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“When you absorb more magic, you can use it to amplify the other’s powers.”

Kierse bit her lip. She wasn’t sure if she completely understood, but maybe she would have to do it for it to make sense. After all, during their last linking, she’d been unconscious.

“Since Gen was the one who managed the link last time, we should start with her.”

Gen twiddled with her fingers before nodding. “All right. The same thing I did last time?”

“Yes. Start by projecting your energy toward Ethan and Kierse. Find the center of magic in them and try to touch it,” Niamh instructed.

“It’s best to start with one person at a time probing forward so none of you gets overwhelmed.

And know it’s okay if you don’t get it the first time. This is advanced magic.”

Kierse didn’t feel anything for several long minutes. She could see that Gen was concentrating on Niamh’s suggestions, but if she was managing it, Kierse couldn’t tell.

Finally, she huffed out a long breath. “I can’t do it,” Gen gasped.

“It’s okay,” Niamh said reassuringly. “It’s much harder under these circumstances.”

“Because last time, if we didn’t make it work, Kierse was going to die.”

“That’s right,” Niamh said. “You’re in no immediate danger.”

“I can try,” Ethan said. He looked sheepish as he added, “We’ve been working on projecting our magic, and I’ve managed it with a handful of my plants.”

But no matter how Ethan tried, the connection wasn’t there.

“Kierse?” Niamh said. “Your turn.”

“All right,” she said with an unconcerned shrug.

When she reached for her powers, they slid against her skin with ease.

She’d been working with Graves on her absorption for weeks.

This was not so different than turning it on or off with him, only this time she wanted to link with the people who could touch her magic. A thing she and Graves couldn’t do.

Kierse found the sources of Ethan’s and Gen’s magic like a brush of a feather compared to Graves’s torrent—such small and fragile things, it seemed as if they could be snuffed out with a whisper against the flame.

She gingerly reached for them, trying not to blow them out. As one, Ethan and Gen yelped. Gen put her hand to her chest, and Ethan stumbled out of the circle.

Kierse retreated. “Sorry. Sorry. Too much?”

Gen rubbed her chest. “It was like a sucker punch.”

Lorcan took a step toward her. “What were you thinking about?”

His eyes probed hers as if he could read her thoughts.

Immediately, the memory where she opened and closed the vault sprang forward, a reflex.

But no one was trying to get inside her mind.

This was an exercise in lowering her defenses to let people in, and she had been doing that successfully for weeks.

“I was worried I would snuff out their magic. It was so light.”

“You went straight to the source like you’d done it before,” Lorcan said.

She had. She’d reached for Graves’s magic.

“I’ve been training, too,” was all she said.

He pursed his lips in disapproval, but Niamh took back control of the session.

“Good. Let’s try that again, but instead of thinking about avoiding snuffing out their magic, think about offering a hand to it. You don’t want to sucker punch them,” Niamh said with a quirk to her lips. “You want them to come to you.”

“I’ll try again.”

This time she reached out for their magic but ignored that hers felt like an inferno in comparison.

These were her friends. Her best friends.

They had saved her when all was lost in this world.

She would choose them every time. She always had.

No matter what came between them. And they would choose her, too.

When she offered her hands to them, their magic embraced her like an old friend. The link settled into place like they were physically holding hands and not standing several feet away from one another.

“Yes!” Niamh cheered. “That’s it. Now hold it steady.”

Kierse kept her hand up, holding the line for all of them.

She wasn’t sure either of them had enough magic to link them together normally.

Not without some real strengthening. Kierse was naturally gifted, and she hadn’t quite realized it until this moment.

Not when she was surrounded by Graves’s raging magic all the time.

“Excellent,” Lorcan said. “Should we try to power share?”

Niamh frowned. “No. Let’s unlink first and do this again a few times before they move on.”

“What’s a power share?” Kierse asked as she let the link drop.

Ethan and Gen gasped as they nearly doubled over from the effort. Kierse had been the one holding the whole bond up. While she did feel marginally drained, she wasn’t going to collapse. Not compared to doing draining mind work with Graves. Had he been leveling her up?

“You move up and down the bond,” Lorcan explained. “Kierse would give power to Ethan, who would pass it to Gen and back. Then vice versa. You want to get used to feeling the sense of the bond and sharing the energy.”

“We should try it,” Kierse said excitedly.

Niamh looked at the other two charges. “Just linking for a while.”

They linked over and over and over again, until Kierse was pretty sure she would be able to link with Ethan and Gen in her sleep. Still neither of them were able to initiate. Niamh insisted that they would get there in time, but for now Kierse made it happen.

By the time Niamh agreed to try power sharing, Kierse could feel her own power drain begin. Hours had passed, and her friends looked rough. As midnight approached, Kierse felt a burst of energy hit her. That liminal space giving her enough power to keep going.

She linked with her friends, letting their magic settle.

She did as Lorcan had suggested—she sent a small grain of rice down the thread.

Just enough magic that Ethan would feel it, but not enough to overwhelm him.

She’d realized over this training that any little bit could do damage.

It took a good deal of tweaking to make it safe.

“Holy shit,” Ethan murmured as the magic hit him. Tears sprang to his eyes. “Is this…is this what your magic feels like?”

“I don’t know—what does it feel like to you?” Kierse told him.

“It’s beautiful,” he whispered. Their eyes met, and he swallowed. “Really beautiful.”

“Can I feel?” Gen asked.

Kierse sent a grain to her as well—just a touch of magic. Gen’s eyes lit up in wonder. It was like the two of them were refreshed after hours of hard work.

“Wow,” Gen breathed.

Lorcan and Niamh exchanged a look. One of deep, unabashed wonder and terrible inalienable grief. Kierse hadn’t considered how hard this might be on them.

“We should end there for tonight,” Niamh said on a small sniffle.

“I can take over if you need a break,” Lorcan said.

“No. I think they’ve done enough. They look beat.”

“We’ll have to wait another month for this opportunity. They’re not strong enough to do it any other time. We should keep going.”

“Lorcan,” Niamh warned.

“We can do it,” Kierse said.

Gen and Ethan, flush with her magic, nodded.

“Fine. Let me just take a restroom break.” Niamh disappeared to get herself back together.

Lorcan took over. He had them run the magic between them like they were throwing a ball across the circle. Back and forth and around and around. Sometimes it was more magic, and sometimes less. They worked until even Kierse was feeling the fatigue of it all.

Then he moved into transferring powers from the other person.

When Niamh returned and saw them fumbling through it, her eyes widened. “They’re not ready for that.”

“Under dire conditions, they need to be able to take power to use for themselves,” Lorcan said. “They need to know how to do it.”

“Next time,” Niamh insisted.

But Ethan was already reaching with his tiny tendril of energy toward Kierse, like a good little soldier.

Kierse was so open that she hadn’t even planned for what that would feel like.

An invasion of her powers. The snap came so quickly, with their link wide open, that she couldn’t stop him from taking and taking and taking.

“Ethan!” Gen cried.

“Ethan, stop,” Lorcan commanded.

But it was Niamh who physically tackled him to the floor, throwing him out of the circle and breaking the link.

Kierse wavered unsteadily on her feet. Her magic empty. Her absorption off. Her vision blurry.

They needed to link. Ethan needed to put it back. He hadn’t…meant to go that far.

“Kierse,” Lorcan said, his hands gripping her shoulders, ducking so that he was looking into her face. Only his arms were holding her up. “Are you okay?”

“Sure,” she whispered.

He released her tentatively, and the force of having to hold herself up sent her toppling forward. Lorcan caught her again, lifting her up in a wedding carry. She could smell his magic—spring rain and summer sunshine—envelope her as she disappeared into oblivion.