Chapter 8 #2
“I’m okay.” I set the plate down. “I’ll eat later when I feel a bit better.”
“You need to keep your strength up.”
“To fall apart again when I watch my brother-in-law kill my husband? No thank you.” I frowned. “I’d don’t want to build my strength up for that.”
“Oh, Elariya.” Emabelle clasped her hands and brought them to her heart. “I can’t imagine how you must feel. Things worked out, then they didn’t.”
Life was actually perfect for a moment. Wolfe made all my dreams come true and protected not just me but my family.
He stopped me from marrying Thayden, the monster who was practically holding us hostage. Then Wolfe he gave us everything we longed for. Freedom, compassion, love.
How could I say goodbye to a man like that?
I pushed to my feet and walked over to the glass wall. I leaned against it, allowing my gaze to drift out to the garden and beyond to the stables where the crown elk were kept.
I had no peace, and nothing could make me feel better.
Grandmother came to stand beside me and rested a hand on my shoulder.
“Child. I’m worried about you. Regardless of what is happening, you have to stay strong.
The ring must still be found, even if it’s not to save Wolfe.
You are tied to its fate, and there is more to come that will demand your strength. ”
“I know. I just can’t right now.”
Everything she said was right. There was more to come. We still had Zyrra and the dark forces to deal with, and we didn’t know who or what they were.
Those who saw with no eyes and spoke without lips were still doing their bidding in the background. The kingdom was in a state of chaos, just the way they wanted it.
On top of that, Alaric would become a Deathwalker the moment we lost Wolfe.
Gods…
I was going to lose my mind.
“My sweet child, there’s nothing any of us can do. If we could, it would be done in a heartbeat. I think you have to accept the inevitable.”
Inevitable.
The word struck me harder than anyone could ever know as a memory surfaced of Wolfe saying that to me
We are inevitable.
I took that to mean forever.
My chest tightened until it hurt. "I don't want this."
“You have to accept it and try to move past it.”
“No.”
Emotion surged through me. Grief. Anger. Desperation. Terror. They all roiled inside until it became impossible to separate one feeling from another.
Then something else flared to life.
Grandmother was about to say something more when the world around me disappeared, fusing into a sea of black.
One second, I was there and she was there; the next, darkness engulfed me.
I gasped, panicking, and in a blink, light filled my surroundings and I was in the woods, on the other side of the manor.
I stumbled forward, my pulse hammering. I looked around the silver trees and the distant cliffs overlooking the sea.
Gods…
I’d …
Portaled?
Blessed Mother.
I’d actually portaled outside.
The first and only time I’d done it had been when I was trying to escape from Wolfe’s wraith.
I hadn’t been able to portal again since that night.
Terror had been my trigger.
The same thing must have happened again. Except I didn’t go falling into a void of endless darkness and it hadn’t knocked me out. I also didn’t feel like my magic had been burned. If anything, it was stronger. And portaling just now felt more… controlled.
It was almost laughable, that I’d feel that sense of control when I was a mess.
I shook my head.
Now was not the time to figure this out. Whatever was going on with my powers must have been linked, and as Arielle said, we could figure it out later.
I turned and composed myself. Like the first time when I’d portaled, my legs were weak.
A few steps forward fixed that.
I started back toward the manor, but something felt off. Wrong almost. Like the air was too tight.
Then I realized there was no air.
No wind at all.
No rustle of leaves through the trees. No branches swaying.
It had been windy earlier, so windy we had to close the windows in the sunroom to stop the candles from going out.
I stopped again and looked around me, trying to figure out what felt so wrong. I searched the air and spaces between the trees.
Nothing.
Why did I feel like this, then?
I continued walking and looking around. When I reached the clearing near the gardens, I stopped short when I saw a starling in the air, frozen mid-flight.
I gasped, my hands flying up to my mouth as the chilling realization dawned on me that time had stopped.
Time.
Gods. Did I do this?
In a blind panic, I moved faster, stopping again when I noticed the sea beyond the cliffs.
The waves had stopped, frozen in motion.
They hung in place, suspended above the water like sculptures carved from seafoam.
My stomach dropped.
Gods.
This was not good. I had to get back to the house and tell someone. I had to fix this.
I recalled with perfect clarity Magdalena telling me that while it was safe to use time magic to affect people and objects, it was never okay to stop time completely.
Not only did it affect the continuum, it messed with everything.
She never elaborated about whether that was just the magical realm or the world at large, but I doubted that my powers were strong enough to have such an effect.
Then again, I didn’t know.