23. ~Kai~ #2
“We don’t know that for certain, Nyx,” I cautioned him. “It could be the source of the interference that this test registered, but having a hold on her is an entirely different, and far more severe thing.”
“No… it’s more than that, and I…” He trailed off, clearly majorly distressed.
“What’s happened, babe?” Vorzyr asked him, going to him and stroking his nape.
Nyx didn’t even calm at his touch, though, and that was really saying something given how much he enjoyed that.
His gaze fixed on Ariana. “When I was up at the Guardian Compound, your mom, and two of your dads, Lucian and Ryker, were embroiled in a discussion that I overheard… accidentally.”
Accidentally? Sure.
Ariana frowned. “My mom is supposed to be at the Lotus Coven today doing an inspection.”
“Maybe she just popped in for a while for the talk that I heard. Either way, something fucked-up is going on . Cornelius and Jaxon haven’t been away on Guardian-related business.
It’s about you. They’ve been communicating with the True Celestials on the Celestial Plane.
I’m not sure how that’s possible, or whatever, but it’s been happening.
They’re trying to stop some sort of threat from the True Celestials from reaching you.
That’s why they really want you to take back your full power, to protect yourself if this threat , whatever it is exactly, I don’t know, comes to pass. ”
“What?” Ariana rasped. “I don’t… no, this is… why wouldn’t they tell me any of this, something that directly impacts me and our family?”
“They were worried you’d become unstable and be unable to take back your power safely,” Nyx told her. He grimaced. “I’m so sorry.”
We all tensed as she turned away and shoved her hands through her hair, as she fought to absorb what Nyx had reported.
As if reading the results of this test wasn’t bad enough.
The fact that it had been performed on her against her will and even without her knowledge was yet another example of her life not being her own, something that had absolutely devastated her and had left her essentially frozen in place for so long, and repressing who and what she was.
Now this warning that was coming through via the test, something she’d actually been drawing subconsciously…
this was exactly what happened when knowledge was locked away—pain and being unprepared.
Being vulnerable.
I hated it at the best of times.
But it was far worse now.
Because it was about her, about the four of us as a whole. It impacted and risked so much concerning that—what we’d been building, for one. And, beyond that, what might come at us as a result.
As if that wasn’t concerning enough, and more than a fucking mountain of shit to deal with, there was also the fact that Ari’s family had essentially betrayed her.
Perhaps worse from her perspective, given how I knew her to be, was that they hadn’t trusted her. So much so that they’d gone around her and hidden something huge from her, something that clearly had far-reaching consequences.
Vorzyr and Nyx both shot looks my way, willing me to move to comfort Ari.
It made sense, given our longer history.
But it had me hesitating. Maybe I wasn’t the best person for this aspect of what she was going through.
I wasn’t exactly known for my emotional intelligence.
Hell, Nyx was the most emotionally-available one, with Vorzyr a close second.
Ari was down at the bottom with me, but I was most definitely always last.
I’d be useful when action needed to be taken, a plan needed to be strategized, a spell required forging or casting, something along those lines.
However, I had pushed Ari to open up and let me in, so I had to at least try, even if I didn’t fare well.
I stepped forward and went to lay my hand carefully on her back, ready to attempt to comfort her, but she spun around just before I made contact, making me stagger back a couple of steps.
She was too focused to notice, announcing in an all-business tone, “We need to put that failsafe in place. Now, Kai.”
“Why? What are you thinking? Where’s your head at, sweetheart?”
“It’s clear something is coming and that’s really why my family wants me to take my full power back.
It’s also clear that everyone, including my family, has their own designs for me.
There’s so much manipulation. And, I guess, I’ve left myself open to it, because I’ve been so unsure in who and what I am.
In my power.” Her eyes flashed. “No more.” She squared her shoulders and looked out at us each in turn.
“I’m taking my power back. No more running from who I really am, from everything that I can be.
No more living as just pieces.” A growl rumbled from her as she uttered with so much conviction, the strength of it reverberated through the cave walls all around us, “It’s time my life became my own, time I took it. ”
The words she was speaking… I’d wanted to hear them from her for so long. I’d wanted her to come back to herself, to rise above the repression.
But the way it was happening tainted it. The fact that she was hurting from the secrets Nyx had discovered her family had been keeping from her. The fact that she was caught up in something extremely worrying and complicated with the True Celestials.
“Kai?” she pressed, when I didn’t respond quickly enough.
“Yes, if that’s what you want, I can create the failsafe.”
“It’s what you want, too, isn’t it? What you believe needs to happen?”
“I believe that there should be a way to check all beings of great power. But I don’t believe that you need this to be able to take back your power.
Your control is much stronger than you give yourself credit for.
The other night in Meforian Forest, I barely had to hold my magic against you—you were in control even amidst all the sexual intensity and wildness, even when giving V what he needed with his primal side.
The failsafe will be fashioned should anyone manage to take control of you, should something happen where your power is no longer your own, not because I don’t trust your ability to wield it. ”
“I do feel more in control, and I hear you. It’s just been a long time since I’ve had my full power at my disposal, so it does concern me.
I want to believe I can handle it, and I’ll have to focus on that when I carry out the spell to return it to me, but there still exists that sliver of doubt, and this failsafe will help me to let go of that. ”
“I say whatever makes you comfortable to take back your power, because it’s clearly needed right the hell now with all this other shit going on that Nyx has reported, combined with the test results,” V spoke.
“I need you to work with Kai, too,” she told him.
“Work on being able to use your Primal Celestial Resonance at a moment’s notice.
You’ve only used it once so far, and it wasn’t your chief intent to do so, it just happened in the moment.
If the True Celestials do come, that ability can serve to protect all three of you, if anything happens to me, or if I’m not right there in the moment. ”
“He’s not ready,” I cut in.
V swung his head my way. “You’re talking about what happened in class?”
“And the way you approach your power in general. You don’t wish it to be reined in. With that outlook, it makes teaching something involving such precision a near-impossibility.”
“Find a way,” Ariana urged me.
I eyed Vorzyr. “Your course with Gabriel Morgan begins this week. Attend two classes of his Forbidden Weaving & the Art of Spellbreaking , follow his instructions precisely, focus on controlling your power not from the standpoint of taming it, but from desiring accuracy and precision. Then come to me and we’ll work on honing your secret Celestial ability—as well as others. ”
I was expecting some pushback, but he nodded right away. “Fair enough, I’ll do that.”
“Well… good,” I responded.
“We all need to pull together. That takes precedence over my dragon ego, yes?”
The corner of my mouth turned up.
Nyx chuckled. “I love it.”
“I thought you might, babe,” he said, winking at Nyx.
Ariana was far too deep in mission-mode to take any of that in, and she stepped up to me, urgency radiating off her.
“When we create the failsafe, you won’t be able to store it within yourself—at least not for long.
The magic is far too potent. But you’ll need to have access to it immediately.
So we need to figure out a solution that can—”
“Your staff,” Nyx spoke up.
Ariana took his words in and eyed me. “He means your Scepter? You still have that? I thought you damaged it during the Coven Games a few years back when you took out that necromancer?”
“I found a way to repair it. And strengthen it. It’s impossible to break now, actually. By any supernatural being.”
Her eyes lit up. “Then that’s perfect for this task.”
“Color me intrigued. Let’s see this special thing,” V urged.
With a snap of my fingers and a brief spark of my magic, I called it forth and I was grasping it in my right hand in the very next second.
“I call it my Aetherbound Scepter,” I said.
It was a specially crafted, enchanted weapon of intellect and precision.
The sleek, onyx staff was wrapped in rose-gold etchings that glowed when it was active.
At its center was a swirling orb of my magical energy that pulsed in reaction to my mind and what I was willing my power to do.
It served to strengthen my spells. But it could also store them and release them later like a time-delayed trap.
And now it was about to become one of the only things on earth that could both wield and protect against Celestial magic.
To safeguard against what was coming for the woman we treasured.