43. Chapter 43
Chapter 43
Lea
G ray was meeting with Vincent, but for how long, Lea had no idea. He’d let her sleep for several hours, many more than she’d planned on when she’d curled up on the soft bed and allowed her eyes to close. She wanted to be angry Gray hadn’t woken her, but gods, she’d needed the rest. Those hours asleep had helped more than she could have ever expected, and for the first time in who knows how long, she felt energized. Hopeful.
At least, almost hopeful.
There hadn’t been any tugs on her magic yet to let her know Alaric had been spotted, but she had to believe it was coming. The pieces of their plan were falling into place. Now, if she could only find Janelle while Gray was preoccupied so she could practice taking her magic. If Gray wasn’t going to let her practice on him, she needed to do it during one of the rare times he wasn’t by her side.
Lea was about to go search the courtyard when Janelle and Erik wandered through the door hand-in-hand, their faces flushed and eyes bright.
Lea’s heart skipped with excitement. Maybe, for once, the gods were on her side. "There you are! I’ve been looking for you," Lea said.
"I was just coming to find you, too, actually," Janelle answered, stretching up to whisper something in Erik’s ear. He smiled down at her so warmly, it gave Lea the sudden urge to cry. Somehow, even with all the terrible things going on in their lives, there were still moments full of genuine love and joy, and witnessing them was a privilege she'd never again take for granted.
"Fine. I’ll see you both later, then," Erik said, leaning down to kiss Janelle. Deeply and slowly, with so much passion Lea felt the need to turn away until they broke apart. Janelle hurried over to her, looping their arms together and leading them toward her and Erik’s room.
"Actually," Lea said. "Can we go outside? I wanted to talk to you about something… you know, in private."
Janelle shrugged, narrowing her eyes slightly and allowing Lea to lead her toward the courtyard. "I mean, it’s hot as balls out there, but sure."
She didn’t say much as they walked, hurrying around the side of the castle to the old guard shack, but as Lea examined her friend’s face, she couldn’t remember a time she’d seen Janelle look so happy. Her eyes sparkled and her cheeks were pink and tilted up with a smile.
"What’s going on with you?" Lea asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did you just get laid or something?"
"Obviously," Janelle rolled her eyes, pulling her arm from Lea’s as she settled down in the shade of a tree behind the hut. "Oh. And Erik and I are getting married. Tonight."
The floor fell from beneath Lea’s feet. "You are?" she squealed, jumping up and down like a teenager. It wasn’t queenly, and it certainly wasn’t poised, but it was genuine. Janelle and Lea had talked as children about their weddings—granted, Lea had talked far more about it than Janelle ever had—but it’d always been something they’d known about their futures. They would stand by each other as they pledged themselves to the one who made their hearts soar.
Lea plopped to the ground and embraced her friend, almost forgetting about the sense of dread looming over their heads every minute of every day. "I’m so happy for you," she said, squeezing Janelle so tight she squirmed. "There’s no one better for you than Erik. And I just want you to know—"
Janelle pulled back, wiggling out of the embrace. "Gods. All right, enough hugging," she said. "You know how I feel about that."
"I do, and I don’t care." Lea sniffled, pulling her close again. "You’re getting married. Let me hug you!"
Janelle sighed, stiffly and begrudgingly wrapping her arms around Lea and allowing one more very brief hug. "Anyway, that’s my news. What were you wanting to find me for?"
Lea waved her off. "It doesn’t matter. We can talk about it later."
"No. Please tell me. I can’t handle secrets."
Lea cracked a smile. Janelle had always been like that. She simply couldn’t stand knowing there was information out there that she wasn’t aware of. "I wanted to talk about practicing…" she paused, narrowing her eyes and preparing to gauge Janelle’s reaction, "taking your magic."
Janelle waved a hand at her dismissively, as if Lea had just told her the lamest secret of all time. "Oh. Gray’s occupied, then?" she laughed, seeing right through her.
"He is. But it can wait."
"Why?" Janelle twisted to face her. "I’ve got about eight hours to kill until my wedding. Let’s do it."
Lea tilted her head, her heart picking up in rhythm. "Really? Don’t you want to, I don’t know, get ready? I'm sure we can find you a pretty dress somewhere in the castle."
"All I want is to get married, and then to have years of happiness with my husband. I want us to live. I want to survive." Janelle turned away, hugging a pillow to her chest. Always hiding her emotions—her fear. "So," she clapped her hands together, "steal my magic, bitch."
"I mean, if you insist," Lea said.
"Insist we live?" Janelle raised her eyebrows. "Absolutely, I do. "How do you want to do this? We don’t have to hold hands, do we?" She pretended to gag, clearly having had enough physical affection for the day.
"It might help, but I think it’s better if we don’t. It’s not likely I’ll be able to touch Alaric as I'm taking his magic. I need to figure out how to do it without contact."
"Thank the gods," Janelle said, scooting back a few inches. "Okay then. Ready when you are."
Lea wasted no time, closing her eyes and isolating her magic in her chest.
Carefully and cautiously, Lea reached out with her power, the dark, finger-like roots of her magic floating from her body and wrapping around Janelle's arms and legs, cascading down her torso and back until it covered her fully like a blanket. With a deep breath, she forced her power inside Janelle's chest, searching for her magic.
It took longer than finding Gray’s, but there, tucked right next to her heart, was a small pocket of power—mischievous and stubborn—and so very different from anything she'd ever felt before. It was easier to isolate, much more solid and compact than Gray's magic.
It was difficult, keeping half of her mind on figuring out how to take Janelle’s magic and the other half on alert for death’s presence. She forced her breaths to remain even as she pictured the dark tendrils of her magic as a hand and a blade. Holding Janelle's power firmly in place, she used the blade to dig into the shell of Janelle's power, pushing firmly enough until she pierced it with a crack that made Lea’s teeth rattle.
Janelle gasped, and Lea paused, not pushing any further. "You alright?" she asked, keeping her eyes shut and her consciousness on alert. "I can stop. "
"No, I’m fine. It was just startling. Go on," Janelle urged, her voice high pitched and breathy with excitement.
Slowly, Lea dug the blade deeper, carving away a little of the magic seeping out, careful not to take too much. The moment she cut the first thread tethering Janelle’s magic to its home, a shiver ran down her spine. She’d been waiting for it, but the feeling was unsettling, all the same.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as the sensation of someone watching her skated across her body. Now that she’d felt it, it was unmistakable, and she wondered how she’d missed it before. It was sickening, cold and dreadful, but she kept going.
Lea tugged at Janelle's magic more firmly, and just as she suspected, pain burst behind her eyes, and a dribble of something wet trickled from her nose.
Blood.
Janelle gasped, but Lea ignored her, forcing her breaths to remain steady. Her chest squeezed, her heart thundering, and she swore she felt death smile. A sickly, slimy feeling that forced the chill into her bones. Death thought he was winning, but she had prepared for this. Lea had held death back before, and she was determined to do it again.
As quickly as she was able without dropping her hold on Janelle’s magic, Lea formed a shield of shadows around her, as thick as the stone walls of the castle and black as the everlasting night had been, blocking herself from death’s sight. She pulled at her friend’s power, cutting another tiny tether away, swiftly and efficiently.
The cold washing down her arms told her death was searching through her shadows, desperately trying to find her soul and rip it from her body, but she refused to be afraid. With a burst of power, she yanked Janelle's magic backward, pulling until the final thread holding it back snapped. Lea wrapped the foreign magic in her shadows, tugging it close as she pulled it into her chest and nestled it next to her own power .
Her ears rang with death’s roar of rage, but before it could find her again, she disconnected her magic from Janelle, severing the connection she’d built and closing it off completely.
In an instant, death was gone.
Interesting , Lea thought, considering that it seemed to be the act of taking someone’s magic that allowed death to find her, rather than holding it inside her.
Lea exhaled, using her forearm to wipe the blood from her nose.
"You did it!" Janelle said, beaming at her. "You did it, didn’t you? I can feel it—like a piece is missing. You fucking did it!" Janelle jumped to her feet. "What was different? How did you figure it out?"
"Evangeline helped me," Lea said. "I had to keep death from getting to me."
"Lea, do you know what this means?" Janelle asked, her voice stuffed with hope. Lea’s heart sank. Sure, she’d taken a little of Janelle’s magic, and that alone was a feat. But that had been only the tiniest bit, and it had still allowed death an opening.
"This means we can win!" Janelle hugged her, and Lea laughed, shoving down her sadness. Her fear and uncertainty.
"You’re actually initiating physical touch with me?" Lea teased.
"I’m just so proud of you," Janelle said, not even trying to hide that she was tearing up. "You didn’t give up. You did it. You took my power, and it didn’t kill you, and now you can take Alaric's power. We get more time. All of us."
Tears filled Lea’s eyes, but not because she was full of joy and hope like Janelle. Her tears were drops of sorrow. Guilt. Lea didn’t want to lie to her best friend. Didn’t want to give her hope that they would all live happily ever after. But no matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t convince herself that there was a way she’d survive taking Alaric’s power. Even taking the tiniest bit from Janelle had left her feeling nauseous and weak, her head still throbbing and blood crusting her nostrils.
Not to mention the goddess had been clear. She would never be allowed to live taking such a massive amount of power. Even if she survived taking all of Alaric’s magic, it would be impossible to hold it all inside of her. She had to return it to the universe. To the earth. But how?
She funneled her magic into the ground all the time growing the moonflowers, but it never drained her. And every time she tried to give a piece of her magic to the earth, it returned to her like water evaporating back into the sky on a sunny day. No matter how many times she tried, she couldn’t give her magic to the universe. It was as if the power needed a living soul to tether to, like when she gave magic to their soldiers to see through their eyes.
She had only been successful in returning magic to the earth through death.
Lea’s hands shook as she isolated Janelle’s magic and tried to push it back out into the air. She directed it away from Janelle, pushing it outward until it grew taut, and severed it with a blade of shadows. But it didn’t matter. The magic came back to her like a magnet, thumping back into place in her chest.
She grabbed it again, this time pushing it into the grass beneath her feet, but once again, it returned, locking back into place with an almost painful snap.
Her heart sank, but she smiled anyway. She would just have to keep searching for another way to return Alaric’s magic to the earth. The goddess had said it was possible. That she could find a way to live. But for now, this was their best option. A way to save their people. If she and Evangeline could keep death away long enough to take Alaric’s magic and allow her to plunge her sword through his heart—if she could give everyone else more time before they joined her beyond the veil—it would be worth it.
"Well… you’re welcome," Lea forced a laugh. "Now you’ll get all those years with Erik."
Janelle jumped up. "Erik! Right." She blushed. "Maybe I do want to find a dress. Not that it matters to me, of course, but, you know, I want Erik to have the perfect wedding. For him."
"Of course," Lea said, grabbing Janelle’s hand and squeezing. "Let’s go find you that dress. For Erik."
Janelle bumped Lea’s shoulder as they walked back to the castle. "Hey," Janelle said, stopping and turning to her. "About that magic—it’s amazing that you can take it and all, and I’m thrilled you figured it out. Really. But I don’t really have much. Do you think I can have it back?"