Chapter 17 #2
“I did. When I finally gave in to the inevitability of its hold upon me. The Tower marked me as a bringer of ruin and it did its work through me more thoroughly than you can even imagine. In every way you might think up. I have destroyed every good thing, every bad thing, every real thing which has ever come close to me in one way or another. It made me a monster in war and marked me with its curse in life.”
“Some things need destroying,” I said, reaching for the card, my hand falling over his as he refused to relinquish it.
“Perhaps,” he admitted, his voice soft and rough, the wind threatening to snatch it away from me. “But I grew weary of destroying everything a long time ago. And there are some things I do not wish to taint with the weight of my corruption.”
His silver eyes met with mine and took them captive, his gaze piercing my soul in a way no other’s ever had.
“The Tower doesn’t just mean destruction,” I said slowly. “It can mean liberation too.”
My fingers moved over his and he turned his hand to capture mine, the tarot card flattened between our palms as he drew me closer.
“Would you have me liberate you then, spectre? Is that why you keep drawing me back to you?”
“Maybe,” I agreed, stepping closer to him so that the heat of his skin enveloped me, his powerful body looming over my own, the scent of him on every inhale, my wants for him on each exhale.
“Or perhaps I know that I am worthy of nothing short of destruction and I’m in need of your help to ruin me. ”
“Be careful what you wish for.”
My gaze fell from his eyes to his mouth and I found myself stalling there, aching for something I shouldn’t have wanted. Magic thrummed in my veins, the place where our hands were connected buzzing with it and without thinking it through, I lowered my walls and let my power reach out for his.
Bastian’s reply was instant, as if his magic had been holding back by a thread which snapped at the demand from mine.
A gasp parted my lips as his power rushed into me, the heavy weight of his earth magic coiling through my limbs and making every piece of my body hum with awareness.
This was more intimate than a kiss, more treacherous than any other move I’d ever made against my prince, more dangerous than I should ever have allowed myself to endure.
But it was the first time I had felt truly alive since my sisters had been ripped from my arms too.
“Vesper…”
Bastian turned away from me sharply, his hand tugging free of mine, the tarot card which had been trapped between us fluttering down to the snow behind him.
“Who was that?” he growled, his shoulders rolling back as he tensed in anticipation of an attack.
“You heard it?” I asked, the ether crying my name louder in reply.
Bastian shot me a confused look, his hand curled into a fist.
“Can you still hear it?” I pressed because the ether was still calling out to me but he wasn’t reacting to it anymore.
“No. What was that?”
“It’s the reason we’re here,” I said, reaching out to take his hand again, my magic racing up to meet with his but his gaze hardened as he pinned it on me and this time he didn’t allow his power to merge with mine.
“There’s another corrupted keystone nearby.
Or at least that’s what I assume the ether is guiding me towards.
I figured I’m the least likely suspect to be sent on a quest to save the world from darker forces of nature, but maybe that’s why they chose me for the task. No one would ever suspect me.”
“Or perhaps it’s because you’re one of the most competent Fae I’ve ever met. And the ether knew well that you were capable of achieving anything you might set your mind to.”
“Careful, that sounded like a compliment,” I teased.
“I already told you, spectre, you’re the one who needs to be careful around me.”
Bastian returned to dressing himself and I said nothing more, my eyes trailing over his tattoos, his scars, the stories I had no right to ask about yet wanted to hear him tell.
“Can you locate any caverns beneath the ground here?” I asked when he had pulled a warm coat on and finished lacing his boots.
“I can try.” Bastian knelt down, scooping mounds of snow aside as he hunted for the frozen earth beneath. Once he found it, he laid his palm flat against it and closed his eyes as he sent his magic roaming into the dirt and rocks below.
The silence stretched as he hunted but I held my tongue, my eyes searching the sky and trailing the flight of a solitary bird which was passing over the mountains.
“There are no caverns beneath our feet,” Bastian said finally, standing once more. “But there is something near the top of that peak.” He pointed towards the western mountain and the ether screamed all the lounder inside my head, urging me closer, confirming his assessment.
“How easily can you replenish your magic?” I asked him, eyeing the climb with distaste.
It would take us hours to make it up there on foot but if I could fly us up there then we would be done all the sooner.
The slope was too steep and inaccessible for Bastian to easily be able to land us in his Dragon form but air magic could be manipulated more precisely than landing a beast as big as a barn.
“More easily if you let me spend some time with that pretty necklace you so like to wear,” he replied.
“We’ll see about that.” I stepped up to him and took his hands in mine before wrapping us in a net of air magic and hurling us into the sky.
Bastian cursed at the sudden propulsion, his grip moving to my waist even though I had hold of him well enough without him needing to pull me tighter.
It was tempting to drop him and see if he screamed but as he dragged me against his chest I found myself content to stay in the cage of his arms.
Bastian called out directions but I didn’t need them. The ether was screaming now, my name a wretched lullaby which it was intent on singing until I forced its silence.
I followed the call, speeding towards the side of the mountain, a rocky ledge coming into view between the snow and a small crack beckoning us to slip through it.
We landed softly and the ether fell deadly silent. This was the place.
Bastian made to release me but I gripped his jacket and dragged him closer as I reached for him with my gifts and tugged at his desires.
I was expecting him to bombard me with another sordid fantasy but the vision which came to life within my mind wasn’t of us tangled in wicked knots beneath silken sheets.
It was of open skies and the wind beneath his wings, the stars shining brightly as he dove into the dark with no destination in mind and nothing to stop him from just flying on and on forever.
The soft brush of his fingers through my hair snapped me out of the daydream and I blinked up at him as he silently wiped a tear from my cheek, his gaze mirroring my old hurt back at me.
“Your prince may not have been the one to take the butcher’s knife to your wings but it was his kingdom’s rules which gave the motivation to those who did it to you. He and all of his rotten brethren deserve death for that single crime alone.”
I swallowed down the words I wanted to give him in answer to that.
I may have resigned myself to my treason but that didn’t make it easy to speak it aloud.
I was still a part of that kingdom, still a cog in its corrupt machine, and still trying to imagine any other way that life might pan out for me without it.
“Let’s go,” I said simply, stepping back from him with my magic overflowing and my old wounds stinging.
I moved to the jagged entrance to a cave which had likely seen very few Fae in all the millennia it had stood there, then led the way into the dark with a beast at my back and the ether urging us onward.
Our footsteps echoed in the darkness as we crept into the tight space, the light snatched away as soon as we turned the first corner, though at least the walls opened up a little.
“It would be real nice to have fire magic around about now,” I muttered, squinting into the nothingness ahead and Bastian turned a dark look on me.
“That has to be a joke? You do know that Smoker flames have nothing on Dragon Fire? Mine burns hotter, faster, further, longer. It can melt most known substances from metal to comets, forge weapons of great power, shatter the shields of–”
“Prove it then,” I taunted and he stilled, eyeing me dangerously and I couldn’t deny the thrill I got while locked in this predator’s gaze.
“You’re baiting me? You really are a foolish little mouse.”
“Squeak, squeak,” I agreed, the edges of my lips tugging upward as a growl rumbled through his chest.
A blast of Dragon Fire tore from his fist so suddenly I flinched, the heat washing over my frozen limbs for an all too brief moment before it hurtled away into the darkness ahead, leaving the imprint of what it had illuminated onto the backs of my eyes.
We were in a cavern which opened up before us with a wide, yawning hole at its heart.
I stepped up to the edge of the hole and Bastian reached his hand out, letting more flames fall from his fist to spiral down into the darkness and out of sight.
Deep beneath us, something noticed.
This was nothing short of madness but once again I found myself striding straight towards the unhinged option.
I took hold of Bastian’s arm as the flames died out and together we stepped into the abyss.