Her eyes shifted to his throat and the iridescent band that encircled it. Shimmering color wavered over it, like rainbows over a soap bubble. She stared, fascinated by the swimming ribbons of color. Part of her wanted to touch it, but the saner part of her warned her of danger. Drake hadn’t told her everything. She was sure of it.
“Go ahead, Helen,” he urged in a low, seductive tone. “You don’t have to be afraid. I’d never let anything hurt you.”
He sounded like he meant it. She knew better, but that sincerity ringing in his voice was her undoing. She reached a single finger toward the band and let the pad of her finger graze the surface.
Drake let out a low moan of pleasure and his eyes darkened, became unfocused. “That’s right. Now, imagine it opening, see yourself wearing it.”
Helen did, and the sinuous weight of it slid from around his neck. She caught it before it could fall. The heat of his body radiated from the band, soaking into her palm.
Helen suppressed a shiver of pleasure.
The colors had frozen in place as if they needed Drake’s touch to fuel them. He held out his left hand, showing her the matching ring he wore. The colors in it were also still.
“See,” he told her. “Whatever happens to one part of the luceria, happens to both. It’s a connection between us, binding us together.”
He turned his hand over, silently asking her to give him the necklace. Helen let it fall into his hand, being careful not to touch him. He found the loose ends and gave her a look so full of reverent hope that it nearly brought tears to her eyes.
“Lift your hair for me.”
Helen’s hands shook, but she did as he asked. His arms reached around her and he leaned down so that his eyes were level with hers. They glowed with a brilliant, hopeful light. “As long as you wear this you’ll never be lost. You’ll never be powerless. You’ll never be alone.”
She heard the ends of the luceria lock together with a muted click, and her body was frozen in place. She could hear and see, but she couldn’t move.
Drake made a sword appear out of thin air and knelt in front of her. He tugged his shirt up, sliced a shallow cut over his heart, and said, “My life for yours.” Then he rose to his feet, pressed his finger into the blood that welled from the cut, and touched it to the luceria.
She had no idea what he was doing and she was pretty sure that she didn’t want to be any part of more bleeding—hers or his. She tried to tell him that, but nothing came out. Her mouth wouldn’t move to form the words.
Helen felt the band shrink until it fit close to her skin. It grew warm and vibrated. That warmth trickled into her, growing until she could feel a cascade of heat fill her up. All the dark, empty places inside her—her fear, her loneliness, her worry—all vanished until there was nothing left but a glowing flush of energy suffusing her. Every cell in her body vibrated in time with the luceria. It hummed happily around her neck, pulsing with a living energy she could sense was much larger than anything she’d ever known existed.
Colors filled her vision, a swirling mass of reds and oranges with bursts of yellow sparkling in between. She was blinded by the beauty. She could feel herself falling, but it didn’t matter. She wasn’t worried. There was no place for worry inside her now.
She felt Drake’s hands grip her upper arms and hold her steady. Streamers of power shot into her where each of his long fingers touched her skin. She heard herself gasp at the new sensation, felt the sudden breath fill her starved lungs. Only then did she realize she’d forgotten to breathe.
Drake said something, but the words sounded muted and far off. The roar of power in her ears sounded like a waterfall and blocked out all else. She felt him give her a little shake and some of his desperation filtered into her through the luceria. She had no idea how it happened, but she knew that she was feeling what he felt. She just couldn’t figure out why he was worried.
The swirling colors in her vision cleared, but she didn’t see the outdated kitchen she stood in. Instead, she saw a grassy field surrounded by high hills. Everything was green but the sky. It was a brilliant blue that was so intense it stung her eyes. A group of boys played on the grass, wooden swords in their hands clashing against each other while an older man stood by offering instructions.
One of the boys was Drake, as a child. He laughed as he fought, excitement glittering in his golden brown eyes. He lunged with his wooden practice weapon, missed his target, and took a heavy blow to the ribs for his mistake.
Helen felt his ribs crack, felt the searing pain shoot through his body. Before she had time to pull in a pained breath, the sensation was gone. Her vision shifted to another time and place.
Mountains shot up toward a cold winter sky lit only by the glowing moon. Drake and three other men stood in a narrow gap between giant slabs of stone. From that gap poured dozens of monsters. They were huge, ten-foot-long insectoids with shining black bodies and giant, snapping claws. The men sliced at the monsters, but their swords skittered off the hard exoskeletons, leaving only scratches behind.
One of the men whose fiery red hair shone bright under the moon shouted something in a language Helen couldn’t understand. Drake shouted back an acknowledgment and burst into a frenetic flurry of movements. His sword gleamed in the moonlight until it was nearly a blur of motion. He let out a rough, primal roar and drove one of the monsters toward the man who had shouted. The redheaded man crouched low, found an opening, and shoved his sword into a space between the jointed segments of the monster’s body.