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Her eyes shifted to his throat and the iridescent band that encircled it Shi color wavered over it, like rainbows over a soap bubble She stared, fascinated by the swi 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 hein 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, beca, see yourself wearing it"

Helen did, and the sinuous weight of it slid froht it before it could fall The heat of his body radiated fro into her palm

Helen suppressed a shiver of pleasure

The colors had frozen in place as if they needed Drake’s touch to fuel the 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 hi careful not to touch hiave 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 gloith 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 --hers or his She tried to tell hi came out Her mouth wouldn’t move to form the words

Helen felt the band shrink until it fit close to her skin It grear 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 huy she could sense wasshe’d ever known existed

Colors filled her vision, a swirlingin 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 Streaers 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 so, 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 hiive her a little shake and soh 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 orried

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 olderinstructions

One of the boys was Drake, as a child He laughed as he fought, exciteed with his wooden practice weapon, et, 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 tione Her vision shifted to another time and place