24. Esmira
ESMIRA
M ilk-white moonlight shone around me, and a garden of white lilies surrounded the bed I lay on.
Their blossoms opened under the moonlight, odd, because flowers were supposed to bloom in daylight under the shining beauty of the sun.
The sun was what gave life, gave grace, drew everything toward it. But not so here. Here it was the moon.
And I was dying.
Each breath pained me, and my chest rattled as I struggled for air. A wheezing sound came from my nose, and when I closed my eyes, time spun away from me. But when I opened them, letting the tears fall, all around me was beauty.
My memory was fragmented. I’d fought the shadows, the beast had been slain, and the temple had crumbled. Yet I didn’t know what happened to the worshipers, nor Methrin, or Lyra for that matter. What had happened to our guards, the ship, Lord Pelgrin and Lady Velune?
Each time I grasped a thought, it slipped away like water, leaving me with the reality of pain. No chains circled my arms or wrists, and I lay in a garden of lilies under the cool beams of moonlight. There was light and no shadows. Not tonight. Not anymore.
A figure dressed in white walked toward me. One arm was in a sling, both wrists bound with bandages, a limp making his gait unsteady. I watched as he neared, unsure whether what I was seeing was real or my own hallucinations. But no inky black ribbons tried to choke me, and no voices spoke.
My mind was my own. Quiet.
It would have been a pleasure, aside from the pain that radiated up my chest, squeezed my heart and sent waves of agony rippling through my entire body. My skin burned hot and even the cool breeze offered no relief.
As the figure neared, I realized it was Methrin. His jaw was set and his violet eyes—so beautiful—swam in depths of emotion. My breath rattled in my chest.
“You. Look. As. Bad. As. I. Feel.” I gasped.
The intensity of his gaze increased as he sat down on the edge of the bed, his weight making it dip ever so slightly. A moan left my lips.
“Don’t try to speak, I know you’re in excruciating pain. I went through this too after I split from my shadow.”
“We. Won?” I asked, trying to smile at him but my lips wobbled .
His fingers found mine and held me gently.
“You were brilliant back there. It was just enough to allow me to defeat the Destroyer, and Lyra helped too. She’s at the library, researching.
She found Rydlin’s study, and I assume she’ll be there for a while.
We are waiting, the moon has returned, the rituals are being completed.
I was too wounded to do them myself, but some of the priestesses survived.
Once magic returns the light of the moon will heal you.
I know you are in pain, I hope relief will come soon. ”
I blinked at the pure light and another wave of heat passed over me.
All the words I hadn’t said, all the truths I hadn’t told him burned in the back of my throat.
What if I died before the magic came, before the light healed me?
Methrin had somehow survived the splitting.
The pain hadn’t killed him. But it felt impossible to live through this pain, and as another white-hot wave of agony came over me, I lost track of time.
Methrin’s thumb rubbed against my wrist, and a low hum came from his throat. A melody. I drifted as I listened to it, lost in a sea of regret and things I should have said.
“The sword?” I croaked out when I had a moment of lucidity.
“It’s here,” Methrin confirmed.
“Will you?” I gasped for breath; it hurt so much to speak.
“Don’t worry, I will finish what we started. I will take the sword, go back through the portal, and slay the shadow.”
Tears leaked out of my eyes .
Methrin squeezed my hand. “I’m here, Esmira. Don’t worry about the past or the future. Just be here with me in the present.”
Another wave of pain took me but there was something I needed to tell him before it all ended.
“I—”
S ometime later I opened my eyes to sunlight.
I was still in the garden but a shelter had been built around me, shielding me from the light.
Methrin reclined in a chair at my bedside, asleep.
He lay back, head tilted to one side, long lashes sweeping his sculpted cheeks.
The hard lines of his face had softened and the intensity was gone leaving his raw and vulnerable.
Desire rose within me, soft and yearning, momentarily suspending the agonizing pain.
“I want to live,” I whispered, a hope, a prayer. “Don’t let me die, not yet.”
“You’re not going to die.” Lyra appeared, a halo of light surrounded her as she ducked under the covering. “Not if I have anything to do with it. Esmira, permission to use my magic on you?”
I nodded, the sensation of moving just as jarring as breathing.
Lyra placed her palm on my forehead and heat pulsed from it. A burning sensation went down my body, replaced with a numb feeling. My body a dead weight I could not control and my eyelids fluttered soft. Faintly I heard words coming from her mouth.
The tension in my body faded, the tightness around my chest and throat released and bit by bit the sensation of freedom came over me. A calm like I’d never felt before filled my body and I took a deep breath, relishing being able to do something as simple as breathe without pain.
“Sleep,” Lyra whispered.
I closed my eyes and slept, a long dreamless sleep.
When I woke, she was still there, and so was Methrin.
His concerned gaze on me as my eyelids fluttered open.
His arm was no longer in a sling but he still lounged back, relaxed.
A small table was now beside him with a tray of food and a carafe of amber liquid.
He held a glass in his hand and took a sip, watching me.
A shyness came over me and I shifted my gaze to Lyra who sat cross legged on the foot of the bed, her lean body curled around a book. As she flipped a page her gaze met mine and a smile lit up her features. She sat up straight. “How do you feel?”
Gingerly I sat up, relaxing when pain didn’t sear through my body. “Better.” I eyed the tray of food. “Hungry.”
A rare chuckle rumbled in Methrin’s throat as he lifted the tray and placed it in my lap. “Eat. Drink,” he encouraged.
“Yes, eat,” Lyra encouraged.
“How did you heal me?” I asked around a mouthful of food.
Sticking a finger in the book to mark her place, Lyra began.
“Esmira, I found my father’s tower, his old study.
” She paused, a wistful look coming over her face.
She glanced at Methrin before continuing.
“I always wondered why he left, and I found some answers, especially concerning his magic. As you know, tales claim my father was a great sorcerer, and he was, but I rarely saw him use magic. Now I understand why. When someone with Mirror Magic splits themselves from their shadow self, it requires a great deal of magic to heal them. My father healed Prince Methrin and I assume he must have used too much of his magic in a short span of time, healing Prince Methrin, locking the mirrorverse, and building the Boundary. After that, his magic was never the same again, or so I assume.”
I swallowed hard. “What did healing me do to your magic?”
Lyra tapped her chin. “I’m not sure of the effects yet, but I felt buoyed by the light.
It might be because I’m in this realm which is full of magic, I’m .
. . home.” She lowered her voice. “This is where everything changes Esmira. I’m going to go to the next two temples and use my magic to free them from the Destroyers.
You and Prince Methrin need to go back to the human realm. ”
“Be we need the sword?—”
“I found it,” Lyra interrupted. “It’s hidden while the elders discuss what needs to happen. They weren’t very appreciative of you and Prince Methrin breaking the dark power that held the temple intact, but when the moonlight came so did glimmers of magic. The darkness is losing its hold.”
I chewed thoughtfully. “I thought only one who hadn’t been corrupted by the darkness could take the sword.”
Lyra gave a shy smile. “It’s true, and that someone was me.”
Eyes wide I looked from her to Methrin. “How do we know it will work to kill the shadows?”
“It will work,” Methrin confirmed, refilling his glass. “There’s even more news. The moon drakes are returning.”
“What are moon drakes?” I asked.
Lyra grimaced. “Esmira, they are similar to the beasts that live beyond the Boundary. They are large, scaly beasts with snake-like tales and wings. Here they are tame enough to ride, and the fastest way to return to the portal which leads back to the human realm. Word has it that the King is on his way here since the city is free.”
I expected to feel elation, delight, anything other than the heaviness that plagued my soul. “Methrin, is this what you desire? You just got home, and we’re leaving again.”
“I swore to help you.”
I studied him, trying to decipher the words he wasn’t saying. But the way those violet eyes smoldered eventually won me over.
“When do we leave?” I asked.
He leaned back, holding my gaze. “Not yet. First, I want to marry you.”