Chapter 56
My heart swells at the words etched on the parchment resting on my pillow, yet it does little to quell the aching bond with his distance. He does have a way of always making me shine brighter. I wonder where he’s run off to; it’s unlike him not to be here in the morning.
I rouse from bed, a smile kicking up on my lips. S?las, of course, left breakfast warm on the table, more than enough for me and Pip, with hot kahvi on the nightstand beside me. It certainly would be easier not to fall for him, to keep him safe from me, if he wasn’t so fucking perfect.
Pip zips around the room. His grace with flying almost rivals his skills of stealing almost every piece of my bacon. The rascal. I can’t believe how much he’s grown since I first met him; he’s now the size of a small fox. I wonder how big he’ll become.
A knock at the door jolts me from my thoughts. Before I can get up, Kissa barges in.
Her chartreuse eyes immediately dart to the note left on the bed. I lunge in front of her, trying to interrupt her view.
“Is that from loverboy? I can’t wait to read it and find out why he can’t walk you to class himself when he bloody shares a bed with you.
Instead, waking me up early to come grab you.
Since everyone is convinced you’re a valuable weapon, I don’t think they give you enough credit, insisting on an escort once more,” Kissa snarks, prowling to get around me.
“I don’t need an escort. I am no one’s weapon but my own. Plus, it’s not like Calais wouldn’t be happy for some extra snacks if anyone makes a move against me. And that note is none of your business.”
Using her feline grace, she dashes past me, snatching the note before leaping on top of my armoire, crouched and out of reach while she reads. Her cackle grates my ears as I shoot her a scowl.
“Of course he writes love poems to you. I’m surprised your distant, cold ass isn’t suffocated by him. I’m starting to think the Fates gave you this Fated mate bond as a cruel joke!” She snickers, jumping down, tossing the poem at me.
I stuff it into the drawer of my nightstand, clenching my fist at her remark. Perhaps she’s right; that would be more typical for my life. The ominous words from my dream last night bludgeon my brain on repeat. We cannot lose this game.
Fear seeps into my veins, constricting my breath in its grip, whittling at my marrow as it sinks into my insecurities. I’m terrified I’ll fuck up in some important game I don’t even know the rules to, potentially destroying S?las’ soul in the process.
His power may be shadows, but he’s my light, my darkness to shine within.
Corruption. That was the word they used.
S?las’ vibrant shadows turning to putrid pitch floods my vision.
A silent scream notches in the back of my throat as I recall the ancient, dark voice carving my flesh from sinew, claws burrowing into my power with an endless hunger.
What if it’s all me? What if I’m what destroys him?
The brewing fear in my blood recoils, scattering. A splintering cry splits my lips as my world goes silent.
My eyes pop open, blinded by beams of endless light, fueled by a primordial energy surging down my throat, spitting acid through my vessels before igniting my golden markings ablaze.
My feet lift off the ground, flesh liquefying before melting off my bones to reveal pure starlight.
A voice that’s not my own thrashes up my throat. Foreign, ancient, omnipotent.
“Fear is the only limitation to your power. Fear will feed the corruption you dread. If you allow fear to control you, you have already lost the game before you’ve joined the fight.
The fate of the universe rests in your hands.
The choice is yours: fill it with your light, or watch as nothingness consumes it. ”
The crushing power rips out of me, dumping me on the ground on all fours. My chest almost cleaves in two as I retch, hacking up increments of stardust, white shadows, light, and darkness.
Kissa pounces to my side, twisting my hair back. I suck in a treasured breath between spewing up more magic. That voice was unlike anything I’ve ever heard, the very lifeforce of everything coursing through me.
“Well, that wasn’t ominous as fuck,” Kissa hisses as she whistles, likely sending a message to our Zenith.
Shortly after, my assumption proves correct as the sound of my retching is interrupted by the voices of Atlas and Kivi, among others. The hair sways on my neck, and strong arms are instantly around me, brushing my sweat-matted hair.
“Who the fuck did this to her?” S?las growls at Kissa. Shadows appear in front of me, leaving a bucket and cleaning up the mess on the floor.
“Don’t you fucking growl at me! She’s your fucking mate, not mine. You shouldn’t have left her,” Kissa sneers with a hiss.
Kivi tries to approach me but is met with a primal growl from S?las.
My eyes snap to his, scrunched with annoyance. His outrageous need to protect me is understandable—I know it too well after yesterday—but he isn’t helping.
His stiff shoulders relax, and Kivi dips over me. I’m back to vomiting, struggling to think through the pain of my guts writhing inside out and the magic pounding against my skull.
“It’s natural for a mate to overreact seeing his bonded harmed.” Highin preens his feathers nonchalantly.
“Well, it wasn’t my fault. I was doing him a favor, escorting her to class.” Kissa waves her hands dismissively.
“Kissa, please explain what happened since Savaé is clearly not well enough to do so.” Atlas’ calm tone eases the chaos.
“I made a joke about their mated bond being a cruel joke from the Fates, since she’s always so cold and distant, and S?las is leaving love poems on her pillow.
Then… she looked bloody possessed. Light was coming out of her eyes and mouth.
She was levitating off the floor. Her skin turned dark blue, except for starlight radiating from her golden markings.
An ancient, powerful, and fucking terrifying voice spoke through her.
It sounded… feminine. Talking about how fear is the only limitation to her power and something about the fucking fate of the universe being in her hands.
Then, when the voice stopped, she started vomiting up pure magic.
I’ve never seen anything like it before. ”
“Hah! Kissa pissed off the Fates before I did. You’re wilder than I give ya credit for, kitty cat,” Seraph mocks, quickly regretting it when she finds her neck in Kissa’s claws.
“Call me kitty cat one more time, and you’ll be meeting the Fates,” Kissa hisses.
“You two, settle down. Don’t make more healing work for Kivi. We are a team. Act like it,” Orion snaps.
Kissa releases Seraph with a snarl. Orion stands over me with an assessing look on her face.
“Her Aura is a mess. The power radiating through it makes what she did yesterday look like child’s play. No wonder she’s vomiting up all that excess power: it’s too much for one body to contain,” Orion claims sympathetically.
“I warned you all not to tempt the Fates,” Highin scoffs as he continues to preen his feathers, unamused.
“It wasn’t the voice of the Fates. It was a warning from something else. Something… more powerful,” I manage to whimper out between heaving up every shade of the rainbow, mixed with every known element.
“How would you know it was not a voice of the Fates? Perhaps Karma, then?” Atlas enquires.
“I heard them last night. In a dream,” I mutter weakly.
“Kivi, what is she sick with? She sounds delirious.” Kissa huffs, crossing her arms.
I stab her with a glare. After what she just witnessed, she has the nerve to call me delirious.
“She was burning up last night when I awoke her from a nightmare.” Worry forming between S?las’ brows.
“Whatever is going on with her is beyond my powers to heal.” Kivi’s melodic voice trembles, racing my pounding heart even more. Nothing ever shakes her.
“Tell us about this nightmare,” Atlas beckons.
In response, S?las voice turns feral. “You can’t be seriously asking her that when we just watched her vomit up a fucking piece of dirt that grew a flower and then died! Meanwhile, she’s beyond Kivi’s help. As our Savant, I thought you were the smartest one of us.”
“I understand your need to protect her, but we have minutes to figure out what is going on before we have to get her to class.”
“You’ve lost your mind if you think I am taking her to class like this!” S?las roars.
“The last thing we need is the Chancellor’s attention on us, any more than it is already.
I doubt after Winx’s display yesterday she’s willing to help us again.
What do you think they’ll do if they discover she is an immortal being?
Do you think they will care that you are her Fated mate?
They will keep her locked away. I shudder to think how valuable they will consider her for Bloodline pairings.
” Atlas’ voice wavers on his last words, sending a cold shiver crawling like a spider down my spine.
S?las’ arms tighten around me as he whispers, “You don’t need to tell them anything.” His closeness settles the bond in my chest.
“Why can’t you just read her thoughts?” Highin asks.
“Her head’s been fuzzy and hard to read since I woke her from the nightmare.
I was on my way to find Kivi to ask her to examine her during lunch today.
Then, I couldn’t feel her for a moment. I imagine that’s when whatever took over her body happened.
I rushed over here as quickly as I could.
All I can sense right now is her pain. It just sounds like…
rushing water roaring through her thoughts. ”