Chapter 48 Wolfe
Wolfe
“When Hope Sparked “
We gathered in the Hollow Room, preparing to cast the spell. Hope was alive in our hearts that we may be able to find the ring.
We were all here. Arielle, Garrick, Bastian, Alaric, Elariya, and me.
I’d never seen Elariya look so determined.
She knelt across from me, setting out the items I’d given her for the spell.
My mate had returned from a full day spent with Magdalena, with fire in her soul, demanding a meeting at once with all of us. She felt she was ready to do the spell.
And so did Arielle. They’d quickly relayed what had happened today at the cave and Magdalena’s explanation of Elariya’s powers.
The ability was strong with her—as would all mage abilities become given time.
It was her bloodline.
Fae and mages both descend from the Elder Elfkind. Most bloodlines diluted over centuries. Some rare lines carried pure time-anchored magic.
She’d gotten one of them. The dragons had told me once that her bloodline was as ancient as mine. I hadn’t realized at the time just how old and powerful it was. But I sensible enough to be aware of possibility—the unknown.
Her half human side had provided a clean slate to allow her power to manifest.
Daughter of the Hourglass—one born of temporal lineage.
It hadn’t occurred to me though, when the Seer first gave her the title, that it would mean so much more.
Those born of such lineage are not merely time-wielders. They are time-bound.
They belonged to it.
She belonged to it.
Not since the Dark ages had anyone seen a mage with Elariya’s power.
And we were only just touching the surface. There was a lot more to come. A lot more to her. She was starting to see that too, and own who she was.
The woman across from me wasn’t the timid, uncertain girl I’d first met.
Gods be good, she didn’t even look like woman she’d been when she destroyed the rebels with her spell. This version of her was stronger. And that gave me hope.
We placed the last of the crystals around the dragon parchment, and the two of us stood, trading hopeful glances.
Arielle and the guys took their places to form the protective circle around us. They looked hopeful too. Last time I’d brought everyone in for additional support. I did the same today. The more power, the better.
I acknowledged each of them and sighed.
“Is everyone ready?” I asked.
They nodded.
“We’re going to do the same thing as before. But this time—” I glanced at Elariya. “We hope Elariya’s ability will guide us the rest of the way and unlock the path we seek to find the ring.” And get her memories back.
“This time feels different. Here’s hoping.” Alaric tapped a hand to his heart.
The others nodded.
Here’s hoping in deed.
I placed my hand to my heart and bowed. “La níyneria, a mun dair.”
“La níyneria,” they all answered, including Elariya.
I smiled back at her and her face brightened, still carrying that resilient courage. I was already proud of her.
I nodded to Garrick. He began chanting his Galdrlore incantation. He lifted his arms, and a bright silver prism emitted from his palms. Arielle did the same, summoning the powers of the Fray. Bastian and Alaric joined them.
Hardly a second passed before, Elariya and I were surrounded by a wall of radiant light. The manor groaned from the strength of the magic, a good sign we had a strong barrier.
I picked up the athame and drew in a deep breath. “Ready, Ziyka?”
“ Yes, I'm ready.”
I took her hand and numbed her skin of her palm, so she wouldn’t feel the sting of the blade. I ran the tip of the blade over her palm when I was sure she wouldn’t feel anything.
Dark blood pooled instantly. And the magic within was strong. A hundred times stronger than when we last did this.
I turned her hand over so the blood could drop onto the center of the parchment. Then I sliced my palm too, and did the same.
Drop, drop, drop.
The blood blended together like the lovers again, who were still waiting to seal their fate. They were married now, but their fates were still uncertain.
I hoped they’d get their happily ever after.
Ready to cast the spell.
“Syrith velor aethernal, thraven korum mal. Syren vael orum thar, thalorien en drakthal, Amuun dai del nenira. Amuun dai del nenira.”
The spell invoked the powers of the eternal veins of magic, ancient bloodlines, dragon essence, and the celestial pathways of the stars. The air shimmered with my plea, then it rippled and the howling shadows came. Not mine. The other kind.
Elariya had been terrified of them last time. Now she stared them down. As though nothing would stop her from getting what she wanted.
Amber light radiated across the parchment and our blood began to flow along the carved pathways.
Shadows writhed through the air, trying to draw our attention away, but we kept our focus.
Like before, our blood traveled in a line across the parchment and began to form a map. The pattern came quickly and more hope filled my soul.
The map showed Vaelthorne, the name appearing in elegant script, then the pathway breached past the Hollow Realm into the Ether Planes.
The names of all the places shimmered above the parchment.
Soon the Nojavai Realm materialized showing another plane of existence and the line of the map kept going.
This was as far as we got last time.
And fuck, as soon as the thought entered my mind, the map stalled as if it recognized something was wrong.
Elariya looked at me but I couldn’t look away.
The blood in the line made a tingling sound before it split and my blood came flowing right back to me. It went straight back in my hand and the wound that had been there moments ago sealed, healing like I’d never sliced my palm.
“What happened to…” Elariya stuttered, but her word trailed off when her blood fused back with the line and the map continued to grow.
Last time a door had closed, shutting us out. But the map was going, still tracking the ring. With her blood.
That it had rejected mine was a worry but it was lost on me as I gazed at the line rippling into the great beyond past realms and places I’d never heard of.
Then it stopped and I wondered if it reached its destination. But there was nothing there.
To my shock, Elariya stepped forward, flicked open her palms and threads of gold appeared around us.
Thread of time.
She wiggled her fingers and the threads converged.
“Show me,” she commanded.
Something pulsed in the air beyond the planes. I couldn’t tell what it was.
Then a loud rumble echoed throughout the room.
Just like before.
And just life before the map fizzled to nothing, Elariya’s blood floated back to her, and the room quieted to graveyard silence.
We stared at the space before us. All of us wondering what the fuck just happened.
Did the spell work? Or didn’t it?
It didn’t feel like it had.
Only one way to find out.
“Ziyka, do you—”
“I don’t remember. It didn’t work,” Elariya spoke quickly but she wasn’t looking at me. She was still staring at the space before us as if she were waiting for something to happen.
I looked too. We all did. And as the minutes ticked by we had to accept nothing was going to happen.
Arielle and the others dropped their shield. Only then did Elariya look back at me.
“Wolfe…”
“Let’s try again another time. It’s late and you had a long day—”
“No.” She shook her head and balled her hand into a fist. “I felt it. I felt it calling to me. The ring. And I knew it was the ring.”
I looked back at Bastian, who had come up to us.
“I felt it too,” Arielle spoke up in a shaky voice. We all looked at her. “I felt it when Elariya summoned the thread of time. It was as though the ring was in the room with us.”
“So the spell worked then?” Garrick stepped forward. “If you two felt it then maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s all it was supposed to be.”
“No.” I shook my head. “The Seer said Elariya would get her memories back when she located the ring. She doesn’t have her memories back so that means she didn’t locate it. The spell didn’t work.”
“But the fact that our two mages felt the ring’s presence must mean something,” Alaric cut in.
“Maybe we did something wrong?” Garrick intoned.
“Why did it reject your blood?” Arielle asked in a still voice, zeroing on me.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
Everyone started at me, their gazes probing and questioning. I hated the attention.
“It doesn’t need my blood. Remember Elariya has elements of my blood,” I said, an attempt to get their eyes off me. “The Seer said she alone could wield the ring, so my blood isn’t required to find it. That’s why the enemy tried to take her.”
They knew all of that. But it didn’t explain why the spell rejected my blood.
Truthfully…I had a sneaking suspicion I knew the answer. But I didn’t want to go down that road tonight. It wasn’t important.
“There must be something more we need to do,” I added, glancing at the parchment.
“Perhaps we should try again,” Elariya suggested, following my gaze. “We were close. I could feel it so strong. Maybe there was something more I needed to do and the window closed.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her no. Not when she looked at me like that with those big, bright, hazel eyes.
So I nodded, agreeing, for her, even though I was tapped out and drained of hope.
The way I saw it— Elariya was as powerful as she could ever be for the little time we’d had to train her.
Even from before her reset. If she needed more power, skill, or whatever the fuck the ring demanded for us to find it, it wouldn’t happen before the next reset. That wasn’t me being a pessimist.
I was just facing reality. One where it was likely that my mate, my wife would forget who I was again.
Still, I gave her a hopeful smile. I could smile for her, and act like I had hope enough for the both of us, even when all seemed lost.
“Put up the shield again,” I said to the others.
They returned to their places and erected the shield.