Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

CLIO

Shaking off her shock, Clio blinked her asper into focus and checked Lyre over. No lethal weave twined through his flesh. The death spell was gone—but so was the rest of his magic. His aura was the barest shimmer of golden light, and he only possessed that much because he'd refueled a fraction of his power using the lodestones.

"Lyre?" She lightly touched his face.

His chest rose and fell, and then his eyes opened, dim with fatigue. "Clio."

Tears of relief threatened to spill down her cheeks. He was alive. The death spell was no more. He would be okay.

"Are we done with the bathroom?" Kassia asked him.

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Only showers for me for a few seasons."

Supporting him between them, Clio and Kassia pulled Lyre into the bedroom. Kassia helped him sit on the edge of the bed, then turned to Clio.

"I'm going to check on Eryx and help secure the house. Make sure he's okay, and then we need to get out of here."

Clio nodded, and Kassia hastened out of the bedroom. She reappeared two seconds later, handed Clio the clock they'd forgotten in the tub, then vanished again. The front door banged open, then closed.

Setting the clock on the nightstand, Clio knelt in front of Lyre where he sat on the low bed, putting her face almost level with his. He was slouched forward, elbows braced on his knees as he breathed deeply.

"Lyre?" she asked. "How do you feel?"

His eyes flicked up, shadows sliding across the amber.

"Pretty pathetic," he admitted, his normally lyrical tones still hoarse.

She hesitated, then touched his arm, his sleeve wet and cold. "You went through a lot. But you'll be okay. It'll just take time for your magic to regenerate."

He nodded. "Remind me to kill Dulcet later."

"You didn't—" She broke off as she realized he was shivering. Dulcet being alive was a problem for later. First, she needed to take care of Lyre.

"Hold on," she told him before hurrying out into the hall, where she'd seen a small closet. She selected a couple of fluffy towels and returned to the bedroom. Shaking one out, she dropped it over Lyre's head and scrubbed his hair.

"Clio," he protested, trying to push her away. "I don't need?—"

"Shut up and sit there," she ordered. "I watched you die three times. You owe me this."

Surprisingly, he let his arms fall, and she finished rubbing the worst of the water out of his hair. She pulled the towel away, his pale locks mussed into a wild tousle, more golden than white-blond.

Tossing the towel aside, she stood in front of him and pursed her lips. A sizzle of heat rose in her cheeks. Tamping down on her rising blush, she reached around him to grab the hem of his dripping shirt. She had it halfway over his head before he realized what she was doing. He grumbled something unintelligible as she dragged the garment off him and threw it in a corner with the towel.

Unfolding the second towel, she draped it over his back and shoulders. Her face was burning despite her best efforts, and it took a lot of willpower to keep her greedy gaze off the smooth dips and planes of his chest.

"Why is that clock spell so dangerous?" she asked to distract herself as she patted the towel over the water droplets clinging to his skin. "Why did you say you would never?—"

He caught her wrists, stilling her movements.

"Clio." An odd, hollow note tinged his voice. His head was hanging down, his hair hiding his eyes. "Why did you steal the clock?"

"‘Steal' is a little harsh," she complained. "I got it for you."

"Why?"

"To… to save you." She frowned in confusion. "It was the only way."

His hands tensed around her wrists. "But why… would you want to save me?"

"Why wouldn't I?" She ducked her head to get a better look at him. "Lyre, you saved my life. You were going to die because of me. I couldn't let that happen."

He lifted his head, and when his shadowed eyes met hers, the air vanished from her lungs. Emotion tightened his features, but she had no idea what he was feeling.

"Why do you seem so bewildered?" she asked with a huff. "Of course I couldn't let you die. I could never live with myself if I?—"

Her voice cut off when he hooked his hand around the back of her neck. She was falling into his eyes. They were bottomless gold, rich and luminescent in the dim light. Her heart reached for him with each beat.

His hand was cool, his fingertips tickling the fine hairs at the nape of her neck. His thumb pressed into the soft spot behind her jaw, then slid across the hollow of her cheek until it touched the corner of her mouth.

Her breath fluttered in her lungs. Locked onto his eyes, she was free-falling without moving.

His fingers drifted over her neck, and his thumb feathered across her lower lip. It was the lightest touch, but it felt electric, her nerves zinging wildly.

Then he ran his fingers into her hair and drew her face down gently, almost leisurely, like there was no danger outside this house, no enemies about to discover them, no harrowing escape from Asphodel waiting to be attempted.

Like the only thing that existed in this moment was her.

His lips met hers, smooth and soft and deliciously warm. He kissed her slowly, intensely, his hand guiding her head to a different angle. His mouth covered hers more fully, and a flush of desire rose through her, cresting behind her sternum before swirling back down to ignite her core.

Still holding her hair, he curled his other arm around the small of her back and pulled her against his bare chest, his skin hot but the water droplets clinging to him cold. Her mind emptied as sensation overwhelmed her. Her entire world narrowed to the feel of his mouth, his firm chest against hers, and her hands on his shoulders.

The warm, slick touch of his tongue across the seam of her lips sent a shock of heat through her. It felt like the most natural thing to part her lips for him, no thought or hesitation required.

He pulled her head down, her mouth closer, and his tongue stroked across hers. Then he really kissed her.

Her hands jumped to his hair and tangled in it as she held on to him. Sensations fired through her, her belly swooping, her limbs tingling. Heat gathered between her legs, burning hot, and all she could do was hold him as he kissed her.

Cold air hit her lips as he pulled back, unexpectedly listing sideways like he was about to pass out.

"Lyre!" She grabbed his shoulders and guided him backward onto the bed. "Are you okay?"

His eyes squinted open, dark and hot and blurry with exhaustion. Her breath was coming embarrassingly fast as she leaned over him.

"Dizzy," he mumbled.

"Oh." She swallowed hard, trying to regain control of herself. Her pulse was racing.

She discreetly pressed a hand to her lower abdomen, where her insides had turned to bubbling lava. With one kiss, he had unraveled her entire being, then woven her back together, but not in quite the same way. A new hunger gnawed at her.

How could he affect her like this with just a kiss?

She blinked her asper into focus but didn't see any sign of a golden haze swirling through the room. Lyre's aura was so faint it was almost invisible. He didn't have any magic right now. That kiss hadn't been boosted with his seduction powers—and the realization made her insides swoop and her legs quiver. She abruptly sat on the edge of the bed beside him, dizzy now too.

"Um," she mumbled, unsure how to act, her cheeks flushing. "Uh … the clock spell?"

Faint humor lightened his eyes. He didn't seem offended by her change of topic.

"I wanted something to clear remnant weavings from lodestones. It was supposed to be a simple tool to make my life easier." His jaw flexed, all amusement gone from his expression. "I didn't realize what I was creating. It devours magic— all magic. Whatever it touches. And the more magic it eats, the greater its reach grows."

The ominous edge in his voice sent a chill through Clio, cooling the lingering warmth of their kiss. "I don't understand."

"Like throwing oil on a fire," he whispered. "On activation, it devours whatever magic it's touching, then it travels, touches more magic, devours that, travels farther… It keeps expanding and expanding. I didn't design it that way. It's an inherent quality."

"It expands indefinitely?" she asked disbelievingly.

"As long as it can reach more magic to fuel it. Water is the only thing that slows it down, but submerging it only works when there's enough water to muffle its expansion."

"That's why you had us remove all the weavings from the bathroom."

He nodded. "If it caught another weaving outside the water, it would have expanded again and reached the wards on the house. After devouring those… Asphodel is full of magic."

She wrapped her arms around herself. "It would have wiped out every drop of magic in the whole town."

"Including the power reserves of every daemon caught in the radius, and worse?—"

A scuff of sound outside the bedroom window interrupted him. Clio swiped a hand across her eyes, squinting with her asper, but saw nothing but the dark wards around the house, waiting to be reengaged.

"What is it?" Lyre murmured.

"I don't see anyone. Maybe it was Kassia and Eryx securing the house."

Lyre frowned. "It doesn't need securing. Just arm my wards."

"I'll do that once Kass and Eryx are back." She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. "What's it called?"

"What's what called?"

"Your clock spell of doom."

"Why would it have a name?"

"Everyone names their spells. It's a daemon thing. Or maybe a magic thing."

A wry smile twitched his lips. "Okay, I did name it. It's called the Kinetic Lodestone Obversion Construct, but I prefer the acronym."

"The acronym?" She parsed it out in her head, then choked back a groan. "KLOC. That's what you call the spell you put in a clock ."

He flashed a brief grin that melted her innards.

The front door banged, and she reluctantly rose to her feet. "Rest for now, Lyre. I'm going to talk to Kass."

"Yes." His gaze shuttered. "You need to leave quickly."

Tension ratcheted through her. "What will you do?"

He closed his eyes, exhaling with such heavy weariness that her heart ached. "I'll figure something out."

She pressed her lips together, then left him to relax. Daemons didn't normally lose all their power reserves in one shot, and he would need days to recover. Maybe even longer. Magical energy and physical energy were closely tied, and he would be weak on both counts.

Weak—and vulnerable.

She slipped into the main room, where Kassia and Eryx were waiting. Exhausted herself, she dropped onto the sofa. The room looked a lot like Lyre's workroom—widespread untidiness with an excessive number of books and an odd assortment of junk. A bow leaned in the corner, shorter and curvier than the one in his bedroom.

"Eryx set tripwires around the complex," Kassia said. "We need to get moving. That other incubus could wake up and sound the alarm at any point."

Clio nodded. "Eryx, can you get us out of Asphodel?"

"Of course. What do you think I've been doing since we got here?" He glanced smugly at Kassia. "I told you I like to know my way around."

"Good." Clio inhaled deeply. "We're leaving immediately, and we're taking Lyre with us."

Kassia and Eryx stiffened with surprise.

Kassia found her voice first. "No. Absolutely not."

Clio folded her arms. "Lyre went up against his family to save me. He's as good as dead if he stays here. I won't leave him behind."

Kassia was shaking her head before Clio had finished speaking. Eryx stood a few paces away from his cousin, unusually quiet as he looked between the two women.

"You got the death spell off him," Kassia said, a hint of pleading in her voice. "He's alive. The rest is his to deal with."

"But he—" Clio began.

"We'll have no chance of getting out of the Underworld alive if we bring him. He's a Chrysalis master weaver . Hades will hunt us to the ends of the realms to get him back. Even if we brought him to Irida with us, the consequences of an Overworld kingdom abducting a master weaver from Hades would be dire."

Clio bit her lip. She'd expected Eryx to push back on saving Lyre, not Kassia.

Softening her voice, Clio looked into her friend's eyes. "Kass, we can't leave him to die. We can't."

Emotion flickered over Kassia's face before she steeled her expression. She drew herself up to her full height. "I understand how you feel, Clio, but it would endanger all our lives. My job is to get you home."

"But—"

"No." Kassia's voice hardened further, until Clio almost didn't recognize the sound. "I won't allow it. I'm sorry, Clio, but if you insist, Eryx and I will take you back to the ley line by force."

Clio stared at her friend. Kassia wasn't bluffing. Clio could see the resolute glint in her darkening irises.

Desperation, so intense it made her nauseous, gripped Clio's entire body. She pressed her hands to her face, breathing deep, trying to think through the haze of dread and urgency. She couldn't leave Lyre behind. She couldn't.

Doubts fluttered at the edges of her thoughts. Was she willing to die for Lyre? Was she willing to give up any chance of making it home to save him? Why was she ready to abandon her mission and risk her life for a daemon she'd known for mere days?

She dragged her hands down her face. Kassia came back into view, her mouth pulling at the corners with unhappy determination. Would Clio lose this battle of wills?

She turned to Eryx to see what he thought of all of this, wondering if he could be an unexpected ally in convincing Kassia.

Except Eryx was no longer in the room.

Frowning in confusion, Clio turned. He must've left while she and Kassia were arguing, but where …

Clio's gaze caught on the bedroom door. It was closed. She didn't remember closing it when she'd left Lyre to rest.

Her stinging apprehension sharpened into fear, and she hurried toward the door.