Twenty Six
“What have you done?!” A keening wail tore through the throne room, startling me. “He was my mate!” the Fae queen cried out as she crumpled down on top of the dais.
My gaze slid back to the Fae king. It couldn’t be.
He couldn’t be dead. I couldn’t have been the one who’d killed him.
Shimmering silver seeped out of him, leaking out of his eyes like tears and gathering in droplets on the surface of his skin.
The substance ran down in rivulets and pooled around him, ebbing and flowing as if it were a living thing.
The air became thick with the ancient magic, and the next time I took a shallow breath, it felt like I was filling up my lungs with sludge.
The potent magic was suffocating as it pressed down on me, driving me into the stone floor.
My eyes widened when the quicksilver pool around Sorin shot away from his body, slithering over in my direction.
Fighting the oppressive force, I scrambled to my knees to get out of the way.
The oscillating mass rushed past me, and I followed it with my gaze to its destination.
Its target was Adrian, who lay unmoving on his back on the floor.
When my powers had blasted out of me, they must have knocked him off me into the nearby wall.
“Is he… Did I…” I whimpered as the ancient magic reached him.
It pooled around him, molding to his body, licking his clothes and exposed skin, sinking in his hair.
“Seize her!” The Fae queen’s shout of rage swept through the throne room.
The guards that lined the walls jumped into action, converging on me with drawn weapons.
A loud clap rang out at the same time a wave of magic rippled through the air.
My gaze darted to the Sorceress, who had clapped her hands, then to the guards, who had stopped their approach.
They stood nearly frozen, moving imperceptibly slowly, as if trying to break through an invisible viscous barrier.
Adrian’s scream snapped my attention back to him. The sound must have escaped involuntarily because he was still unconscious.
“He’s alive!” I gasped with joy.
The feeling of relief was fleeting as his body bowed up in a rigid and unnatural manner.
Another scream erupted out of him as his face contorted in torment.
Still on my knees, I crawled over to him.
The silver pool around him had soaked into his skin, and the same patterns that had covered Sorin were etched into his body, visible on his chest through the gap in his shirt.
They covered his hands and ran up his neck, creating a shimmering, glowing design on his face.
“Silberium,” Lady May said, coming closer to where Adrian lay, convulsing in pain. “Sorin must have been on the brink of having to transfer the magic into the land. He must have been saving it in preparation for war. It’s too much for Adrian to bear. The ancient magic is killing him.”
Her words were killing me, gripping my throat and cutting off air.
“What can we do?” I asked urgently, fighting for breath. “Can you wake him up so he can transfer the magic before it kills him?”
“There is no time. You are his only hope.”
“Me?!” I exclaimed before glancing behind me at my father.
He was a strong wielder. He could heal Adrian.
I quickly gave up on the idea as my father looked like he, himself, needed a healer.
My gaze fell on Sorin’s body. Somehow, I had been able to kill him.
My magic had been powerful enough to accomplish that.
Maybe it was powerful enough to end Adrian’s suffering, to counteract Silberium from the inside.
My hands trembled as I reached for him. He was rolling on the ground, jerking from side to side, his muscles coiled tight.
My fingers digging into his arm, I closed my eyes and went to my well.
Sweat slicked my brow as I searched for the healing powers within me.
Down and down the well I went until…my fingers scraped the dry bottom.
My well was empty. Panic took over, instant and all-consuming.
I was going to lose him. So soon after I had found him.
After we had found each other. He had lied to me and betrayed me, but my world would never be the same without him in it. I needed him to live.
“It’s not working. I can’t do it,” I rasped as tears spilled, gliding down my cheeks.
Opening my eyes, I watched Adrian through blurry vision as he was taking his last breaths. Silberium was overtaking him. The magic brimmed under the surface of his skin, the patterns glowing brighter and brighter. He was being torn apart from the inside.
A hand landed on my shoulder, and a startled gasp escaped as I looked up at the Sorceress staring down at me. “Do not try to give. Only take.”
Her words triggered something in me. The past two months flashed through my mind.
“I’m trying to use my powers to awaken yours,” Adrian had said while holding my hands that night in the library. I had been able to stir my powers awake the following day.
“Breathe. You can do this. I believe in you,” he had said to me in the gardens with his hand on my shoulder as I had healed a plant for the very first time.
The silver glow in his eyes as we had made love last night. My dreams…where I siphoned the ancient magic from Oberon.
“Do not give. Take,” I whispered, still clutching Adrian’s arm.
Letting go, I clasped his face instead. I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but the dreams were guiding me.
The dreams and the past two months. I had done this before—taken powers from him without even realizing it.
Inhaling deeply, I imagined the silver vines on his face soaking into my palms. I summoned them to me, coaxing them out of his skin and into my pores.
Bracing for the excruciating pain Adrian had been going through, I winced when I felt Silberium’s cool kiss on the pads of my fingers.
The ancient magic began flowing into me, and my features smoothed out because the sensation was…
pleasant. Silberium tasted sweet on my tongue.
It tasted like sunshine and endless summer, like hopes and dreams, and the happiest childhood memories.
My tears of despair turned into tears of joy.
I closed my eyes, reveling in the blissful moments until I heard Adrian’s voice. “Emelin, what are you doing?”
I opened my eyes and met his panicked gaze. “I’m siphoning your magic.” I smiled at him, perfectly content, feeling—knowing—that I was exactly where I was meant to be, doing what I had been born for. “Give in. Surrender it to me.”
“Are you not in pain?” he rasped, his voice raw from screaming.
“Not at all.” My smile grew. “I feel renewed, restored, alive.”
“Your eyes… They are aglow with a dazzling gold light.” He gave a tentative smile.
Lifting a trembling hand to his face, he placed it on top of mine on his cheek and took a deep breath.
As he exhaled, he closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, they were glowing the brightest, sparkling silver.
The ancient magic began pouring into me, and I gasped at the feeling of abundance flooding my entire being.
“That’s enough,” Lady May said after a few short minutes. “You don’t want to take too much. It’s a delicate balance.”
Reluctantly, I slid my hands off Adrian’s face.
As soon as I did, his glowing eyes dimmed.
The patterns on his skin were gone. They had transferred onto my flesh, glittering gold instead of silver.
I studied the shimmering trails in awe. They reminded me of plant vines, covering my hands to the tips of my fingers, not etched into my skin but swirling below it.
On my left hand, one vine ended in a small star near the V between my thumb and pointer finger.
You are my North Star. Adrian’s words floated up in my mind. His proclamation had turned out to be prophetic. I was his North Star, leading him out of the darkness into the light—out of death’s cold embrace into a new life.
“The patterns on your skin will disappear once you release Silberium into your land,” Lady May said, drawing my attention away from the marvelous design on my hand.
Panic rose at her words. “I have to transfer the magic into the land? There has to be another way.”
“It is the only way. You must transfer Silberium into Emeraldia, but fear not. The ancient magic will not harm your realm, only heal it.”
“Heal it?” I breathed, grasping at the sliver of hope that my kingdom could be saved. “How can you be sure?”
The Sorceress sighed heavily. “It’s a very long story. One that I am willing to tell, but not right now. The barrier I have created to hold off the guards is draining me. Celestina,” she turned to the Fae queen, “tell them to stand down.”
“Stand down?! She killed Sorin! She deserves to die!” Celestina seethed.
“What?!” Adrian bolted upright. A rough grunt immediately followed as he braced himself on his hand for support. His gaze stretched to the other end of the room, to where Sorin’s body lay.
“A child of light will slay the Fae king to take power from the most powerful,” he muttered.
It was an accident, I wanted to say, but kept my mouth shut. Admitting to that would be a sign of weakness, and I refused to appear weak in front of Celestina. Gathering my strength, I rose to my feet before bending down to help Adrian up.
“You cannot kill the girl,” the Sorceress said calmly. “She has saved your son and your realm. She will keep saving them both if you let her live.”
“I can keep siphoning Silberium from Adrian?” I asked as the spark of hope began to burn brighter.
She nodded. “And releasing it into Emeraldia, bringing both kingdoms into balance. As Queen Rosalie did, and the ones that came after her. Until one hundred years ago when everything changed.”
“Our magic did not come from the Stars, did it?” my father rasped, slowly sitting up.
“It did not. It came from the Fae. From Oberon himself.”