by Meg Anne
Apparently the tiny drops of water falling in the air had been just similar enough to the effect of the mist that it had caught him off guard. Helena moved quickly. She grabbed him, shaking him hard, hoping the movement would be enough to pull his focus. It wasn’t.
“Von!” she shouted, echoing the cry through their bond. “Von!”
Silence.
Beside her, Starshine began to growl menacingly, as if sensing danger.
“Keep watch girl,” Helena murmured, trusting the Talyrian to guard them while she focused solely on her Mate.
Placing a hand on either side of his face, Helena closed her eyes and used her power to send a psychic tendril into his mind. She navigated carefully, searching for any sign of Von’s presence. When she didn’t sense him, she peeled back another layer continuing on until she found herself just outside of his innermost barriers. She had been here once before, when she had helped him finally breakthrough the Bellamorte’s hold and face his captors.
As she had the last time, Helena placed a metaphorical hand against the barrier, letting it identify her and give her permission to move past. She filled the touch with all of her love and concern for Von. The barrier rippled pleasantly against her senses, similar to a cool breeze on a warm day. Recognizing her, the barrier grew transparent until it gave way completely. Helena found herself standing within the core of Von’s mind.
Images surrounded her. Memories, she realized. There were ghostly images of Von and Nial playing as children. There was Ronan, snarling as he slammed his fiery ax into an enemy that was about to strike Von. And there she was, smiling shyly up at him as they spoke in the Palace garden.
Helena wanted to walk through all of the memories, learning everything about the man she loved as she relived his past through them. But they were not her memories to explore, and so she resisted. Instead, Helena wandered through them, careful not to touch or disturb any of the wispy fragments. She wasn’t certain what effect her interruption would cause and she didn’t want to accidentally cause further harm.
Focusing on the feel of him, strong and steady through their bond, Helena used that as her guide. It did not take long for her to find him, but she was unprepared for what she found.
This was no pale memory. Whatever was happening to the shuddering body sitting and rocking on the ground was real. Her heart wrenched painfully in her chest when she heard his rasping moan.
“No more.” He was curled into a ball, his hands drawn up over his head and clenched into tight fists. “No more,” he groaned again. His voice was raw, as though he had been screaming for hours without end.
While she may have only been a projection of herself, Helena found herself shaking. Not knowing what else to do, she crouched beside him, holding her hand just above his head, not quite making contact.
“Von,” she whispered, not wanting to startle him.
There was no response, no indication that he knew she was there at all. Helena let her hand close the gap between them, touching him as gently as possible. When she made contact, light flared brightly obscuring everything around her and forcing her to close her eyes. As the light faded, and her eyes were finally able to flutter open, she wished they’d stayed closed. Swallowing back a scream, Helena staggered to her feet.
Von’s nightmare raged on. All around him, the bodies of those he loved were chained and bloody. They were lined up, one after the other, a grisly exhibit of human misery. Strips of skin were torn and hanging down where the whip had sliced through to the bone. He gagged, but made himself swallow back his revulsion, forcing himself not to give in to the emotional torture. Instead, he made himself focus on the need for vengeance which was screaming for him to repay each sadistic blow in kind.
But he couldn’t move. He, too, was chained. Von struggled against the bonds, more wild animal than man as he worked to get free. He needed to get out of here. To get them all away from this hellhole of a dungeon. Von gnashed his teeth, biting back a scream as the enchanted metal began to sear through his skin. Unable to bear it any longer, he gave in to the roar of pain that clawed its way out of his throat.
There was a bright flash of light, almost as if a door had been opened. He threw his head to the side, squeezing his eyes shut before the light blinded him.
Then he heard the whimper.
“Von.”
His eyes flew open.
“Helena?”
“V-Von,” came the hopeful but broken reply. From the restored darkness at the end of the room, Helena limped out of the shadows. She was wearing what only the most optimistic would call a white gown. It was so liberally coated in blood that it was more crimson than white. He could see bits of her bone peering out from some of the gaping wounds. Her skin looked purple because of all the bruises, and her face was swollen almost beyond recognition. Whoever had done this to her had taken their time. If the others were an exhibit, she was the masterpiece.
“What did she do to you?” he snarled, lurching forward until his chains went taut. Von roared, going absolutely mad when he could not get to her.
“It’s a lie.”
Von blinked, the voice in his mind momentarily pulling him out of the nightmare.
“Do not believe the mist.”
The mist… Von went entirely still. Was he still lost in the mist? But no, Helena had saved him. And now she was standing right there, beaten almost within an inch of her life. This was some new fresh hell that they were trapped in. This was real… wasn’t it?
“Let me show you,” the voice insisted.
Von hesitated, equally afraid and desperate to believe the voice. The doubt was enough to break the nightmare’s hold. The world swam in and out of focus, the dark dungeon superimposed over a field of green and silver.
He blinked again, and the dungeon settled back into place. The moans of his brother snagging his attention.
“No!” the voice demanded.
Von felt his face twisting away from the writhing body. Startled that his body was moving against his will, he fought the movement.
“Really?” the voice snapped in exasperation. “You will fight against me, but not the hallucination?”
That gave him pause. There was only one person who would dare to use that tone with him, especially when he was in this state. Any that knew him well, or even those that knew of his history on the battlefield would recognize the bloodlust that consumed him. It would not abate until he was the last one standing. To interfere with that was a death wish.
“Helena?” He said her name out loud, confused that she could be speaking in his mind when she was collapsed in a heap at his feet.
“Von, you need to resist it. You have to see the lie to break its hold.”
He glanced around, not sure how he was supposed to do that.
He thought he heard a sigh, but before he could respond further, his body began to tingle. Every ache and throb was soon replaced with soothing warmth. He recognized that warmth. It was the feeling he’d associated with Helena ever since he’d healed her after her trial, and in doing so, initiated their bond.
“See the lie.”
Von looked around, staring at the nearest body. It was Serena, only it wasn’t. There was a fuzziness to the outline of her body that became more apparent the longer he stared. He’d been so overwhelmed by the injuries that he’d been unable to look past them and note the other details. Ronan, or rather what he had believed to be Ronan, was tied up beside her and quietly weeping. Ronan would never weep. Not like that. He would be roaring and fighting, just as Von had been, at least until he passed out or his captors knocked him out.
“That’s it.”
Glancing down where Helena’s body was supposed to be, he noted the color of the eyes that were cracked open, staring at the ceiling. If Helena had been tortured, her eyes would have burned with the iridescence of her power as she fought back. No one who caught her would have lived long enough to cause that level of damage to her body.
Helena’s warmth grew
in intensity, until he felt like he was on fire. He looked at himself, running his hands over his body to ensure that he wasn’t. Then he realized what he’d just done and did a double take. His arms were no longer cast in irons. Glancing up, he noticed that the bodies and dungeon were gone.
He was free.
Von was now lying peacefully beside her. When she’d touched him, she’d been sucked into his nightmare. It had taken her awhile to separate herself from the gruesome images that were playing out in front of her. She’d been trapped in Von’s body, experiencing everything as he did. It was when she’d seen herself stumbling toward him that she remembered why she was there and was able to help him fight against the hallucination. Knowing now the kind of assault his mind had been under when he’d been trapped within for so many months, Helena could not believe he was still sane.
She stroked a hand along the length of his back, willing him to return to consciousness. They were still within the innermost barrier of his mind and she would not leave him until she knew that he was safely free of the Bellamorte.
Remembering the dark smudges she’d seen the first time she’d treated him, Helena cast her awareness out. At first, all she sensed were the wisps of his memories, which still swirled around them, but then she felt it. The sense of something that didn’t belong. Focusing on it, she moved away from the resting form of her Mate. Helena wandered through the corridors of his mind until she came to the very center. There she found a flickering ball of light. It was so beautiful she couldn’t decide whether she wanted to cry, or laugh, or grasp it carefully in her hand and cradle it against her chest.
The longer she stared at the ball of light, the happier she became. Sensing her happiness, it grew brighter, spinning about almost playfully. As it spun, Helena finally saw what she had been searching for. Pressed against the perfect brightness of his soul, for that’s certainly what Helena had found, there was the tiniest smear. No wonder she had missed it before. It was so miniscule that it had been disguised, but now that she knew what to look for, it could no longer hide.
Helena moved closer, calling her power into the tip of her finger. She could not afford to do something careless like toss a bolt of power at it. One wrong move and her power could destroy more than just the mote. Helena shuddered, not wanting to think overlong on that possibility.
Holding her finger out, she stroked the side of the ball, pulling away the mote of darkness. Von’s essence rippled where it had come into contact with her hand. It seemed to want her to keep touching it, moving with her as she pulled her hand away. The reaction was reminiscent of a cat that arched its back to encourage further pettings. The thought made Helena smile.
Looking down at her hand, Helena found the smudge still clinging to her finger. With a shake of her head, she made a small o with her lips and blew, infusing her breath with magic. When it touched the mote, instead of sending it flying into the air, it obliterated it completely. Helena smiled, satisfied that she had been able to get rid of the final lingering piece.
Her work here was done, but it was hard to leave. The sense of peace and joy she felt standing beside the beautiful orb was like nothing she’d ever experienced. That was when the orb began to glow a bright, molten gold. It was the same color as Von’s eyes when their power merged.
“Oh,” she gasped, her hand moving up to her chest where a sudden heat flared. It continued to grow and swell within her until she could feel it in every part of her body. Helena watched in awe as the orb pulsed in time with her heartbeat.
She stood in silence, filled with a happiness so absolute it eclipsed all else. This was a special kind of magic that had nothing to do with the elements and everything to do with love.
Helena may never know what the final step had been, her whisper of a touch or the small blast of air filled with her power, but she knew without a doubt that their bond was now complete.
Chapter Twenty
When Helena opened her eyes, she was still standing in front of Von with her hands pressed against his cheeks. Hours must have passed while they had been in his mind, the sun was now a burnt-orange ball, half-hidden by the horizon.
Starshine let out a low whine, which sounded very much like a question.
“We’re safe,” Helena answered with a whisper, her eyes never leaving Von’s face.
Appeased, Starshine moved away to give the couple a bit of privacy. Despite the added distance, she was no less of a guard.
Helena ran her thumbs along the dark slashes of Von’s brows, willing him to open his eyes. She repeated the soft stokes until she noticed his eyelids begin to flutter. When his eyes finally opened they were molten gold. Helena’s heart began to pound. They stared, twin looks of wonder on each of their faces.
Nothing was overtly different, but something had clearly changed. Their bond was still there, a steady presence burning brightly inside of them. It was just more: more intense, more vibrant, more focused.
Without a word Von slammed his lips down on hers, kissing her fiercely. They were so in tune with one another, that she could feel Von’s reaction to her touch as if it was her own. The added awareness created an intensity to their kisses that had her desperate for him after only a few heartbeats.
Her urgency was his. Von moved his lips from hers, kissing down her neck as his hands began to make quick work of her travel clothes, removing only what was needed. They were still in the open, but Helena didn’t care. All she wanted was to feel physically what she was already feeling in her heart; the sense of fullness and completion that would come once he slid inside her.
“Helena,” he groaned in her mind, his lips never ceasing their teasing. “I—”
“I feel it too.” She wrapped her arms around his head and back, holding his mouth against her body. “Please don’t stop.”
He didn’t. His hands roamed her body, equal parts possessive and reverent. Where her skin was exposed, goosebumps were left in his wake. She shivered, needing more. Before it was even a conscious thought, he was already there, touching her exactly as she needed. It was not just instinct driving their movements; it was absolute knowing. Each touch carried certainty, as though they were reenacting something they’d done a thousand times before. But there was nothing repetitive about the experience. It felt like the first time.
Helena was not conscious of the moment they moved to the ground. Her senses were too overwhelmed by the emotions spiraling within her, his as well as hers.
Von broke away, and her eyes fluttered open, knowing that he needed her to look at him. His hair was tousled, and his eyes heavy-lidded. Dark stubble coated his jaw and his lips were swollen from their hungry kisses. Helena licked her lips, desire pounding through her at the sight of him poised above her.
His hand moved down, spreading her before he entered her in one hard thrust, his eyes never once straying from hers.
Helena gasped, coming apart from just that single motion. But Von wasn’t done with her. He continued to move inside her, each thrust causing her climax to extend.
She was panting incoherent fragments of words as he relentlessly loved her. Each drive of his hips set off another explosion of sensation and Helena started to feel like entire universes were being created and destroyed within her. Finally, just as she was certain she would pass out, Von came, growling her name. Helena joined him, the feeling of him throbbing inside her setting off one last tidal wave that surpassed every other.
“I love you.”
It was a struggle, but Helena forced her eyes to open. Her body was beyond spent, and the urge to fall asleep was almost impossible to fight.
“I love you more,” she teased, her voice hoarse from her cries.
He smirked at her, even as he brushed stray strands of hair from her face. “With an orgasm like that I don’t doubt it.”
Helena didn’t even have the energy to deny it. With a yawn and the lift of a shoulder she asked, “Can you blame me? I’m not sure if it was one continuous one, or hundreds of them back-to-bac
k.”
With a satisfied smile, he bent down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Rest now so we can try it again.”
Between one chuckle and the next she fell asleep in his arms.
When she woke, they were still curled up in the sweet-smelling grass, although Von had made a point to refasten her clothes while she’d slept. It was full night now, and the sky was blanketed with stars.
“Sleep well?” Von asked, his voice a low rumble.
“Mmm,” she murmured, lifting her arms above her head in a sinuous stretch. When she relaxed, she noted Von’s appreciative leer.
Completely unapologetic, he grinned when he caught her gaze. “Beautiful.”
Helena opened her mouth to respond, and then noticed something that had her quickly sitting up. Startled, Von’s body tensed and he immediately began to scan the area for danger. “What is it?”
“Your eyes!”
Confused, he looked back at her. “What about them?”
Helena shook her head, unable to explain.
“Here,” she said, scrambling up and pulling him with her. “Look,” she demanded, pointing into the glassy reflection of the lake. The stars above provided more than enough illumination for them to see their own shimmering reflections.
Peering into the water, it did not take more than a second for Von to notice what she had. Around each of his pupils was a thin iridescent band, just like in hers.
“I guess we match now,” he said after a moment of stunned silence.
Helena smiled. “I guess we do.”
“Do you think that means…” Von trailed off, not completing the question.
“That our power has merged?” Helena asked for him.