Chapter Twenty-Five
F orsythia doesn’t have the best control over her water magicks on the best of days, and with the exhaustion, it’s even more chaotic.
At least it does a good job of getting most of the black bloody gunk off of her, though.
I’ve never been one to find things incredibly disgusting before.
That was, until I saw a monster explode and cover my mate with its insides.
I try to console Blake, moving to his side and wrapping my arm around his shoulders, but he waves me away. I know that he is hurting. I also know that the hurt is confusing and irritating him. But he would prefer space to deal with these emotions, so I will give it to him.
“Should I talk to him?” Forsythia asks me in a hushed voice, but with our enhanced hearing, I have no doubt that Blake heard her.
“Not just yet. Give him some space.”
She nods and offers me a small tight smile.
Now we get to deal with the clean-up.
Again.
Oh lovely.
“Would you mind um–” Forsythia trails off as she stares in the direction that I know her father’s body is in. I gently grab her shoulders and purposefully turn our bodies so that she is facing the other direction.
“Of course, Animus Meus . I will handle it. Is there anything you want to say?”
“No! I mean–” She bites the inside of her cheek for a minute before sighing and laying her head on my chest. Her words are muffled, but I hear her clearly enough.
“I mourned him once. I know it wasn’t real, but it felt real. I don’t want to do that again.”
I kiss the top of her forehead and pull her back a little.
“That is understandable. Besides, there is a mess over here that you can handle while I see to things.” I wink at her and she groans. Loudly. And not in the way I like.
I laugh and kiss her forehead again before stepping around her.
I weave my magicks through my vocal vibrations and waste no ceremony on the process. I ignite the body quickly and reduce it to ash. I call on the earth to pull his ashes into it, and cover the space with moss. Similar to how things happened in that dream version, only quicker this time around.
I make my way back to Forsythia and Euyriale Tynnan’s body is already gone.
However my mate seems to be struggling with igniting the black gelatinous mass that once wrought fear in this world.
Blake comes over to Forsythia’s other side.
“Maybe we should try using a spell infused with my blood?”
Forsythia tilts her head a little. “As long as it’s a small amount.”
He nods and pricks the end of his finger with a small knife.
I still do not understand where he stores all of his weapons.
He presses the bloody fingertip into his other palm and smears it around a bit, infusing his magick words as he moves.
Ardebit in Cinere
The blood swirls quickly into a nearly invisible ball and Blake slams the hand straight down into the monster’s blood.
Everywhere on the ground where the blood touches, it begins to boil and steam, until it makes a sound like a bubble popping. Then it’s gone. Just like that. Odd little tufts of steam rise into the sky and the mess on the ground is no more.
I wish I could heal the spaces covered in rot, left behind by the monster’s touch. But every time I try, nothing will grow there.
Perhaps it is for the best. The earth holds the scars of the battle we fought today. The scourge my mate wiped from this realm.
My heart is filled with pride.
She did it.