Chapter 25 #3
Valerius holds me through all of it. His own body shakes. He is wounded. Bleeding. Exhausted but he holds me like letting go would be another death.
"Thorne," Seren whispers. The sound pulls me back. Seren. I lift my head. She is crawling toward Professor Thorne, the black sigil at her throat gone now that the Masters retreated. Her hands shake violently as she reaches him.
"No," she sobs. "No, no, please."
Thorne lies on his side, pale and still, blood dark beneath him. My heart seizes. I push away from Valerius. He tries to stop me. "You can't."
"I can." My eyes snap towards him.
"Valentina, you just—"
I stop him. "I can."
I crawl to Thorne. Every movement hurts. Valerius stays beside me, one hand at my back, ready to catch me when my body remembers it shouldn't still be moving. Seren looks up as I approach. Her face crumples. She expects me to push her away. I want to but I don't have the strength in me.
"Move," I whisper.
She moves instantly. I place my blood-covered hand over Thorne's wound. Nothing happens. Panic rises again. "No. No, please."
Valerius kneels beside me. "You used too much."
"I healed you before." I remind him.
"This is different." He says.
"I don't care." I press harder.
"Professor Thorne," I whisper. "Please."
No light comes. Only a faint warmth. Tears fall onto his robes.
Seren sobs beside me. "It's my fault."
I look at her then. Really look and the betrayal returns, sharp enough to breathe. "Yes," I say.
The word hits her like a blade. She nods, accepting it through tears. "Yes."
Valerius's hand covers mine over Thorne's wound. Shadowflame curls around our fingers. "Together," he says softly.
The word is broken by exhaustion, but steady.
I nod through tears. Together. I reach again.
Not for power, for life. For the thread beneath Thorne's skin that still hums faintly, almost gone but not severed.
Starfire answers slowly, painfully, like dragging light through shattered glass. White-gold warmth seeps into him.
Thorne's body jerks once. He coughs. Blood spills from his mouth. Seren cries out. I nearly collapse. Valerius catches me with one arm but keeps his other hand over mine, holding the magic steady.
Thorne draws a ragged breath.
My arms give out. Valerius pulls me back against him. "You did it," he whispers but his voice sounds far away.
The archive spins. Ash falls. My father remains still behind me. Voss groans near the shattered shelves. Valerius sees her move. His face changes. A darkness enters him so complete even my grief notices.
He starts to rise. I catch his wrist. "No."
His eyes snap to mine. "She did this."
"I know." I nod gently.
"She lives because you stopped me before." He says with rage,
"I know." I lift my hand.
He shakes his head. "I will not—"
I stop him. "Not now," I whisper. The words cost everything. "Not while I'm holding my father's blood."
His fury cracks. He sinks back down beside me but his eyes stay on Voss. A promise. A sentence delayed.
Voss laughs weakly from the floor. "You think this is victory?"
No one answers. She pushes herself onto one elbow, blood dripping from her chin.
"The Masters saw enough. They know what breaks you now."
Her gaze moves to my father's body. Then to Valerius.
Then to Seren. A smile cuts through her ruined face. "They know all your soft places."
Valerius's Shadowflame rises. This time, I don't stop it. Professor Thorne coughs weakly. "Draven." The single word is barely audible. Valerius freezes. Thorne's eyes open halfway. "Later," he rasps.
Valerius's jaw clenches. Then he lowers the flame.
Seren presses both hands over her mouth, sobbing silently.
I can't look at her anymore. I turn back toward my father.
My body shakes. Valerius helps me move. He brings me back to him, to my father.
Alaric Starling lies on the archive floor, one hand open at his side, blood dark beneath him, face strangely peaceful now that fear has finally left it.
I take his hand. It's still warm. That breaks me all over again. "I don't forgive you yet," I whisper. My voice is shredded. "But I heard you." Tears fall onto his hand. "I heard you."
Valerius kneels behind me, his hand on my shoulder.
The archive is destroyed around us. The gate is closed.
The Masters are gone. Thorne is alive. Voss is captured in the wreckage, smiling like a curse.
Seren kneels in betrayal and grief and I sit in the ashes of the first battle, holding the hand of the father who finally stood in front of me when it mattered too late.
War has come to Arcana Academy and it already took blood. Mine. Valerius's. Thorne's. My father's.I lift my tear-blurred eyes to the broken vault mirrors.
In one cracked reflection, I see myself. My eyes glow silver-gold. A crown of faint white fire trembles above my head. Behind me, Valerius's Shadowflame rises like wings and in my lap, my father's blood stains my hands.
I close my eyes. Somewhere far away, beyond the walls of Arcana, the Ancient Masters are retreating. Regrouping. Planning.
When I open my eyes, the last of the Starfire fades from my skin and I collapse.