Darkness Seduced (Primal Heat Trilogy #2) (Order of the Blade) (42 page)

The tingle from his skin was instant, and her magic came alive as he sank onto her, his body so heavy and thick. And warm. The kind of warm that meant he was still alive. Her body shuddered with relief and for a moment she was too overwhelmed to do anything but press her face against his bloody cheek. “Gideon,” she whispered. “Don’t you dare give up.”

Drew’s eyes went wide and she saw the first hint of true panic. “I can’t move,” Drew said. “He’s pinning us to the ground. What they did to him—”

“Stay with me, Drew,” she said. “Don’t freak out.” She realized Drew hadn’t been able to see Gideon before now and he’d had no idea what they’d done to him. The shock of seeing Gideon’s terrible condition was unnerving him. “The rest of the Order is outside. They’re coming.”

“They are?” Drew looked shocked as he whispered his question? “Really?”

She couldn’t look Drew in the eye, knowing she was lying. There had been hundreds of Calydons outside fighting the small group of Order members. Even if they were still alive, they’d still be fighting, not free to come after them. Quinn had told them they were on their own, and she knew he meant it.

Frank bent over them, his face so close she could smell the mustiness of his breath. “Use Gideon to call your magic, but give the power to Drew. His weapon is involved in the rite, so he has to be the one.”

Drew’s eyes widened. “I won’t do it—”

“You want to end up like Gideon?” Frank’s voice was conversational. “I don’t actually need you conscious. Alive is all I need. Lily will do all the hard work.”

Lily met the young Calydon’s gaze. “Just be quiet. You’re no help to any of us if you’re knocked out.” She gave him a hard look, and he finally shut his mouth. She saw on his young face the realization that he had no choice. They had no option but to go forward, and hope an opportunity arose.

If it didn’t, there was plenty of time to die later.

Frank stood up. “Let me get out of the circle before you begin.”

He strode out, the heels of his dress shoes clicking on the rock as he strode across the circle and stepped carefully over the weapons. He took a stance between two Calydons, shooting a glare around the pit. “No one can find Ana? She has to be down here somewhere. Check the tunnels again. Check the cells. Kick down locked doors. I need her here by the time this rite’s finished.”

More than half the Calydons who had been standing around him vacated, streaming out through a maze of tunnels.

Frank set his gaze on Lily. “Begin.”

“Lily—” Drew whispered, shifting against her, so she felt his nakedness against her body. Her stomach started to turn, so she pressed her cheek against Gideon’s face and focused on the feel of his body draped over hers, the stickiness of his blood holding them together, bonding them as they were meant to be.

The panic eased from her chest and her shoulders relaxed as she concentrated on Gideon. On his vanilla scent, on his hard body, on his whiskers prickling against her cheek.

Then she closed her eyes and began to sing.

Her body began to tingle and hum, and she felt the magic growing stronger, reaching out for Gideon everywhere they touched. She sent her magic into him the same way she’d done in the woods, giving him her strength, giving him her power.

Drew moaned and moved closer, and she realized he was getting the high from her magic as well.

She ignored him, continuing to focus on Gideon, sending her magic into him, touching his heart, his mind, his warrior strength...and then suddenly she felt his arm tighten against her. It was working! “Yes,” she whispered. “Take my magic. Let it make you strong.”

His lips moved against her cheek, and she realized he was trying to sing with her. She pressed her lips against his and sang, softly, for him and for him alone. The brands on her forearms began to burn, and her skin began to sizzle everywhere they touched. Her chest felt like it was expanding as strength and energy flowed through her.

Then Gideon’s eyelashes moved against her cheek, and she opened her eyes to see him looking at her. His lips were still moving against hers, mimicking the words, though he couldn’t speak yet.

She held his gaze as they sang, his beautiful blue gaze clinging to hers as if she were his anchor, his life force. She felt the intensity of his commitment to her, the truth of their connection, and she knew in that moment that she could trust him with her magic, every last bit of it. Gideon would never hurt her. He would protect and honor her magic, and he would use the depth of his feelings for her to make sure he didn’t hurt her. And with that, she let go of all her restraint, and she gave him everything of who she was. She opened all her magic and gave it to him.

Gideon smiled softly, and he gave a single, small nod, and she knew then that he believed the same. He had accepted the intensity of his feelings for her, and that gave him the power to be the warrior she knew he was.

She smiled back, and her heart tightened just a little bit more for the man who had won her heart.

Drew shifted against her, and she saw Gideon’s gaze flick to the youth. Drew’s eyes widened, and he froze. “I didn’t mean to touch her,” he whispered.

Gideon shook his head once, ever so slightly, and then his gaze returned to Lily, holding the focus so tight. She tugged at her bound wrists in frustration, wanting to slide her arms around him, stroke the hard planes of his body, and feel his muscles clench under her touch. She moved her hips again, trying to dance, her body needing an outlet for the music.

Gideon’s deep voice melded with hers, his words so quiet she knew Frank wouldn’t be able to hear him. The rumble of his voice touched her deep in her heart, and her magic raced to meet him. She felt the power building around all three of them. Gideon’s eyes became bright and focused. The rhythm of his breathing changed, becoming deeper and steadier, and his stomach muscles flexed where he was draped over her hips.

She raised her brows at him in question as she kept singing, and he gave a quick shake of his head that he wasn’t ready yet.

“Do you feel that power?” Frank’s voice echoed through the room, and she could imagine him lifting his arms to the ceiling, embracing the magic swirling around them and through them.

But she didn’t look at Frank. She kept her energy centered on Gideon and felt it the minute he began to pull on her magic, instead of simply accepting what she was giving him.

She nodded and summoned more strength, more magic, more power, until suddenly Drew rose to his knees, as if the chains holding him weighed nothing.

“Yes!” Frank shouted. “Read the words! Read them now!”

She glanced over at Frank and saw the Calydon with the war hammer watching Gideon eagerly, his weapon clutched in his fist. She knew they’d hit Gideon again if she didn’t do it. She raised her eyebrows at Gideon, and he grimaced.

“I just need another few seconds,” he whispered.

She looked over at Frank again as she continued to sing, and saw Frank nod at the Calydon, who yanked his arm back to hurl the war hammer at Gideon’s head.

No! She had to give Gideon more time! She immediately started chanting the ritual words, not even understanding them or knowing what they meant, but they flew off her tongue, a mixture of sounds that meant nothing, but at the same time, meant everything. The air sizzled with energy and sparks ignited around them, popping with frenzied light.

Drew raised his arms, snapping the chains and holding his arms out as she chanted. The weapons lifted off the ground and began slamming into his arms with loud cracks, one at a time. Each weapon vanished in a flash of black light when it made contact with his forearm. They weren’t his weapons that he was sheathing. He was taking control of the other weapons, ones that weren’t his and shouldn’t have responded to his call. And yet, they were settling in his forearms as if he’d called his own weapons home.

Oh, yeah, that couldn’t be good.

The music rose in a loud crescendo, taking on a life of its own, swelling through the room, echoing and pounding, like a thunderstorm of the Gods.

Gideon’s muscles bunched, and Lily braced herself a split second before he leapt off her with a roar of fury. His chains shattered and he charged through the circle of weapons at Frank. He called his axes out and hurled them both with deadly accuracy straight toward Frank’s heart. His Calydons leapt in front of him to block the blows, and Gideon’s axes tore through their bodies and thudded into Frank’s chest, taking out all three of them at the same time.

Frank screamed and went down, blood pouring from his wounds as his bodyguards fell, gaping holes in their bodies from the axes that had blistered straight through them. Gideon called back his axes as he sprinted toward them. He reached Frank and slammed his axe down on Frank in a lethal blow.

The man fell to the ground, dead. It was over.

Gideon turned and met Lily’s eyes, and her heart swelled.
I love you, Gideon
.

He flashed her a smile as if he’d heard her words, then whirled, taking out Calydons as they attacked. Gideon was moving so fast, he was a mere blur.

Then there was another loud crack and she jerked her gaze back to Drew. He was hovering in the air now, just off the ground, his arms outstretched. His irises were a faint pink that almost looked white, and his hair was now long and wiry, a coarse yellow. Holy crap. “Drew!”

She rolled onto her knees and shoved her shoulder against his legs, trying to knock him down. But he didn’t move, didn’t even notice her, his gaze looking past her. She turned and saw he was focused on the only set of weapons that hadn’t yet settled in his arms.

His own.

They were in the air now and spinning in a violent circle, like a baton twirler on speed, and they were racing toward him. “Gideon! Get his weapons.”

Gideon whirled around, his eyes narrowed and he sprinted toward the weapons.

Weakness shot through Lily’s body as Gideon drew ruthlessly on her magic, and she sagged to the floor as he bore down on the speeding weapons. His legs were moving so fast she couldn’t even see them anymore. Drew saw him coming, his eyes widened, and then his weapons picked up speed, hurtling toward his arms.

“No!” Gideon leapt through the air and lunged for the weapons, his fingers closing around them a split second before they hit Drew’s forearms. His momentum sent him crashing hard into Drew. Both Calydons careened out of the circle and smashed into the stone wall. The wall shuddered at the impact and a huge crack split the clay and shot upwards, racing toward the ceiling as if it were alive.

The floor shook and suddenly the ground cracked open beneath Lily, splitting wide and creating a bottomless cavern below her. “Gideon!” She began to slide over the edge, unable to stop herself with her bound feet and wrists. “Gideon!”

Her back scraped over the sharp edge, and suddenly she was over the precipice—

Gideon’s hand latched onto her arm, catching her in midair. He hauled her back up, shielding her body with his as rocks started to tumble from the ceiling. Both of Drew’s polearms were clenched in his fist, and he used the spiked tip to slice through the tape binding her.

“You got Drew’s weapons?” she asked.

“Sure did—” He grunted as Drew tackled him. Gideon threw Lily to the side and away from the crack in the floor as Drew’s momentum carried him across the coliseum.

She scrambled to her feet as Drew attacked Gideon with a power and fierceness no young Calydon should ever possess. He was stronger than Gideon. So much stronger. Faster. Bigger. And he had dozens of weapons at his disposal, blades flashing and slicing and stabbing. As fast as Gideon was, Drew was more than twice as quick.

Drew was no longer himself. He had become something more.

Lily started singing again, sending her magic into Gideon. He drew on it instantly, and the fight exploded with energy and fire and such dizzying speed as she’d never seen before.

Her legs became weak from Gideon’s drain on her, and she eased herself to the floor as Gideon and Drew battled. With the strength of her magic and their bond, Gideon was a warrior far beyond what he’d been in the woods when he’d taken out all those Calydons in less than a heartbeat using her magic. He was so much stronger and faster then was even possible, and yet Drew was beating him.

“Dear God,” she whispered, as realization finally dawned on her. She’d completed the rite. It was too late. Ezekiel had been freed, and he had taken over Drew.