Chapter 26 Violet
Violet
You have lost your mind, I snapped down the bond to Sebastian. Let me take the Flower Commander!
I paced in front of the castle, the gravel path crunching beneath my boots with every tight turn.
I am not risking her being alone with you even for a second, Sebastian replied. You have to take Adar.
Adar leaned against one of the carved pillars nearby, completely unconcerned with the tension humming through the air. He had a knife out and was absently picking at something under his nail with it.
A vine slowly crept down the pillar toward his shoulder.
Without even glancing at it, he flicked the blade once. The vine dropped cleanly to the ground. The rest of the greenery recoiled immediately, retreating up the stone.
I grimaced.
The idea of touching Adar long enough to transfer us across realms made me recoil almost as dramatically as those vines had.
Across the courtyard, the Flower Commander watched me without blinking. Her hand rested lightly on the hilt of her sword, posture relaxed but ready. She had the stillness of someone who expected trouble and intended to meet it head-on.
Sebastian said taking both of them wasn’t impossible. He could manage the power required, but he couldn’t show that kind of strain in front of another realm’s Commander.
Which meant one of them was coming with me.
The evil I knew.
Or the evil who had probably helped slaughter more of my people than she would ever admit.
I looked toward Sebastian.
Even through the careful mask of indifference he wore whenever other realms were watching, I could feel the smugness.
What if I let go of him halfway through the transfer? I asked sweetly through the bond. Would he disappear forever?
Tempting, Sebastian replied.
I huffed and crossed my arms.
Meet me where we camped in Ocean, he said, and moved.
“Wait!”
The Flower Commander barely had time to react before he caught her arm and the shadows bent around them. Space folded inward and then they were gone.
Leaving me standing in the courtyard.
Alone.
With Adar.
I chewed the inside of my lip, staring at the empty space where Sebastian had vanished like it might personally apologize for abandoning me with Adar.
Adar pushed himself off the pillar with unhurried ease. “If you can’t take us there, just say that,” he said, lazily flipping the knife in his hand before sliding it away. “I’m sure Sebastian would be more than happy to save you again, Tinker Bell.”
Heat rushed through my veins, fast and instinctive, the familiar warning flare of temper that always came a breath before fire. I closed my eyes and let the feeling move through me instead of fighting it. The heat slipped out in a controlled wave instead of igniting the air around us.
Only then did I open my eyes and look at him.
“If I leave you here,” I said, stepping toward him, “will you just siphon a little magic and take yourself there, Mr. Delvaux?”
The muscles along his jaw tightened.
I stopped just short of him, crossing my arms. “Right,” I continued lightly. “You can’t do that anymore.”
“It isn’t that I can’t,” he said through gritted teeth. “It’s that I don’t.”
That made me pause.
I had never actually thought about it that way. Since I had never seen him take magic, I’d assumed it was because the magic was different in Alentara and he couldn’t.
But he could.
He simply chose not to.
Adar extended his hand toward me then, the corner of his mouth lifting into a wicked smile that said he knew exactly what thought had just crossed my mind.
Could he take from me?
The idea flickered through my head like a spark, before I shoved it aside. Overthinking it would only make this worse.
I grabbed his hand before I could reconsider.
Pulling someone with you during a transfer always took more focus than moving alone, and I felt the strain immediately—the way the air thickened around us, the moment of pressure that came right before the world folded.
I didn’t react.
Not outwardly.
The courtyard dissolved, color and shape twisting together for the briefest second—
—and then we were standing in the Ocean Realm.
Sebastian and the Flower Commander waited near the edge of the shoreline where the tide rolled lazily against the sand. The salt-heavy wind whipped across the cliffs, carrying the sharp scent of water and storms.
Good? Sebastian asked through the bond.
I ignored him.
Instead of letting go of Adar’s hand, I tightened my grip. The world folded a second time—and I took us straight to the Sun Realm.
The moment my eyes opened again, dizziness slammed into me. The world tilted sharply, everything blurring together for a second before I could catch myself. I swayed, but a hand caught my arm before I could lose my footing.
Adar’s.
He didn’t say anything, but the look he gave me carried a very clear I told you so mixed with satisfaction.
I pulled my arm out of his grasp, already opening my mouth to argue, but the words died before they could form. Warmth sank into my skin, steady and familiar.
I stopped caring about Adar’s expression entirely.
Because I had missed this.
And I was finally here.
The castle—my castle—rose ahead of us, gold and pale stone catching the sunlight. My feet started moving before my mind fully caught up. I was already halfway up the steps, breath quickening, when the massive doors swung open.
Alastor stood in the doorway.
I didn’t slow. I crashed into him like I had been running toward that moment since the day I was born.
“I missed you,” I said into his shoulder, the words breaking free before I could stop them.
His arms wrapped around me immediately. “I’ve missed you too, little bird,” he said softly. “But I am a little concerned about why you’re here without warning.”
Footsteps echoed up the stone steps behind me. As the others reached the landing, Alastor’s attention shifted past my shoulder. His gaze landed on the Flower Commander.
He tilted his head slightly. “Sasha. It’s been a while.”
Her expression didn’t change. “I thought you were dead.”
“Yes, well,” Alastor replied evenly, “destroying a realm tends to give people that impression, doesn’t it?”
“I had orders,” she said. “You would have done the same.”
Something dark flickered behind Alastor’s eyes, and I knew immediately this conversation needed to end.
“I made a deal with Sefina,” I said quickly. “In exchange for an alliance.”
His brows rose. “A deal?”
“She wants a sunflower that grows on our lands,” I said. “One that glows.”
Understanding dawned instantly.
“A Solaryn,” he said. “They’re used for protection.”
“Do you know where we can find one?”
“Yes.”
Relief flooded my chest so quickly, it almost made me laugh.
“Good,” I said, already turning back toward the steps. “Then let’s go.”
Alastor smiled faintly and gestured toward the path leading down from the palace. Sebastian stepped forward beside me automatically, shadows sliding along the stone with him.
“Are you going, Shadow King? I would think the Sun Sovereign is capable of handling things in her own realm, don’t you?” Sasha asked.
Sebastian tensed, ready to show her how he felt when someone questioned him, but Alastor stepped in front of him.
“This,” Alastor said, “is a good moment for her to prove herself. Are you planning to stay at her side every second?”
Sebastian’s eyes darkened just a fraction. “No.”
“Then let her practice,” Alastor replied. “Stay here.”
Sebastian’s gaze shifted to me, searching for hesitation. I met his eyes and shook my head once.
You know he’s right, I said through the bond.
Then aloud I said, “I can do it.”
He studied me for another moment. “I know you can.”
Sebastian’s thumb brushed once along my knuckles before he leaned down and pressed a quiet kiss to my forehead. Then his attention shifted briefly to Alastor.
“Keep your eyes on Sasha.”
Alastor gave a short nod.
Sebastian turned toward the Flower Commander then, and the look he gave her was not friendly.
The kind of look that promised consequences if she stepped even slightly out of line.
Then he turned and walked back toward the castle with Adar, shadows gathering around them as they disappeared into the shade of the doorway.
Alastor fell into step beside me as we descended the palace stairs, and Sasha followed a few paces behind us without saying a word.
“So,” I said, squinting toward the endless stretch of sun and sand that rolled away from the castle, “is this a long walk?”
Instead of answering, Alastor let the image slide into my mind.
The desert shifted in my thoughts, sand giving way to clusters of low, sun-bleached trees twisted.
Tall grasses shimmered gold between them, bending with the wind but never quite breaking.
Shade pooled beneath broad canopies dusted with pale leaves, and sunlight filtered through in fractured beams that painted the ground in warm, shifting patterns.
A desert forest.
My breath caught as the vision settled. “I didn’t know we could do that.”
He shook his head slightly, already reaching for my hand. “Take us there.”
The lingering dizziness from transferring earlier had faded, but a new worry slid into its place. I had never taken two people with me before. The thought alone made the heat under my skin shift uneasily.
Still, I reached back for Sasha. She accepted my hand without comment.
I focused on the place Alastor had shown me and a heartbeat later, the world folded. When we landed, the difference was immediate.
Transferring through my own realm was nothing like forcing myself through the barriers between others. The land itself seemed to meet me halfway, power rising up through the ground beneath my feet as though the realm recognized me and was eager to help.
Everything was easier here.
Because this was meant to be my home.
Shade wrapped around us instantly, cooler than the open dunes beyond the trees. The air hummed softly with quiet life. Leaves whispered overhead, and somewhere nearby I could hear the steady movement of water.