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“Barns, a patron deal is a soul bond. It’s soul magic.” He winced at that and glanced up at the shadows still shielding us from the worst of the heat. They were behaving for now, but only out of preservation and defense. Who knew what they’d do if I left them out for too long. “The only way to stop whatever he’s doing is to break his patron bond. I can’t—I swore I wasn’t going to mess with that shit anymore.” “He’ll die—” “And that was his choice,” I snapped back.
“And what happens to her?” Leo asked. Right. Well… “Technically I don’t know. It depends on how strong she is on her own right now. Most likely?” I grimaced, sparing him a glance. “If he’s drained enough of her, she’ll die.” Leo raised his chin and grinned. “Good.” I shouldn’t be surprised, I supposed. Avytis did kill his sister after all. His twin. I’d burn the world if anyone touched my sister. It was just easy to get lost in his sunshine sometimes. To get distracted by the pretty smile and the optimism. It was easy to forget he was grieving and angry inside.
“You are going to need this one,” I said, scribbling a small series of protective sigils along his wrist, trailing them up to connect to a different circular design in the center of his palm. “I need you to keep me in check. You already do that pretty well, but this will connect you to me temporarily in case I start losing control.” In case my shadows start losing control, I thought bitterly. Leo hummed, observing the design on his palm. “What is it?” I tapped a finger to his wrist. “Protection symbols.” Then his palm. “And… my name.”
A smooth grin spread across his lips and he leaned in until our noses brushed. “Careful, Mr. Nguyen, I’ll start to think you like me.” I do. Gods, I do.
I leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Leo’s lips, reveling in the surprised look on his face when I pulled back. “We get out of this alive and I’ll show you exactly how much I like you.”
I shoved the two cores into the light. It hurt, as flames were wont to do,
Look, a little shadow. A darkened figure throbbed beside me, grasping fingers reaching out. Look, it sculpts a fresh new thing. Look, it fixes that which breaks.
“Niles, baby, please. Please,” the top figure said, voice wobbly and strained as it filtered through the veil to my ears. The core in my hands throbbed as I knelt beside them. “Please don’t leave me. Don’t leave me here to rot on my own.”
“You better not be dead, Mael Nguyen. You hear me? I swear to god, if you died from that, I’m going to—I’m going to—well—” “What will you do?” Danu, I sounded like I spent the morning gargling stones for breakfast. Everything ached, everything burned, but Leo’s body against mine soothed the jagged edges of me. Anchored me back to the waking world and chased away the darkness surrounding me. “Well, I’ll be very cross! That’s what!”
