Or not. Because…
Pyramids.
Now that she’d thought about them, she could feel them. She triedto call out a warning but could only cough, prompting her bearers to go faster,the one near her head making little whimpers of alarm. Sylph tried to focus onthe feel of the normal pyramids, the relatively safe ones, but there was also asiren-like call like the one at the garden party and in the academy, and itmade panic flutter through her chest.
She tried to breathe deeply to keep it from consuming her andforcing her to lash out in an effort to stop this ghastly pull, but it felt toomuch like trying to relax when something sought to pull her off a precipice.Not panicking felt too much like succumbing to doom.
No, Thana would argue that staying calm would help her avoid theabyss, too. Thrashing would only speed her fall. She pictured Thana’s darkeyes, her lips saying, “Breathe, breathe.” She demonstrated deep breaths alongwith the words, smiling proudly when Sylph copied her.
Ah, the pride of another. She never knew how much she’d needed ituntil Thana.
A rush of cool air rewarded her. “Do your dirty work out here orbegone with you,” the countess said.
Sylph thumped lightly against the dirt. The pull of the pyramidbecame stronger. She clamped her teeth and balled her fists, trying to picturethe struggle as a physical one. Finally, her eyes opened.
The countess stood above her. “Timmony,” she called. “I’ve gottenher out. Come back.”
“Countess?” two voices called from a distance, one male, Timmony,but the other was like a sweet balm to Sylph’s frazzled nerves.
“Thana?” Sylph wanted to reach for her even more than she wantedthat pyramid, but she couldn’t risk moving. The pyramid called for her like along-lost love. “Thana, help.”
“Go back in,” Timmony cried as Thana called, “Watch out for—”
Sylph lost the rest of their words as a pyramid took flight. Itwasn’t the siren, but she reached for it anyway. In her mind, its invisiblepresence was as bright as a shooting star.
At a brush of her mind, it detonated, and the sky overheadcracked, the sound washing over Sylph in a rush of air. Countess Carisse criedout, several other voices with her, but hers faded behind the boom of a closingdoor.
Sylph struggled to rise as the relief from touching the pyramidfaded. The siren was still out there, and she had to get away from it beforeshe hurt someone. “Thana?”
“Let me go, curse you, she needs me.”
Sylph nearly wept at the words. Thana was coming. Thana wouldsave her. Again came all those feelings she didn’t have names for. With hermind occupied, her heart ran free, wanting Thana, needing her like a gardenneeded the sun.
Then she was there, merely a shadow in the night, but Sylph knewher.
“Are you all right?” Thana asked, her touch fluttering aroundSylph’s face, her hair. She tried to kiss those quick fingers but couldn’tmanage it. “Sylph? Did they hurt you?”
“Pyramids. They…” Thana had some on her, too, but their pull wasnothing compared to what was coming closer. Oh spirits, what if she killed themboth?
“Easy, Sylph, breathe. Here.”
Smooth pyramid crystal pressed against her palm, but it felt likedead stone as the siren tried to claim her mind.
“It’s light, Sylph. Remember? Light it. Hold on, please.”
“It’s coming,” Sylph whispered, and she felt the destruction atthe siren’s core. She wouldn’t be able to retune it. It would swallow herbefore that, forcing her to ignite its fiery heart and take them both, takethem all, the manor and all the world.
Soft lips landed on hers, a fierce pressure, desperate hunger.She could see no more than shadow, but as with the pyramid, she could feelThana beyond the kiss, feel the heat of her body, of her breath, the way shecradled Sylph’s face with tenderness but also need. A distraction, yes, butalso a release. The way Thana’s mouth moved said she’d imagined this kiss manytimes.
Sylph had imagined something like it, too, ever since she’d knownwhat kissing was, and this was nothing like she’d expected while being so muchbetter.
The siren faded to a pinprick of distant light as the pyramid inher hand blazed. The siren was just a tool, carried by someone who had moretools at their disposal, all of which could be weapons.
But she was not helpless.
She threaded a hand through Thana’s hair as she warped thepyramid in her hand, retuning it as she’d done in the manor and calling throughit to the stone. The ground rumbled, and she brought part of the manor wallarching around them, shielding them from all the world.
Chapter Twelve
Thana had been wild with the idea that Sylph needed a distraction,that the light pyramid wasn’t enough, but she’d been drawn to kiss her for morereasons than that.
Sylph seemed to need it.
For comfort, yes, but also to know that someone saw her struggle,cared about her and wanted to help. As much as Thana had been jealous ofSylph’s power, she’d also been sympathetic about the way Sylph felt forced touse it. Thana had been forced into enough situations in her life to resent themon another’s behalf.
And of course, Thana had really, really wanted to kiss her, too.
When Sylph had kissed her back, Thana had melted, forgetting thedanger, the questions. The earth seemed to shift around them, and when shefinally drew back from Sylph’s soft lips, she was surprised to find it reallyhad moved, creating a little dome over them, with a hint of light coming fromone side where the stone sloped downward.
Sylph’s stone power. Of course. Thana’s cheeks heated at thethought that she’d ever assumed differently, even for a moment. Then she alsorealized the barrier wouldn’t stop an explosive pyramid for long.
She scooted nearer the hole and called, “Come out and give up, orwe’ll blow up the rest of your pyramids. You’ve already seen it once.”
A beat of silence passed, then another. Sylph groaned, and Thanaknew that no matter how much stone she manipulated or how many kisses shereceived, she’d eventually be compelled to touch the enemy pyramids again,maybe to vaporize everyone.
“Come out or retreat,” Thana yelled. “I know you’re still
