16. Esmira #2
I wondered how she knew that bit of lore, perhaps she knew much more about the Everminati than she’d told me.
Lady Velune nodded. “Our lives are centered around magic, it’s like the very air we breathe and without it, our empire crumbles.
Nocthera is the source of our magic. We pull from her power, but over the last few decades, it has grown weaker until it disappeared completely.
Many believed she withdrew her blessing from us.
Unfortunately, the lack of magic has emboldened our enemies.
They have crossed our borders, using warfare to weaken us.
Assassins walk among us, killing any with innate magic.
Even our king has left the great city and lives in hiding.
However, I had a clear vision of what must be done and Lord Pelgrin studied the histories and legends of our land to confirm my visions. ”
A question hovered on my lips and I let it out. “How is it possible? If magic is gone, why do we still have the ability to use it?”
A light came to her eyes. “A fair question, it’s because you aren’t from our realm, your magic is not sourced from Nocthera but from within you.
You use your own energy as a source of magic.
Here, all Everminati have magic, we draw it from the moonlight and dust, harvested from the moon worshipers in the Nocthera temples. But our worshipers have gone silent.”
“Have they been attacked?” Lyra asked.
“We don’t know what happened,” Lord Pelgrin said.
“Which is why we are going to visit each temple,” Methrin clarified. “All four of them and perform the rituals to bring back magic.”
Lord Pelgrin unfolded a map and spread it across the table, pointing out places on the map.
In his soft voice he shared our journey, across the waters to what looked like an island, then onward to a larger landmass, a capital city.
The journey had four locations that took us in an arc across what I assumed was the kingdom of the Everminati.
Lady Velune, Lord Pelgrin, and Lyra all bent over the map, Lyra asking questions.
Fingertips touched my shoulder, and I looked up at Methrin. Standing, he tilted his head toward the door. “Esmira, join me,” he coaxed.
Heat flared as I rose, stealing one glance back at Lyra. She lifted her head at that moment and gave me an encouraging wink. I slipped out behind Methrin, a question on my lips. “Is it safe, leaving her alone with . . . them?”
“Safety means little here,” Methrin admitted, guiding us out onto the deck. “But she’s curious, this is her heritage and they will give her more answers than I can. Besides, now that they knew she’s Rydlin’s daughter—” He trailed off with a shrug.
The thought hovered in my mind. She was safer than I was more, one of them instead of a human in the realm of immortals.
I waited for the panic to come, for the shakiness to fill me, the aloneness to threaten to overwhelm like a wave, dragging me under.
But it didn’t. The sharp edges of fear had dulled because now I had something to look forward to. Him.
Methrin settled us in a hidden corner of the deck, surrounded by ropes, one wall hiding us from watching eyes while providing a view of the sea.
In the distance, the shore grew steadily smaller.
I leaned against the railing, watching the blend of cerulean sky sinking into the emerald green of the rolling hills.
Gray stone buildings vanished as the ship continued its quest, moving us deeper into open water.
“I thought it would be different here,” I admitting, the open water leaving me raw. Vulnerable. The path back to the portal, back to the mirror was officially cut off. “I assumed you’d be welcomed home with honor, and Mirror Magic wouldn’t be forbidden here?—”
Methrin angled his body toward me, his low voice filling in the gaps in my thoughts. “That assassins wouldn’t be chasing us. Magic wouldn’t be gone. And we wouldn’t be blackmailed into a quest for magic that has almost nothing to do with defeating the king of monsters.”
“Yes, that.” I watched the way the wind ruffled his hair and the darkness of the waves highlighted his violet eyes. We were so close, our arms almost brushing, yet despite the danger of our quest I could not stop thinking about heated kisses.
Methrin shifted closer. “Can you keep a secret? Even from Lyra?”
I wanted to be in his confidence, share secrets, discover everything about him. In his beautiful yet confusing realm, the feelings I’d refused to acknowledge solidified into a quiet yearning. The reason why disturbed me though, was it because I was lonely? In a foreign realm?
Methrin saw me, he didn’t hate me because of my forbidden magic, nor that we were enemies. My father had stolen his kingdom and made everything worse. Not to mention the king of monsters, the Venators . . . was my yearning because of my unfortunate situation?
If I’d never discovered magic, I’d never have learned the truth.
Even if Methrin had eventually broken free from the mirrorverse, I would have feared and despised him with every breath I took.
If he were executed, I would have looked on with relief, relishing the fact that one common enemy had been slain.
The heat of his body wrapped around me, his hand splayed against my back, pressing me against his body. When he bent his head near my ear, the vibrations of his whispers sent shivers up my spine.
“The Shadow Slayer is held at one of the temples. We need to look for the sword while we’re there.”
My pulse quickened. “Steal it?”
His violet eyes smoldered. “We need to take it back, through the portal, back to your realm.”
“And?” My lips parted, waiting.
“We summon the monster, we kill it.”
“It can be summoned?”
“By the one who set it free.”
He was just at my shoulder, so close I could almost taste him. His hand on my back shifted lower.
“What about the blood oath you swore?” I asked. “Won’t something terrible happen if you don’t uphold your bargain?”
“Word play.” He barred those white teeth. “I will uphold my end of it, as soon as magic flows in this land again the blood oath will be fulfilled.”
“Then we can leave,” I breathed.
“Leave without waiting for another ceremony, the gifting of the sword will hinder our progress. Esmira, Mirror Magic is a curse, that’s why those who have it are judged so harshly.
It always leads to madness, to the shadow taking over.
I was the first—that I know of—to beat the shadow, to win, but look what happened.
It’s free and even worse, you have it now. ”
He spoke as though it were a disease, a deadly plague taking over. I lifted my face to his. “Then teach me, teach me how to resist, to overcome the shadow.”
Both hands resting on my hips, he pressed his forehead against mine. “I will, but the more you use it, the worse the urge will become.”
A dark laugh vibrated in the air but I dared not look, lest I see the shadow lurking. “Teach me,” I pressed. “Teach me how to use it, and how to fight the shadow.”
“I won’t let it take you,” he promised.
His lips touched mine with the ghost of a kiss.