Chapter 28
Viri bolted from the circular room, sprinting past the wayportal and through a doorway hewn into the wall, then along unfamiliar stone corridors and down perilously steep staircases.
She heard her name called with urgency, but she didn’t stop, couldn’t stop, desperate to put distance between her and what she’d just discovered, needing a moment to process, to think, to understand.
She didn’t know where she was going, was only vaguely aware that she was in some kind of ancient castle, her surroundings passing in a blur of gilded portraits, regal statues, and elaborate tapestries.
Silvers and golds rushed past her at eye level, while rich blue carpets lined her path, the colors blending hypnotically as she raced blindly down, down, down—
And then, finally, she burst through a set of double-arched doors out into the frigid night, the air thick with the scent of honeysuckle and jasmine.
A quick, light-headed glance revealed she hadn’t left the castle entirely, but was in a small garden courtyard bordered by stone pillars and surrounded by more ancient towers like the one she’d just fled.
Glowmoths drifted lazily through the air, their radiant little wings fluttering from strange glimmering flowers to trees with bioluminescent leaves, and hovering around sparkling mushrooms in beds of glittering grass.
The moon shone down upon a three-tiered fountain sitting in a pond at the center of the enchanted garden, the crystal clear water gleaming with iridescent fish.
The courtyard was impossibly beautiful and unfathomably magical, but Viri barely saw it as she stumbled toward the fountain, trying desperately to draw air into her lungs.
She was choking and wheezing, just like when she’d been under the wraith’s thrall, and equally incapable of unblocking her throat.
The garden began to tilt around her, the kaleidoscopic lights making her nausea so intense that she slammed her eyes shut against the dizzying sight.
Only, the moment she did, all she could see were her parents lying on the ground in front of the obelisk, staring out into nothing.
I killed them. I killed them. I killed them. I killed—
“VIRI!”
Hands landed on her shoulders, grounding her in place. Her eyes shot open to find Reeve’s blazing silver gaze locked on hers.
“You need to breathe. Now!”
It wasn’t a request—it was a command. But Viri couldn’t obey it, the colorful garden spinning around her as her vision began to fade at the edges.
Reeve cursed when he realized she was beyond listening, and he quickly shifted one of his hands until it curled around her neck.
His eyes kept holding hers as he sent his ellixen into her, like liquid sunshine filling her veins.
The peace she felt was instant, a supernatural calm that made her feel languid and dreamy, her knees becoming so weak that Reeve had to circle his other arm around her waist to help support her weight.
“Breathe, Little Shadow,” he murmured into her ear as she collapsed fully against him. “Just breathe.”
This time, she could follow his command, her throat unclogging enough for her to inhale once, twice, three times, her burning lungs cooling as blissfully sweet air rushed into them, her heartbeat slowing, her vision settling.
Soon, she felt almost normal again, but that was when it happened.
A sob left her, then another, her body buckling with the force of her grief.
“I—I—I—” She was crying so hard that she couldn’t say the words, couldn’t share what the memory had shown her, what she’d done.
“I know,” Reeve said quietly, holding her close, his fingers combing through her hair as she wept into his chest, saturating his shirt with tears. “I know.”
“Wh-What happened?” she blubbered out. “Wh-Wh-Why did they—did they—”
Die. Why did they die? That was what she wanted to know, but the words continued to fail her.
Reeve tensed against her, though his voice remained soft, gentle, as he asked, “How much did you see?”
Viri finally managed to control her sobs enough to pull back slightly, though she couldn’t bring herself to step away completely.
“Something h-happened with my magic when I t-tried to Impart,” Viri answered tremulously, tears still leaking from her eyes, but at least she wasn’t bawling as fiercely anymore. “It e-exploded out of me and—and—”
And killed her parents.
The shock of the discovery was beginning to wear off enough for Viri to understand that whatever had happened, it hadn’t been her fault.
Something had gone wrong, some unexpected reaction from the obelisk that had triggered a magical surge and resulted in tragedy.
It had been an accident, nothing more, and yet, the weight of her guilt was crushing.
“There’s more for you to remember,” Reeve said, still stroking her hair. “But only—only if you want to know everything.”
His hesitation made her look at his face, the moonlight revealing uncertainty in his expression. Fear, even. Seeing it, she almost decided not to finish the memory, but she knew that if she didn’t, she would forever wonder what else she’d chosen to forget.
She owed it to her brother to find out why she’d believed he’d murdered their parents, just as she owed it to herself to find out what had really happened next.
“How do I w-watch the rest?” Viri asked, only stuttering slightly now as her tears began to dry.
Reeve seemed just as resigned as he’d been in the tower, though his unease was stronger this time, as if he knew exactly what she was about to see, and he dreaded it even more than what she’d already witnessed.
The thought made Viri’s stomach twist, but she gathered her courage and braced herself as best as she could.
“Just close your eyes,” he answered, seeing her resolve, “and think of the last thing you remembered. Now that the magewish has been revoked, your mind should unlock the rest instinctively.”
A shaky breath left Viri as she followed his instructions, not once thinking about leaving the comfort of his arms. He was solid and strong and safe when everything around her felt like it was crumbling—and something told her it was about to get so much worse.
She didn’t care that she needed him right now, didn’t care that he was a reaper, a monster, a killer.
Because he was also Reeve, and he was the only thing that stood a chance at keeping her together as she delved back into her past. Their past.
One second, she was staring up at him, seeing his conflicted, stormy gaze on hers, and the next, she was closing her eyes and tumbling back into her memory.
Ice swept through Viri at the sight of her parents lying on the ground.
Just seconds ago, they’d been running toward her, and now, they would never run again.
They would never hug her, kiss her, hold her, love her.
A thousand memories flashed across her mind, moments of laughter and tears and everything in between, none of which would ever be repeated.
Her parents were dead.
They were dead.
And it was all Viri’s fault.
But—no, it wasn’t. She hadn’t done this. The obelisk had.
Fire broke through her numbness, the renewed magical burn so fierce that she cried out, tears still streaming down her cheeks as pain enveloped every part of her.
She wanted to give in to it, to let it consume her so she could join her parents in peaceful oblivion, but even as the thought hit her, another one, a stronger one, told her that her mom and dad wouldn’t want her to give up.
She needed to fight. She needed to live.
“VIRI!” Reeve screamed her name, the sound barely penetrating her agony. “Brae—we have to do something! We have to help her! Brae! brAE!”
Viri’s pained gaze lifted to see Braedan standing over their parents, his face white with shock as he stared down at their lifeless forms.
But then Viri’s attention moved to Reeve as he sprinted toward her, just like her mom and dad had done. She wanted to shriek at him to stay away, but the stubborn look on his face told her he wouldn’t listen.
“You have to let go of the obelisk!” he yelled urgently, skidding to a halt right in front of her. He was so close—dangerously close. If there was another surge of power, if her magic exploded again—
“I c-c-can’t,” she gasped out around her pain, certain her skin had to be melting from her bones. “I’m s-scared, Reeve!”
“I’m right here, Viri,” he said, his face pale with fear, but then it shifted with resolve as he reached toward her.
“No!” she cried, flinching backward into the obsidian stone.
“Do you trust me, Little Shadow?” Reeve asked, his hands still raised between them. “I think—I think I know how to help you, but you have to trust me.”
“I—”
Another scream left Viri, keeping her from answering. She trusted him more than anyone, but the pain—the pain—
She couldn’t speak beyond the agony tearing through her, her torment growing until, suddenly, her vision flooded with light, ellixen radiating out of her, turning her into a living sun.
Reeve cursed against the brightness and didn’t wait for her response, taking her free hand in his and wrapping his other palm around her neck, skin to skin.
“What are you doing?” Braedan croaked out, finally shaking off his shock enough to lunge toward them.
Reeve closed his eyes in concentration. “There’s too much magic inside her—it’ll kill her if I don’t stop it.”
“You’re—You’re—” Braedan was at a loss for words.
“Yes.” Reeve spoke through gritted teeth, fighting hard against the ellixen searing through Viri.
But then she realized, he wasn’t fighting it at all.
He was absorbing it.
Stealing it.
Siphoning it.