26. Elorie
Elorie
When I meet Wilder in our room, my hair is still damp but braided off my face. His pupils widen at the sight of me, like he physically can’t contain his reaction to my presence. The feeling is mutual.
He stands, leaning against the wall with his arms and ankles crossed. His dark tunic is open halfway down his chest, teasing me with the carved muscles I know too well. His hair is messy, falling to his eyebrows. And when he smirks, it tugs his scar in a way that is uniquely him.
“Ready?” he asks, opening the door.
“I don’t know if I ever will be.”
He nods in understanding, holding my hand down the hallway. When we turn the corner, we find Rior and Letia waiting for us.
“I’ll wait for you at the library,” Wilder says through the thread, meeting Rior so I can speak to Letia alone.
“Elorie,” she chirps, stopping in front of me. “Is it true? Callum is working on opening the Arch to the Mortal Realm? Everyone has been talking about it. If it works, will we be going back?” The excitement in her voice falters, and I glance over to see her frowning.
My eyebrows pinch. “Do you not want to?”
“I don’t know.” Her frown deepens. “I don’t mind it here, but soon, I don’t think I’ll have much of a choice.”
She lifts her hand with the aeraliss ring. At first, that’s all I see. Until I step closer and notice the small red veins on her skin. They web out from beneath the ring, stretching to her fingertip and reaching nearly to her wrist.
“When did this happen?” I ask, my eyes shooting to hers.
Her nose scrunches. “It’s been worsening the past day or two.”
“You should have come to get me.”
“What would you have done?” Letia challenges. “I can’t take it off.”
I reach for her hand, and she winces when my fingers clasp hers, so I pull back. “Does it hurt?”
“Only if someone else touches it. Otherwise, I don’t feel anything.” She flips her hand over to show the veins also stretching up her palm. “It’s not happening to anyone else, Elorie.”
Confusion furrows my brows. “No rashes? No marks?”
She shakes her head. “Only me. What could be wrong?”
“I don’t know,” I admit, wishing I had a better answer. “Wilder is looking for answers. He’ll figure out what’s going on. And then, if we can open the Arch to the Mortal Realm—if it’s safe to cross—we’ll make sure you can take this off soon. I promise.”
“You have more important things to worry about.”
“More important than my oldest friend? I think not.” I grab her free hand. “I’m going to get answers for you, Letia. I’m going to find a way to get everyone home.”
Her lips press firmly as she nods. Her fingers squeeze mine; the slightest surge of something sparks where our palms meet. Something reaches out.
“I’m going to fix this, I promise.”
As promised, Wilder is waiting for me when I reach the library.
“She’ll be fine.”
He must have overheard some of my conversation with Letia through our connection.
“Why just Letia though? None of the other villagers are reacting to the aeraliss.”
“I don’t know, but I promise I’ll figure it out.” He places his hand on my lower back, guiding me the rest of the way.
Callum, Perame, Rior, and Atlas are already inside, but Greer must be training because she’s notably absent. Thankfully, Aurora is as well. I've done my best to hold my ground during our blended court meetings, but I’m on edge and can do without her sneering judgment today.
Callum rests against a table with a book in his hands, Atlas and Rior at either side.
“Did you figure it out?” I ask, hopefully.
His pale-gray eyes lift—a storm of worry brews in them. “I believe so, but we’ve yet to test it.”
“Because you need my blood, right?” The concern that shoots through my veins this time isn’t my own.
I glance at Wilder, his emotions so strong he’s barely blocking them.
“Yes and no,” Callum says, drawing my attention back to him.
“It’s not quite like we thought. When Perame said the blood of two places, we assumed one source, but I don’t believe that’s the case.
I went back over my research on the first Arches.
We know they used seeds to grow them, with magic from either end to open a doorway between the two places. ”
“We don’t have anyone in the Mortal Realm to wake an Arch there.” I frown. “And if the void is there, we don’t know that there’s enough magic to wake it at all.”
“I don’t think that matters. Just because it requires magic from both ends to wake it doesn’t mean magic needs to be at both ends when it happens.
” Callum closes the book, holding it to his chest. “It’s like when we used your mother’s sword.
Wilder didn’t wake anything on his end; we did it from ours using your blood and the magic from the vein of the Well. ”
“Elorie’s blood tied to Alyssium—”
“And the vein of the Well tied to Vaelier.” Callum finishes Wilder’s thought.
“The two together opened a doorway between the realms. It was never about the sword. At least, not when it came to the Arch. I still haven’t figured out how it drove back the Well as Elorie described, but that’s a different puzzle. ”
“It didn’t just drive back the Well. It’s like the Well screamed…” All eyes in the room move to me, and a chill runs my spine. “That’s the best way to describe it. When the sword touched the Well, it wasn’t like when Greer and I closed the vein in Solace. It was like the Well was afraid or hurt.”
“You’re saying the Well felt something?” Rior’s eyebrow arches. “Like it’s sentient?”
“We don’t know what the Well is, but it would make sense.
” Wilder is the one to answer him. “The Well picks and chooses where it drains. It reaches out and pulls back. There’s some kind of thought in how it destroys.
And in Everquell, the split held for years before anything came through. As if it were waiting for something.”
Wilder is right, and it’s unsettling.
I turn back to Callum. “So you’re saying that even if the Arch is closed in the Mortal Realm, we might be able to wake it on our side to step through.”
“If what I’ve read is true, then yes. But the text implies it needs two sources. Yours will work as the descendant of the blood from the Mortal Realm, but we’ll need blood from Vaelier as well. There and back in case it doesn’t hold open in the meantime.”
Perame pops up from where she was leaning against a table, quietly listening to the conversation. “I can help with Vaelier blood. Gaile ancestry runs as deep as the Rivens in Vaelier. I’ll go with you.”
“No, you won’t.” Atlas’s calm demeanor slips as he glares at his sister.
She crosses her arms over her chest, not backing down. “It’s my vision. How else do you expect Elorie to find what she’s looking for? I’m the only one who has seen the void.”
“Perame is right,” Wilder says, stepping forward. “She’s our only hope at finding the void. And I need you and Rior on this side while I’m gone.”
“What?” Rior steps forward now.
Perame is already shaking her head while Atlas begins mumbling disagreements.
I spin to face Wilder, grabbing his hand. “You’re not going with me either.”
“You think I’m sending you to the Mortal Realm unguarded?”
“Hey, she won’t be unguarded.” Perame places her hands on her hips.
“That’s not what I mean.” Wilder scratches the back of his neck. “What if you get stuck on that side? What if something goes wrong, and you can’t get back?”
“What if you’re right, and you’re stuck there with us?” I challenge. “You have a kingdom counting on you. Your people need you here.”
“Well, I need you.” His tone is unwavering.
I step closer, pressing my body to his. “Then make sure I don’t get lost. If something goes wrong, find me. Only you will be able to. You can’t go with me, Wilder. For all the reasons we talked about earlier. You need to be here for your realm.”
“I’ll go,” Callum offers, lifting off the table. “Perame can focus on finding the void, and I’ll make sure we have a way back.”
“You realize if you get stuck over there, there’s not enough magic in the Mortal Realm to sustain your hearts. You’ll suffer the Beating. Sooner than you’d like, given how many months you were just on Alyssium.” Atlas’s jaw ticks.
“We won’t get stuck.”
“I still think I should go.” Atlas turns to Wilder. “You can spare me if you’re here.”
Wilder shakes his head. “I need you for something else. Finding the void only solves half our problem. The scouts have been unsuccessful in locating Malachi, and they can’t get close enough without being discovered. We need information.”
“You want me to go back to Lyrichia?” Atlas’s eyebrow hitches, and Wilder nods.
“Your magic will let you get closer than the spies have been able to.”
Atlas is a fire wielder capable of burning memories from minds. He’s strong enough that he hid in the Ley Court for weeks, around the strongest magic there is. It makes sense that if anyone can go unnoticed searching Lyrichia for Malachi, it would be him.
“We don’t know how long our realm will be able to stand the void being brought here, which means we need to nullify the orb the second we have it. We can’t risk waiting until Elorie gets back to find Malachi. We need to be ready as soon as she returns.”
Wilder doesn’t look at me, but I feel the tug of his words.
The resistance to the idea of me leaving him again.
I understand when I feel the same. But while the thought of being away from my mate tears me to pieces, we won’t have a realm if I don’t do this.
We can’t let everyone else perish because we’re too selfish to let each other go.
This fight isn’t about me and him. It’s for the people who suffer while we sit in the heart of the lushest forest, surrounded by magic. What I wouldn’t give to share this blessing with those like Millicent and Lune.
We fight for them, not us.
“Your thoughts are much more reasonable than mine.” Wilder’s smirk is felt through the thread.
“And what are your thoughts?”
“That I’d see it all undone for you.”
I look up at him. “Then don’t lose me over there.”
He reaches for my hand, squeezing. In hope. In promise. Wilder will find me no matter what happens. I trust him.
“You realize this brings up another issue?” Rior taps the pommel of his sword with his thumb. “How do we expect to wield something that pacifies all magic? Even if you find the void, how can you expect to carry an object like that through a magical Archway? What if you get stuck between?”
“Is that possible?” I ask.
“We didn’t think so until the Well started draining magic from the realm. Some stepped through an Arch on one side and never made it out the other,” Wilder answers.
“Where are they now?”
He shakes his head, dragging his hair off his forehead. “We don’t know.”
I close my eyes, taking a deep breath. Doubt sits like a weight on my shoulders, pressing heavier by the moment. The risks heighten with every turn of this conversation, but nothing changes the facts. Without the void, we won’t survive another few turns of the moon; we have to try.
“When we were in the Ley Court, Callum was able to touch Hazel without her magic affecting him. Something about his magic made him immune to hers. The void might not be shadow magic, but if anyone is able to withstand something that mutes magic, it might be someone who can withstand magic that drains.”
Callum’s eyebrows pinch. “I suppose it’s possible.”
“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?” Wilder smirks, wrapping my waist in aether and pulling me to his side.
“If you’re going to keep arguing with me, then yes, I do.” I plant my palm on his chest. “We’ll figure it out like we always have. Right?”
I look from Perame to Callum, who both nod.
Perame juts her chin up. “Make sure to keep it together on this side so we have something to come back to.”
Wilder sighs, and I feel any remaining argument vanishing.
“Do you want me to go with Atlas to scope out Lyrichia?” Rior asks.
“And what? Show me around?” Atlas laughs. “Like you’ll have any better luck than I will.”
“Do you know where you’re looking?” My eyebrows pinch, and he looks at Wilder.
“I got word from Lochlan that he can set up a base in Solace to gather intel.”
“But Lochlan hasn’t heard anything from Solace, so what makes him think Atlas will?” An idea flashes.
“What are you thinking?”
“I think magic is only going to get Atlas so far. Hiding in plain sight only works if you know where to look for information.”
“Where would that be?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been in the Ley Court less than you have. But…”
A very bad idea brews, and I can already feel the pushback, even if it’s our best option.
We need to find Malachi and soon. Callum’s knowledge of the court might be helpful, but he’ll be with me in the Mortal Realm, leaving only one other Fae who could help Atlas go unnoticed while looking for answers.
One Fae with enough hate toward Malachi to put her annoyance with Atlas aside to help hunt him down. One who can’t sit still to save her life.
“Where is Greer?”