Page 48 of Loving Amari

Behind me, Verto roars. I risk a glance back and my heart stops. The spirits have enveloped him completely, a writhing mass of darkness covering his massive form. I can’t feel himthrough our connection. Nothing. Just emptiness where our bond should be.

“Verto!” I scream, panic ripping through me. “No!”

Is he hurt? Is he dying?

Nathaniel takes advantage of my distraction. His magic slams into my leg before I can defend myself. Agony explodes through me, white-hot and blinding. I fall to my knees, screaming. It feels like my leg is being torn apart from the inside, bones grinding, muscles shredding.

“Get up!” Aya’s voice cuts through the pain. “Use your shield!”

I manage to throw up a shield around myself just as Nathaniel attacks again. His magic bounces off, but I’m trapped inside, unable to move. My leg feels like it’s on fire.

“Web cloak!” Aya shouts. “Hide yourself!”

I cast the spell through gritted teeth. Pink webbing envelops me, bending light around my form. I disappear from view, though I can still see out.

Nathaniel’s eyes scan the void, searching. “Clever trick. But you can’t hide forever.”

He turns his attention to Aya. “I need to get rid of you right now.”

He sends a blast of blue magic at her. Aya dodges, her ghostly form flickering, but I can see the concern on her face. She looks to where I’m hiding, struggling to get to my feet. My injured leg barely supports my weight.

“Think about Amari,” Aya calls out, her voice urgent. “He’s going to take Amari from you. You die in limbo, you’ll be stuck here unless Mother Fate releases you. You’ll never see him again. Never feel his touch. Never hear him say he loves you.”

The words hit me. Amari. My mate. My love. My everything. The thought of never returning to him, of him waiting for me forever, of dying alone in this void...

Something inside me breaks. Or maybe it snaps into place.

Rage floods through me, pure and hot. Fear transmutes into fury. Pain becomes power. Magic erupts from me in a massive burst, shattering my cloak. Pink light explodes outward like a supernova, waves of raw energy that ripple through the void. The force of it tears through Nathaniel’s defenses like paper.

The blast hits him square in the chest with such force that he flies backward, his body slamming into his own door. The wood cracks, carved symbols flaring bright blue before sputtering out. He crashes to the ground, gasping.

“He’s down!” Aya shouts. “Now get up and kill him!”

I rise to my feet, ignoring the screaming pain in my leg. Magic pools in my hands, more power than I’ve ever channeled before. Pink webs form into spears of solid energy, sharp and deadly. I’m going to end this. I’m going to end him.

But the moment I take a step forward, Nathaniel manages to roll over. His hand slams against the door. It swings open, revealing swirling darkness beyond. He drags himself through it, his eyes meeting mine one last time. The look promises this isn’t over. Not even close.

“No!” I run for the door, but it disappears before I can reach it, winking out of existence like it was never there. “Goddammit!”

I rub my knee, trying to ease the pain that’s still pulsing through my leg. Behind me, Verto finally emerges from the mob of spirits, shaking them off like water. Relief floods through me. He’s alive. He’s okay.

“We’ll find him again,” Aya says, floating closer.

I look up at her with a glare. “You’re damn right we will.”

“Only one small problem.”

“What?” I snap, highly irritated.

“You can’t go back to the living now that you’re injured, not until you heal. Your magic’s weakened.”

No. No, no, no.

I try to open a portal, pink magic flickering weakly from my fingertips. The portal starts to form, but then collapses, fizzling out like a dying ember. I try again. Nothing. My magic sputters and dies, too drained from the fight and too compromised by my injury.

I look to Aya in horror. “There’s no telling how long it will take me to heal.”

Amari. Oh god, Amari. He’s waiting for me. He told me to hurry back. And now I’m trapped here, in limbo, unable to reach him. Unable to tell him I’m alive. Unable to hold him.