Chapter 15 #3
The air in the clearing seemed to sharpen. Caelan shifted closer, one hand settling near the hilt at his side, but no one moved to block Xandros from the road.
They could argue and order him to stay. But stopping a prince from returning to his own kingdom, with four of his soldiers waiting on the other side, would require something else entirely.
Xandros' attention returned to Maren. “Please take care of my people until I can return to them. That is, if the Circle’s offer of protection still stands.”
She held his gaze for a long moment before giving a small dip of her chin. “It does.”
“I will stay long enough to make sure the road closes behind me.” He nodded toward the shimmer in the air and Asterra just beyond. “There is another stone on my side that I can use to seal the pass.”
Xandros slowly lifted his palm from the carving.
Gold clung to his skin for a heartbeat before pulling back into the stone. The road shivered, its edges drawing inward by barely an inch.
He glanced at the opening, then stepped toward it.
My palm burned against the stone. Too much was happening at once, and just when I was starting to get some answers, he was leaving.
Together, we had opened this road. I had no idea whether we could do it again with him on one side and me on the other.
I shook my head. “I’m coming with you.”
“Absolutely not.” The force of his answer stopped me. “You have no idea what you are walking into.”
Maren stiffened beside me. “You are not crossing that road.”
Heat climbed into my throat.
“You are the last Cedarstone, Verena, and the king on the other side has just ordered his soldiers to take you. I will not hand him the only Druid capable of opening this road.”
The words lodged beneath my ribs.
The one thing keeping this road within our control.
Her mouth tightened.
Xandros' constellations flickered like lightning, and the door to Asterra trembled.
“We cannot hold this indefinitely.” His gaze moved from Maren back to me. “And she is right about one thing. You cannot come with me.”
Anger snapped through my chest.
“I am getting very tired of everyone deciding that for me. Your king wants to drag me through this road. The Circle wants to make sure I never step through it.” I looked between him and Maren. “Does anyone intend to ask what I want?”
“You told me.” Xandros' voice dropped. “And I am still telling you no.”
I stared at him.
His shoulders were rigid, his markings burning brighter with every breath.
“You promised you would never take me through the Veil unless I chose to go.” My breath caught high in my chest, but I held his gaze. “I’m choosing.”
“Verena.” My name came rough between his teeth. I had grown so used to Wildflower that hearing anything else from him sounded too sharp.
“You heard the order.” His eyes flicked toward the soldiers before returning to me. “If you cross, they will expect me to obey it.”
“I’m not afraid of a few soldiers.”
His jaw set. “You should be.”
The warning in his voice stopped me.
I had watched Xandros face the Marred while bleeding. I had watched the road drain him until he could barely stand. But I had never seen him look at me like this.
“You are not crossing with me.”
Pressure gathered beneath my ribs.
Maren stepped closer. “And I will not allow you to leave the Deepwood when you are the only Druid this road will answer to.”
My head snapped toward her. There it was again. Allow.
The king wanted me taken because I could open the road. The Circle wanted me kept for the same reason.
My palm pressed harder into the stone.
Above all, protect the Veil.
The Veil had been closed when the corruption reached Rhian. It had been closed when Torren lost his Wild, when Tala worsened, and when another Druid died before his body could safely be returned to the earth.
Opening the road had driven the corruption back.
Standing here and waiting while the Deepwood continued to die did not feel like protecting anything.
“The answers are there.” I looked through the opening. “You both know they are.”
“We know nothing of the sort.” Maren’s voice sharpened.
“We know more than we did this morning.”
A hand closed around my upper arm. I turned to find Caelan beside me, his face drawn tight.
“Verena.” The weight in his voice dulled the edge of my anger.
He had felt the signal through the root. He knew Rhian had improved, and he had spent days watching the corruption spread through his son.
“You will remain here.”
I stared at him.
“We need you on this side of the road.” The words settled heavily between us.
Rhian needed me here. The Circle needed me here. If Maren was right, the road might need me here, too.
Across the opening, Asterra stretched beneath its broken sky.
Xandros watched me without moving.
The road trembled again.
Maren turned toward him. “Go. Before we lose control of it.”
His gaze remained on mine.
I drew in a slow breath and let it out through my nose. Then I nodded, and some of the strain left Xandros' shoulders.
“Fine.” I lowered my gaze to the stone and eased back my Wild.
Green light dimmed beneath my palm, and the road narrowed by a handspan.
Bramble pressed against my boot. Unease moved through our bond, but I kept my hand on the carving.
Xandros watched me for another moment. “Keep my people safe.”
Maren dipped her chin. “You have my word.”
His eyes returned to mine. “I will find a way back.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded.
Then he stepped through. Gold stretched between us for a heartbeat after his hand left the stone before thinning into nothing.
Xandros crossed onto Asterra’s pale ground and moved to the matching stone on the other side. The moment his palm met it, gold spread across its surface.
I withdrew more of my Wild.
Green light slipped back through my vines as the opening narrowed.
The soldiers fell in around Xandros, their attention shifting between him and the road.
My shoulders sagged.
I had done what they all had wanted. Xandros was on his side of the Veil, and I was still exactly where everyone had decided I belonged.
Rhian would remain beneath the Mother Tree while I waited for the Circle to tell me which truths I was allowed to know. The corruption would continue moving through the Deepwood while the only road that had done anything to stop it closed in front of me.
The opening narrowed until I could have touched both edges with outstretched hands.
Bramble lifted his head beside my boot as Xandros turned away from the stone.
I watched him take one step. Then another.
I wrenched my hand from the stone and ran with Bramble on my heel.
Pain tore through my thigh, but I drove forward as the road folded inward.
Xandros spun around as I jumped.
The edge of the Veil dragged across my shoulders as I threw myself through the shrinking opening. Bramble shot through beside me.
My boots struck pale ground hard enough to buckle my knees.
And then the door snapped shut.