AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Lyani! What–?” I made a sound that was half hiss, half shout and tried to pull my hand away as blood pooled in my palm. She clung on, that bizarre strength of hers holding me in place.
“By the Goddess, Lyani! What the fuck are you doing?” I was still trying to pull my hand away, she held on tighter, smiling.
Of course she was enjoying this.
“Teaching you to use the marks as you asked. Now, stop being a baby.” She clung to my still bleeding hand, the thick fluid pooling and dripping over the side of my palm now. How deep had she cut?
“I am not being a baby,” I snarled, barely able to hide my wince as she squeezed my hand and pulled me closer. Her other hand shot forward and I flinched, expecting the blade to sink into my belly.
“You sure about that?” Instead of a knife to my gut, she grabbed my shirt and pulled. “Calm down, Caspyn. I’m not going to hurt you, or anything else for that matter.”
“You cut my palm open. I think the time for not hurting me has passed,” I hissed between the clench in my teeth. Trying to shift away from her again. I had left my blades in my tent, but suddenly I was regretting that decision.
“Yes, but how am I to teach you to use the words if you have nothing to heal. Unless you were lying and the blood you are covered in is yours and you’ve lost an appendage you aren’t telling me about.”
“The blood isn’t mine.”
“I didn’t think so, it’s too dark to be yours. So a cut palm it will have to be then. Especially since I don’t think the words are strong enough to heal bull headed arrogance.”
“Lyani,” I said her name in warning, her hand still around mine as she continued to yank my shirt up, her other hand pressed against my abdomen, right above the words.
“Caspyn,” she matched my tone perfectly. “Stop messing around. Say the words.”
“What words?”
“The words I tattooed on you.” She was clearly losing her patience. “Say them.”
“Say them?” How could I say them? I didn’t even remember what they were. I tried to look down, but she yanked my still bleeding hand closer to her, removing any line of sight and leaving me toe to toe with her, her knees pressing against my shins.
“Bedayn grynolin,” she said, her sassy slash of a grin fading slightly. “Say them.”
I hesitated. I had seen the power of the words, but I was suddenly regretting this choice. I saw the Queen use them, I knew I needed to know the power, use the power, control the power, but the idea of having a deeper connection with them was pulling at me all wrong.
“Bedayn grynolin,” I grumbled, trying to pull away from her. She held me there.
“I know we are supposed to be enemies, Sypher, but that doesn’t mean you need to say them like you hate them,” her voice was even lower now, her face soft and eyes beaming. “Say them like you love them, Caspyn.”
Her scent was everywhere, her touch a warm weight that lingered on my abdomen, on my hand.
I was suddenly having trouble breathing. So much for my bruised ego of her walking away before.
“Bedayn grynolin,” she repeated, even softer, as though she was in fact whispering to a lover.
Somehow the air had grown very heavy.
“Bedayn grynolin,” I repeated, my voice dropping as hers had, the gravely tone rumbling through my chest as I gazed into her eyes, at the light smattering of freckles that covered her nose, the hint of a dimple kissing her cheek.
“Bedayn grynolin,” she whispered, her voice so low I had to lean in to hear it.
“Bedayn grynolin,” I could barely get the words out through the lump in my throat. The fingers on my uninjured hand shook as I lifted it, carefully moving some of those wild strands of her hair behind her ear.
“Now, say it like you mean them, Caspyn. As though the words are part of you.” She didn’t flinch at my touch. If anything, I could have sworn she moved closer, that her words were nothing but a whisper. There wasn’t even a hint of her usual bite.
“Bedayn grynolin.” As I said them, the words burned as though I had swallowed the sun, a golden glow wrapping around us as that burn spread to every inch of my skin, the heat of my fire rising to join.
She didn’t release my hand as I stepped back, looking at the words on my abdomen that glowed and glimmered, and then to my hand where the blood had stopped flowing.
Where the wound had healed.
