“Jade, you’re translucent.”
“I am?” I held my hands out in front of me, not seeing anything different. “That’s not what I see.”
“Well, I do, and I can see right through you.” A muscle at his temple pulsed.
I shook my head, unwilling to entertain the implications of what he was saying. “Where’s your dagger?”
He jabbed his head off to the side. “Why?”
“Get it. This happened to me when you took the magic into the stone.”
Kane hesitated for a fraction of a second, then he snatched it up and held the blade so the stone was facing toward me. A wave of calm washed over him and his eyes turned almost black with concentration.
With the first pull of magic, ice filled my veins, making me shiver. My entire body shook, and I felt like I wanted to crawl right out of my skin. I couldn’t wait until the foreign magic was expelled. I writhed and twisted, unable to stay still.
Everything started to hurt. A dull ache filled my chest, making it hard to breathe. And then a sharp pain stabbed me in my solar plexus. I gasped. “Stop!”
Kane dropped the dagger and stepped forward just as I fell from my suspended spot in the air. I landed, crumpled in his arms, exhaustion keeping me from finding my feet. “I guess I’m solid again,” I said, out of breath.
His arms tightened around me. “Yes, mostly. But the door is almost gone, too.”
Mostly? That wasn’t a good sign. I glanced at my feet, noting they were in fact planted on the floor, but I couldn’t feel them. There was a shimmer just below my knees, and even though I looked solid to myself, I guessed to him my shins and feet were still part of the “other world.”
“What do you want to do?” Kane’s voice penetrated my haze.
I jerked my head up. “About my feet?”
“And the door. Whatever we’re doing to bring you back is hiding it again.”
I cast a glance at the barely visible outline on the wall. Anger consumed me from the depths of my soul. It was raw and resentful and full of a hatred I’d long ago buried. I wasn’t a ward of the angel realm. They’d have to work a hell of a lot harder at keeping me locked up.
“Unload the magic on the door,” I said and twisted out of his hold. A surge of power shot up from my toes as I once again rose in the air. Fiery magic spilled from my fingertips, blasting the seams of the door. It crackled and caught on, creating a ring of magic fire around the frame.
Kane turned and unleashed the power stored in the stone of his dagger. His red stream of magic collided with my flames. The inferno escalated, the flames licking their way up the door, turning the wood a deep orange as the fire penetrated to the center and burned from the inside out.
“It’s working,” Kane said.
Intense magic streamed from my fingertips as I remembered how I’d been trapped in this place for more than two months. How the angels were always manipulating everything, how they thought they owned us.
I unleashed every last bit of anger and frustration at the door until the structure seemed to moan under my ministrations. Then the wood expanded in a surreal state of slow motion until it burst, the explosion knocking us both backward.
Splinters of smoldering wood flew past my face as I crashed against the side table. Pain slashed through my back, knocking the air out of me.
Kane grunted and moaned about five feet from me. He was splayed out on the floor, his arm twisted at an odd angle.
I sat up, rubbing at my eyes, trying to clear my fuzzy vision.
“Hurry,” an unfamiliar voice called. “Before they arrive.”
I blinked again. A jean-clad male angel stood in the doorway. He had copper-colored hair and couldn’t have been a day over twenty. “Who are you?”
“I’m the one who’s going to get you out of here. Come on. The guards will be here any second now.”
I pushed myself up, my head spinning, and was relieved by the wave of Kane’s faint smoky fresh-rain scent. He wrapped his arm around my
“I am?” I held my hands out in front of me, not seeing anything different. “That’s not what I see.”
“Well, I do, and I can see right through you.” A muscle at his temple pulsed.
I shook my head, unwilling to entertain the implications of what he was saying. “Where’s your dagger?”
He jabbed his head off to the side. “Why?”
“Get it. This happened to me when you took the magic into the stone.”
Kane hesitated for a fraction of a second, then he snatched it up and held the blade so the stone was facing toward me. A wave of calm washed over him and his eyes turned almost black with concentration.
With the first pull of magic, ice filled my veins, making me shiver. My entire body shook, and I felt like I wanted to crawl right out of my skin. I couldn’t wait until the foreign magic was expelled. I writhed and twisted, unable to stay still.
Everything started to hurt. A dull ache filled my chest, making it hard to breathe. And then a sharp pain stabbed me in my solar plexus. I gasped. “Stop!”
Kane dropped the dagger and stepped forward just as I fell from my suspended spot in the air. I landed, crumpled in his arms, exhaustion keeping me from finding my feet. “I guess I’m solid again,” I said, out of breath.
His arms tightened around me. “Yes, mostly. But the door is almost gone, too.”
Mostly? That wasn’t a good sign. I glanced at my feet, noting they were in fact planted on the floor, but I couldn’t feel them. There was a shimmer just below my knees, and even though I looked solid to myself, I guessed to him my shins and feet were still part of the “other world.”
“What do you want to do?” Kane’s voice penetrated my haze.
I jerked my head up. “About my feet?”
“And the door. Whatever we’re doing to bring you back is hiding it again.”
I cast a glance at the barely visible outline on the wall. Anger consumed me from the depths of my soul. It was raw and resentful and full of a hatred I’d long ago buried. I wasn’t a ward of the angel realm. They’d have to work a hell of a lot harder at keeping me locked up.
“Unload the magic on the door,” I said and twisted out of his hold. A surge of power shot up from my toes as I once again rose in the air. Fiery magic spilled from my fingertips, blasting the seams of the door. It crackled and caught on, creating a ring of magic fire around the frame.
Kane turned and unleashed the power stored in the stone of his dagger. His red stream of magic collided with my flames. The inferno escalated, the flames licking their way up the door, turning the wood a deep orange as the fire penetrated to the center and burned from the inside out.
“It’s working,” Kane said.
Intense magic streamed from my fingertips as I remembered how I’d been trapped in this place for more than two months. How the angels were always manipulating everything, how they thought they owned us.
I unleashed every last bit of anger and frustration at the door until the structure seemed to moan under my ministrations. Then the wood expanded in a surreal state of slow motion until it burst, the explosion knocking us both backward.
Splinters of smoldering wood flew past my face as I crashed against the side table. Pain slashed through my back, knocking the air out of me.
Kane grunted and moaned about five feet from me. He was splayed out on the floor, his arm twisted at an odd angle.
I sat up, rubbing at my eyes, trying to clear my fuzzy vision.
“Hurry,” an unfamiliar voice called. “Before they arrive.”
I blinked again. A jean-clad male angel stood in the doorway. He had copper-colored hair and couldn’t have been a day over twenty. “Who are you?”
“I’m the one who’s going to get you out of here. Come on. The guards will be here any second now.”
I pushed myself up, my head spinning, and was relieved by the wave of Kane’s faint smoky fresh-rain scent. He wrapped his arm around my
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