Page 56 of Twisted Ties

My own magic reaches out to touch his, just as his does mine, and it’s not something I’m controlling. It’s something happening all by itself. As the prongs of mine collide with the throngs of his, my entire body shudders with pleasure and his hands shake in mine.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he growls, but he doesn’t pull away.

“I’m … I’m not doing anything,” I whisper as our magic curls into one another, twisting and knotting together. His magic feels different to mine. Stronger, just like it looked. But spikier, less stable, less steady. Like it might combust any second.

“What does mine feel like?” I ask. Because I want to know. I want all these questions about myself answered and maybe here is one he can.

“Dark,” he whispers back. “Naïve.”

“Growing,” I say, the corners of my mouth tugging as my magic soars up into the air and his chases after. “Growing.”

“You need to learn control,” he says, gripping mine with his and dragging it back down towards the Earth.

I frown and attempt to shake him off, but his grip is tight, vise-like, and so are his hands.

“You’re hurting me,” I gasp.

“You think you’re something special, Rhianna Blackwaters. Because Azlan Kennedy followed his dick instead of his brain. But you’re not. You’re weak. You’ll always be weak. I could crush you if I wanted to.”

I furrow my brow and with all my might, push back at him, tugging at the fingers of his grip. It starts to loosen, and he redoubles his effort, pushing with so much might, I yelp and sink to my knees.

“Stop,” I plead, feeling my magic wane. “Please stop.”

It grows weaker as his grows stronger and it’s in that moment that it happens. A single drop of his magic leaves him and seeps into my veins.

I gasp and he throws my hands away, stumbling backwards so quickly, he trips before regaining his footing.

He shakes his head wildly, the neat locks of his fair hair shaking around his face. His eyes are wide, almost terrified, the blood drained from his skin. He’s more moonlight than golden now.

“No!” he says.

I stare down at my hands. It was the merest of drops.Tiny. Yet I can feel it swirling through my body like delicious poison, heating my blood, spinning that hook in my belly, causing my bond to reverberate.

I hear Azlan’s voice loud in my ears.

Rhi?

What? Am I imagining it?

I bring my hands to my ears. Am I losing my mind?

His voice rings out again. My name over and over again.

Then I hear a different peal, the peal of laughter. I look up to find Summer and Aysha towering over me.

“See Aysh, I told you it would end in disaster.” She adopts a look of feigned sympathy. “Did he fry your brains, Pig Girl? What do you expect when you play with someone a thousand times more powerful than you?”

I glance over to the spot where Tristan had been. He’s no longer there. Flattened grass the only signs that he had been.

A thousand times more powerful? No he wasn’t. He was stronger, but not for long.

Not for long.

19

Spencer

Somehow I makeit through another day, leg jigging uncontrollably all through class and dinner, my guts rolling and my insides churning, my bones aching with the desperate need to break free.