles’s body had splatters of burn marks, like he’d dropped something heavy in liquid magma and it splashed out onto his skin. “I had to cut through that fucking—“

“Language,” Stefan warned.

Charles sighed, but continued. “I had to cut through that freaking spell that Darla never taught us about. Andris has the same power level as me. It hurt. A lot.”

“He exacted his own penance for your capture,” Stefan said mildly.

“Thanks, Boss,” Charles muttered.

Something passed between them, but since I wouldn’t be able to decipher it anyway, and Charles wouldn’t fill me in until Stefan left, I skipped ahead.

“How am I alive after sucking in that much magic? I feel like Charles looks, only on the inside.”

Charles snorted.

Stefan brushed hair off of my face, and then laid his palm flat to my cheek. “I balanced it. Tempered it, you might say. Everyone has a unique strength with magic. Mine has always been orchestrating the flow, whether in myself or others. With enemies, it allows me to direct it in hard to work places in the body, lessening their ability. In you, I was able to fill up every square inch of your beautiful body, balancing the abundance. It was close, I’m not going to lie to you—I took a great risk that I’m not proud of—but I could see no other way.”

I couldn’t help but stare. “I did not know any of that was even possible.”

“There is a lot you don’t know. Which is why I have requested a master trainer. With your power level, they cannot say no.”

I groaned, letting my head fall back. “I need a break from magic. My body hurts. Again.”

Stefan smiled, a sight that had my heart pattering and my groin tightening. “Of course.”

“So, aside from your heroics with magic usage, how did we get out of that building?” I pushed.

Stefan bent to my lips and carefully kissed me. He backed off and stood.

“I’ll let Charles explain. I need to see to the wounded. I’ll check in later.” He winked, and then was off.

When it was just Charles and me, I said, “Well?”

“I hope you don’t plan to be grouchy. I’ve had a bad couple of days and I’m not in the mood for your sass.”

“My days haven’t been any better.”

“Yes, but I am the man, and men suffer more thoroughly than women.

Everyone knows this.”

“So, I just ask you if that’s true, right?”

“Exactly. We know better, and we suffer more. Facts.”

“That scarf is ugly.”

“We also have better taste.”

I couldn’t help a laugh. “Please tell me?”

Click, click, click.

He sighed, loving to make me wait. “Well, first you stole everyone’s magic in the whole room. That idiot in the cape stared at you like a spoiled little brat who had his candy stolen. He ran, of course. Cowardly little bitch.

You collapsed, as you do; so, the Boss lost his mind, as he does. He sliced and gouged Andris, nearly had him beat, before the building started to collapse. You almost got smooshed, which stopped the Boss’s fight right quick. Andris let the Boss have you as he ran after the man in the costume.”

“The man in the costume?”

“The caped moron—keep up. Right, so now the Boss has his prize. His men—us—have a victory nearly at hand, and the danged ceiling comes tumbling down. It turned out to be a narrow miss. With just a trickle of magic, and whatever he must have siphoned off you in your link, the boss had to blast his way out of a wall, hand you off to me, and get all his people out of there. He very nearly went down with the ship.”

“Stefan almost died?” I whispered, fear and sorrow at the possibility choking me.

“That’s his duty—make sure his people are safe. He wouldn’t be a leader so young if he couldn’t see to it.”