Bound by Magic by Jasmine Walt Page B

time something similar had happened was when he’d unlocked my powers, and it was a sensation I doubted I would ever get used to.
    I opened my eyes and focused in on the explosive, more confident now. Even though an onlooker would simply see a lone panther clinging to the side of the bridge, Iannis was with me, almost as if he stood right behind me, guiding me with his own hands. I unwrapped one of my limbs from the beam and stretched the pad of my front paw toward the device, and then I spoke the Words in my mind, directing my intent through them.
    Frigid magic spilled out of my paw, sending ice crackling across the device. The timer jumped, and my heart stopped for a moment, paralyzed at the idea that I might have accidentally set off the device before the bundles of traxtoline had frozen. But the device didn’t go off, and the magic quickly spread, running across the length of explosives until they were completely encased in ice. The magic continued back and forth a couple of times, covering the bomb with layer upon layer of ice, and I didn’t stop until the timer had ceased to move from within the frozen block.
    “Excellent job,” Iannis said. “Now we need to get rid of it.”
    “Okay.” I eyed the explosives nervously. “How are we going to do that?”
    There was silence for a moment. “I believe the easiest way would be to use an alchemical spell to turn the device itself into ice.”
    “Wait, what? You can actually do that?”
    “Yes.” Dry humor tinged Iannis’s voice. “Alchemical magic is a little beyond your scope, so I’ll have to work directly through you this time. Hold out your paw, as before.”
    I did as he asked, and listened as Iannis spoke another incantation in my mind. The spell activated, and I goggled at the amount of energy that came pouring out of my paws – if Iannis hadn’t been lending me his magic I would certainly have used all mine up, and probably fallen into the bay from exhaustion. I watched as the magic penetrated through the layers of ice and seeped into the explosive device like water soaking into a sponge. It took several minutes, but gradually the device turned more and more translucent, until it was barely distinguishable from the block of ice encasing it.
    “Excellent,” Iannis said when it was done. “Now come back up.”
    He withdrew from me then, and the sudden change was so shocking I nearly lost my grip on the beam and went tumbling into the water -- a fall that could potentially kill me. Trembling, I clung to the beam for a long moment until I felt sure of myself, then slowly pulled myself back up to the surface.
    “Are you hurt?” Iannis demanded the moment I was topside. He jumped from his horse to crouch down in front of me, meeting my eyes.
    “I’m fine. Just a little shaky. Give me a minute.”
    The majority of the bridge was empty now, save for a few abandoned carriages and steamcars. Still, I was surprised when Iannis sat down on the curb next to me and stroked a hand down my fur. A warm current flowed down my spine, banishing some of the hollow, icy feeling, and I had to resist the urge to lean into him. His masculine scent was incredibly compelling, and as he sat beside me on the bridge, looking at me with such concern in his eyes, he was more approachable than he’d ever been.
    But I didn’t lean on him, because that would break the barrier that had mutually been erected between us, and there was no coming back from that.
    Once my heartbeat had steadied, I pushed myself to my feet, then shifted back into human form. By the time my vision had cleared, Iannis was standing, his expression stern once again. But there was a look in his eye I’d never seen before, something that could almost be mistaken for admiration.
    “Perhaps I could have found a way to do this without you, but I probably would not have found the explosive device in time. Thank you for insisting on coming along.”
    I grinned at that. “That’s the first time you’ve ever