I pulled it from the ground, still in its bag, and then leapt onto my horse. I had barely grabbed the reins, when pain seared through my shoulder. I cried out and looked back to see a silver disk lodged in the flesh. Behind me, Harlyn was reaching for a second disk, this one black—it would kill me. As much as the others wanted me dead, Harlyn would have twice the motivation. She wanted Simon for herself.
Well, she could have him. I felt like a fool for how easily he had duped me. Never again.
Joth mumbled something under his breath, and behind me, I watched the Coracks suddenly collide into a barrier I could not see.
“The half-lives,” he said. “They are protecting us.”
We rode until we left the cemetery behind and found a quiet place to stop. Joth dismounted, then helped me off my horse. The blade was still stuck in my shoulder, and I was dizzy with pain.
“If I pull this out, will you be able to heal yourself?” he asked.
“Not unless I can pull strength from you to make it happen. It will hurt you too.”
He knelt beside me. “I can handle it.”
I wasn’t sure that he could, but I also knew this wound was deep enough that if I didn’t do something for myself, I’d be in serious trouble. So I gritted my teeth while Joth pulled out the disk, one firm, awful tug that made me cry out.
I collapsed onto all fours, but he took my hands in his and I began to pull strength from him.
The instant I did, he gasped and his face twisted, but he held on to me and made no effort to resist what I was doing, what I had to do if I was going to live. I took no more than what I needed, but even then, when I released him, we were both exhausted.
We lay in the snow, which should have felt colder than it did, and as I recovered, anger seethed inside me.
“Simon tricked me. He was stalling until the Coracks arrived.”
“Weren’t they always going to try to harm you?”
“Not Simon. I didn’t think Simon—” I sat up, unable to finish the rest. Unwilling to face the truth about Simon, but knowing I had to do it.
Simon had never cared for me; he was just better at using me than any of the others. I’d been blind to that for so long, but no longer.
That cold center within me began to burn. The Corack rebellion wanted to see itself as the hero of the people, as the defense against Lord Endrick. But they were worse than Endrick had ever been, for they wanted the same tyranny and masked themselves as the guardians of freedom.
The ideas that had been unsettled in my mind until now began to come together at last. I knew what I had to do.
I turned to Joth. “What is required for us to unite our magic?”
He sat up, taking a moment before answering. “I still am not certain it will work. If it does, we each will have twice the strength, twice the abilities. You will know what I’m doing before I do it, and I’ll know the same. But arriving at that place requires your whole heart, and you will take mine.”
I faced him directly. “How is it done?”
“It’s simple, really.” Joth looked around to be sure we were alone, then stood and helped me to my feet. He led me deeper into the trees and said, “You must understand, if this works, we will do more than share magic, we will share ours
elves with each other. It is a very … close relationship. If you still have feelings for Simon, that may interfere—”
“I don’t.” No positive feelings anyway.
“Then take my hand.”
He held it upright near his chest, and I clasped his hand with mine, bringing our bodies close together. Already I could feel the pulse of his magic wrapping around my fingers, but he only gripped my hand tighter.
“Your magic is powerful,” he said. “When it surges inside you, your eyes deepen in color. Grass green to emerald.”
I smiled. “Now what?”
“Offer up your magic as a gift, sincerely given, with all your heart. In return, I will give my magic to you, as much as you wish to take. If we give of ourselves fully and freely, we should—” His voice broke off there, and his eyes widened.
I wondered if what he felt was anywhere near what was happening to me. For his magic was flooding through me, more than I could contain. I knew he was pulling at my own magic too, but even as I gave it, I felt my powers grow as never before, blending with his and binding themselves into one.