Jarod steps closer, and she fights off the rush of fear as he cups her face and kisses her forehead with exquisite gentleness. His eyes blaze a brighter amber as his lips draw back and his canines elongate into wolfish points. He brings his lips to the base of her throat, kisses her once there...and sinks his teeth into her skin.

Aislinn gasps, arching against him as the rush of pain streaks through her, overwhelming in its intensity, like she’s suddenly burning away. The moon above seems to enlarge and glow brighter, and even through the bright haze of pain, she’s overtaken by its mesmerizing, luminous beauty, feeling, in the moment, as if her whole, burning body might float right up into it.

She grips Jarod’s arms as the pain sizzles through her, but she holds steady and accepts it unflinchingly because in this fierce, moonlit moment, she’s not interested in safety.

She wants transformation.

Amber light flashes across her eyes as something astonishing takes root within her. Her affinity lines diminish, then vanish, her fastlines fading to nothing as the energy of the entire Forest rises up to embrace her. The pain begins to recede as the strength of the pack floods through her, and Aislinn is filled with one single, shining thought—

No matter what comes, I will never be part of the Magedom again.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

XISHLON’VIR

Trystan Gardner & Vothendrile Xanthile

The Wyvernguard
North Wyvernguard Island, Noilaan
Eastern Realm
Sixth Month

Vothendrile

“You seem happier.”

Trystan looks at me the next evening, both of us leaning against the Wyvernguard’s lower terrace railing, facing west toward the Vo Mountain Range and the Zonor River beyond.

“I’ve carved out a small place for myself here,” Trystan muses. “With Minyl and RuSolyl and Sylla and Viger...” He turns to me. “And you.” A charge runs through us both, lighting up the longing in his eyes. And it’s strong.

Trystan’s lips part and my breath hitches, elation rushing through me.

“Be my Xishlon’vir, Trystan Gardner,” I breathlessly offer.

Trystan stills. “What are you asking me?”

“A Xishlon’vir...it’s the one you’ve chosen to kiss under the Xishlon moon. But it’s more than a kiss. It’s the beginning of a formal courtship. It’s a great blessing to begin a courtship on Xishlon.”

I wait for his answer, everything in me swept up in the yearning I feel crackling through his magic.

Trystan’s lips tilt up. “You want to court me?”

My power leaps. “I do,” I say, my heart bursting open. “Be my Xishlon’vir, Trystan.”

Trystan pulls in a wavering breath. His brow knots, tears welling in his eyes.

“Have you ever been kissed?” I ask, teasing and deeply serious at the same time. Wanting to kiss away his tears.

Trystan lets out a short laugh. “No.”

“I wish I could make you my Xislon’vir right now.”