know how distracted I’ve been. But nowhere on that expanse of clear skin and gaunt muscle did he see even a flicker of his own flame.
“Maybe if you kissed me again.” Darien came close and tilted his head up, eyes ageless in the odd light.
Silas suddenly didn’t care if it would transfer power and save them or not. He steadied Darien’s head in his hands, and bent to take his mouth. The kiss was like two magnets meeting, a seamless contact that was Silas-and-Darien as if they’d always been together. He could taste Darien and himself, and a hint of power danced on the edges of the kiss. He lost himself for uncounted time in the movement of Darien’s lips under his, and the touch of tongue on tongue.
Grim coughed, then sneezed. “Before we get to the mating part, did it work?”
Reluctantly, Silas pulled free, and moved one hand off Darien’s skin to call power. The magelight in his palm was maybe a bit more stable, but still a feeble thing. “Not… a lot.”
Darien wiped at his chin, then looked down at his hand. A hint of Silas’s power danced on his skin. “See, it’s there. Why didn’t you take it all?”
“I couldn’t feel it.” That was disconcerting. “We could try again.”
“Or…” Darien stared at him intently, then began methodically licking his own fingers. The shimmer of green power expanded to coat his damp hand.
Silas’s gut rolled uneasily. He hadn’t intended to pass along this magic. It was some odd side effect of a fraught moment in battle. He didn’t even know what it was doing, but Darien’s expression worried him. “If you wipe your hand on me…” Would the power come home to him? It was such a wisp, though any amount might help.
“If that kiss didn’t do it, I don’t think slimy spit transfer is the way to go.” Despite the light words, Darien seemed nervous. He held his hand up, eyeing it, then before Silas could react, he clamped it on his other arm— into his other arm.
“What are you doing? There’s no ghost.” He reached toward Darien, then yanked his hand back, afraid to touch him and make it worse.
“No ghost.” The strain on Darien’s face was echoed in his voice. “But the power you need? That’s still here.” His fingers moved, clenched, under his own skin, and he flinched.
“Don’t! Don’t hurt yourself.”
“Hah. If you think I’m gonna die beside a River that wants me to go hang out on the swings, just because of a little pain… there.” Darien lifted his fist clear of his arm. In his clenched fingers, a scrap of golden energy pulsed, pulling a streamer of light up from inside Darien, and he gasped roughly. “How… much do you need?”
“I don’t know!” It’d been a long time since Silas had wanted to gibber in panic, but this was definitely the moment. “Stop! Be careful! Don’t pull any more!”
Darien’s voice was tight and harsh. “I don’t want to do this twice. Is that enough?”
I don’t know! I can’t tell. Don’t turn yourself inside out for me! He managed to grab hold of his racing thoughts and look objectively. The ball of power Darien held was about the size of the bite most ghosts took. It should be enough for something this simple. “I think that’s plenty. Can you stop there?”
“I’m not sure.” Darien lifted his fist higher. The tendrils it was drawing up thinned, split. “Jesus Christ, this hurts. Maybe best like a Band-Aid.” With a flex of his thin biceps, he yanked his hand upward. The fistful of power broke free, connections snapping back to Darien’s arm. He yelped and sat down hard in the dirt, grunting in pain as his rear end hit the ground.
But his eyes glittered brightly as he held the fistful of light up to Silas. “There. Take it!”
Silas knelt beside him and cupped his hands around Darien’s. He muttered a spell of containment, of acceptance. He wasn’t wasting a drop of this gift. Darien’s glowing hand merged into his, and he had to control a jolt of shock. That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this is supposed to go.
The merging of flesh in flesh was painless, heat without burn, movement without pressure. The warmth of Darien’s golden energy flowed into him and through him, from his hand to his heart, to his core, where his magic lived. He knew this man’s power now. He’d felt it fill him and stream from him