The Hunter and the Mage (The Raven and the Dove #2) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,145

died—trying to hold onto a dragon for too long. But an invinci, well, the stories say nothing but time can destroy them."

"Why risk so much?" she asked, aching to brush her fingers over Rafe's cheek but unsure if it would only cause more harm. "Why risk his life? Why risk yours?"

"My life was never in question."

An ominous silence lingered after his words.

You would've walked away, she realized. If I didn’t come, you would've saved yourself and left him here to burn.

Lyana had known there was a ruthless streak inside Malek's soul—they'd been in too close of proximity for him to hide it. But she’d never imagined he could go this far, treating people as means to an end, as nothing more than pawns on a strategy board to be moved where he willed. She knew in her heart that he wanted to save the world. Malek was the King Born in Fire, the king of prophecy, the foretold hero. But he was also a monster. And she didn’t know how to reconcile the two.

"Why?" Lyana finally asked, needing a reason.

"The dragons are our enemy, and now we'll have insight on them we've never had before. It's not pretty, but war seldom is, and I'll do whatever it takes to defeat them."

His voice was iron, so unbending, so unfeeling it might not have been human, but she understood. He'd done the exact thing he'd told her to do so many times before. He'd built a wall around his heart, separating his emotions from his magic, separating his soul from his mind to keep it from breaking under the strain. For the first time, she wondered if it weren't a cage.

They didn't speak after that.

Lyana funneled her power into Malek. Malek funneled his power into the soul joining. In the quiet, she studied his technique, trying to learn how this new aspect of her magic worked. She couldn't remember a time when the dove tied to her soul hadn’t been there, when she'd been just a human and it a bird. They were as much a part of each other as the wind and the sky, interwoven so completely one couldn't exist without the other. The marvel of Aethios was alive before her, but it was twisted in fire and soaked in flames, a nightmarish version of the gift she'd always held in such high esteem.

I'm sorry, Rafe, she thought as the last bits of their souls were entwined, dragon and man united in a connection so complete, no force could tear it asunder. I'm so sorry.

"We should leave." Malek pulled his hands away from the table and wiped his hair from his brow. "I've done everything I can do."

Panic ensnared her. "What do you mean?"

"It’s done."

"It can’t be done."

Rafe's body flickered with every heartbeat, trapped somewhere between beast and man. Pressure pushed against her chest, not Malek's power, but Rafe's soul and the dragon's soul, battling for control. With each passing moment, the force grew, seeping from his skin to fill the air and tightening her lungs. It pulsed with increasing strength, again and again and again, like a wave that crested and crested but never crashed, the momentum only building.

Malek took her hand. "Let's go."

"No." She wrenched free.

"Lyana, haven’t you ever wondered why some babies never make it out of the sacred nest alive? The end of a soul joining isn’t always a pretty experience. Someone has to win dominance, and someone has to surrender it. The fight is in the raven's hands now."

"Rafe," she spat. "His name is Rafe."

A wicked glint flared to life in the corners of Malek's eyes. "Is that what he told you?"

"I won't leave him."

"I won’t risk you."

Their magic crashed, the golden sparks flickering in his eyes as he demanded she come with him. But she was done being ordered around. Neither of them moved, their power pushing and pulling, leaving them frozen where they stood.

Behind her, the pressure mounted.

"Lyana, the entire building might collapse, and we both know the raven will survive."

"I won't leave him."

She reached back and found Rafe's hand, trying to ignore how his skin was smooth one moment, then rough and hot the next, then human, then beastly, again and again. His fingers tightened around hers, gripping so hard she bit her cheek against the pain, but she could take it. If it helped him, she could take anything. The pressure grew, pulling her away, but she held on, refusing to let go, refusing to let anything move her. Not Malek.