THE ASHEN COURT

~~ANIKA VALERION~~

I was still staring at it when the bond lurched.

A spike of pain and fury that was not my own slammed through my chest.

I staggered.

Blood. Swords. The clear sense of Xander fighting for his life against guards that could not be taken down.

Rage and terror crashed together inside me.

I reached.

The newly awakened power answered at once, surging up from the center of my chest and pouring down the incomplete bond like a flood.

I felt it leave me; instinctive, protective… and slam into him across the distance. For a heartbeat the air around him stilled. The guards staggered under...