Chapter 35

35

A fter it was made clear that they weren't coming back, Vanth cursed under his breath.

"Parents. They are all the same," Elektra huffed from beside him. "What was the point of giving us all those books to figure out a spell if we couldn't use it?"

Vanth pinched the bridge of his nose, and then the answer occurred to him. "When I was young, my mother used to have this game where she would give me half a spell and get me to figure out the other half and what its purpose was. As I got older, the game worked less and less because my magic became more intuitive."

Elektra frowned. "Maybe the spell was for me, not for you. I can weave it to a point, but I don't have the power to activate it. You do. Maybe we are meant to do it together."

"You two idiots are mates as well, which means you can channel each other's magic," Azhdaha said, making them both jump. He was back in his human form and was dressed in a sleeveless leather shirt and pants, edged in gold. "You forgot I was here? How rude."

"Not everything is about you, dragon," Vanth replied, forgetting his manners altogether.

Azhdaha gave him a long, long look. "It should be. Now, will you get on with it? I have a city to run."

"What are you even doing here? You said you weren't interested in any 'unsubstantiated claims' about the city being in danger."

The dragon looked bored. "I substantiated them. Now, hurry up and serve your purpose."

Vanth growled at him, and the dragon only smiled and made a small 'get on with it' gesture at him.

"Vanth? Let's do this, and then we can go back to the library at the temple, and you can look for as long as you like," Elektra coaxed him. "After a long shower, of course."

Vanth liked the way she said 'shower' with her little come-fuck-me smile. Right. He had things to do.

"Can we help in any way?" a reaper asked. She was built like a Valkyrie with pale white hair. There were less than twenty of them still upright.

"Thank you for the offer, but we have got this. Maybe keep watch on the tear to make sure nothing tries to come through at the last minute?" Vanth replied, knowing that they needed to feel useful in some way.

Vanth and Elektra walked where the tear became darkness. All the hairs on Vanth's arms and neck were electrified. He could feel the storm of magic just begging for him to play with. It felt bigger, but it still felt like his own.

A child of both worlds. A living Veil , Vanth thought. He had been called worse. He only hoped that the faith his parents had in his abilities paid off and they didn't end up making the tear worse.

"You ready?" Elektra asked, her hair whipping about in the currents of power.

Vanth kissed her, hot and brief. "Now I am. Let me know when you want me, princess."

"I always want you." Elektra took a dagger from her boot and began to draw the sigil she had been studying from Eiline's book.

Vanth closed his eyes while she worked, letting the magic of the Veil mix with his. It felt like belonging. Like he could just disappear and become a part of it...

"Tarael! Don't get lost in it," Elektra called, and his eyes snapped open. She was standing in the center of the circle she had drawn, her magic a living cloak of starlight around her. It looked like she had cut a swathe of night sky, and it moved around her with life as she began to chant. The lines of the sigil lit up as if silver starlight had been poured into them. The Veil shuddered around them, and she turned her glowing eyes to him.

"Give me your magic, Tarael," she commanded, her voice lost in the magical working. Vanth stepped into the working and took her outstretched hands.

"Together," she said.

"Together," he replied, and let his power loose. It wrapped around them, the gray of it turning to the more lavender color of the Veil itself. Vanth held onto her as the currents around them turned into an angry gale.

In his mind's eye, he reached for the top of the tear and began to tug it down like a great zipper. As the sides drew close enough together, the threads of power that made the barrier wove into each other and sealed.

They could have been there for seconds or for a lifetime, but Vanth didn't stop until the final threads had been attached. The wind died down around them, and the Veil lit up in a pale silvery blue.

"We… We did it," Elektra whispered and collapsed into his arms, her head pressing against his chest. "Oh, gods, we actually did it."

"Never a doubt in my mind," Vanth said, and neither one of them mentioned how much he was shaking as he held her close to him.

Azhdaha gave them a slow clap. "Well done. Perhaps now that you have taken control of your birthright, you'll do something more useful with your abilities than clean up other people's messes, godling."

"Get the citadel to drop their bounties on me, and I'll think about it."

"Aim higher than a cleaning service, and I will," the dragon replied. A golden light began to swirl around him, the change coming.

Vanth couldn't resist asking, "I don't suppose you will give us a ride back to Inferno?"

"Absolutely not." Azhdaha shifted back into his dragon form and launched himself in the air, sending chunks of dirt and fuck knew what all over them.

"Dragons are such dicks," Vanth complained.

Elektra only laughed and pulled his mouth to hers.