Kai snapped out of the vision. “This isn’t real.”

“Not yet perhaps,” Alden replied. “But it can be. It’s what you want, and I can make it happen.”

“I’m not ready for children. That was my mother’s idea.”

“The idea took root deeper in you than you think.”

“This is ridiculous,” Kai growled, pushing against the chains holding him, fighting the magic trying to break his mind.

Alden sighed. “You dragons are far more trouble than you’re worth.”

Alden hit him harder, again with his desires. He saw Sera, her family, his family. The commandos. The images whipped past at breakneck speed until they settled into a single scene. Sera was in his office, standing in front of his desk.

“Let’s learn skydiving.” Smiling, she threw a brochure down on his desk.

He glanced at it. “We can fly on our own, you know.”

“That’s cheating. It’s using magic.”

“How is that cheating?” he asked, amused. “Magic is a part of us.”

Sera draped his arms over his shoulders and grinned. “Well, what if you can’t get your magic to come?”

“Doesn’t happen.”

“Not even once?”

“No.”

She giggled.

“Sera, I am not magically impotent,” he told her.

She smirked at him. “Ok, I’m going to need some evidence.”

He grabbed her, kissing her hard and long. “Satisfied?”

She looked at him, delight curling her lips as her gaze panned down the length of him. “Not yet, but I’m sure you can take care of that.” Then she slid off her top, tossing it to the floor.

He moved in, kissing her. But even as he touched her, his mind was protesting, trying to tell him something. Had this really happened? Or was he just hallucinating? The walls of reality were breaking down around him, clouding his mind. He concentrated on her lips. They felt so real.

But something was wrong. Sera was wearing his ring, the one he hadn’t given to her yet. This was all wrong. Alden had warped his memory, trying to break his sense of reality.

“No!” he shouted, pushing out with his magic.

The illusion shattered, backfiring on Alden. Kai watched as all the death and destruction Alden had spearheaded over the centuries slammed against his enemy’s mind, flooding it.

Alden pulled out of it, stumbling back. “Why are you fighting?” he demanded, his hands shaking. “I have offered you everything.”

“No, you offer only illusions.”

Kai looked around. They were in a large chamber. Magic echoed off the walls, bouncing around in an endless loop.

“I have turned your colleagues on the Council. I can turn you too. I just need to find the right button. Sera.” A calculating smile curled Alden’s mouth. “The key is Sera. You are holding onto her. Your love for her. You’re not clinging to power. Or seeking a relief from pain.”

“There are more important things than power,” Kai said. “Most of the others on the Council don’t understand the importance of all the life that happens between the power plays and the victory parades.”

“But power does allow you to protect those you love,” Alden told him. “Let’s begin again, shall we?”

For weeks, Alden hit him hard. He got Kai high on magic and drugs, then whittled down his magic piece by piece, leaving him raw. He got inside Kai’s head, making him see Sera. Making him see everything he had ever wanted. And everything he feared. Back and forth. Good and bad visions, awake and dreaming, drugs and counter drugs.

And Kai did break. Finally, he couldn’t tell the difference between reality and Alden’s illusions anymore. He saw himself standing beside Alden as the Grim Reaper tried to sway Sera to his side. But Kai couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t speak up. He heard himself talking to Sera in words Alden had put into his mouth. No matter how much he pounded against this prison of the mind, he couldn’t break free. He was hurting her, attacking her, and he couldn’t stop it. But there was only sadness and kindness in her eyes, not hate or anger. Just love.

She kissed his hand, and something changed. Something shattered. His mind escaped, merging into Sera’s.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Picnic on the Salty Sands

THE JOURNEY THROUGH Kai’s memories had left Sera raw. His emotions—so powerful, so overwhelming—had been more than she’d ever guessed. She’d known he loved her. His actions had always been evidence enough of that. But she hadn’t fully understood the true depth of his feelings for her. Reliving them with him had split her through to her very soul. Her heart ached with his, soared with his, bled with his, loved with his.

Sera took Kai’s hand. She peeled off the chains binding him to Alden. She touched his wounds softly, meeting the agony of the guilt burning in his eyes.

“It’s not your fault,” she told him.

“I lost. I broke.”

“It’s not your fault,” she repeated, squeezing his hand so hard she wasn’t sure it didn’t hurt him.

But he squeezed back even harder. She peeled the last of the chains from him, then she led him outside.

The desert spread out before them in every direction. They lowered onto a picnic blanket at the edge of a salt basin. A wicker basket waited for them, but she didn’t open it. She took Kai’s hand and just sat with him, wiggling the sand from her naked toes as they watched the sun rise together.