Chapter 41 #2
The light stays bright as it trails up his corded forearms. It surrounds the inky curse that coils around his tendons and bones—that’s wedged between his muscle fibers. I clench my jaw, and my power singes the darkness, burning it to ash.
A soul-crushing screech pounds against my skull.
RELEASE ME!
I gasp. My magic flickers.
I’ve heard that voice before…
The first time I tried to heal Darius, it shouted the same two words at me.
DO IT, CHILD. BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!
My magic regathers and then surges.
The voice sounds ancient. Powerful. And…feminine.
Sweat breaks out on my forehead.
I thought the voice belonged to the curse—that the evil entity could somehow speak its demands into my mind.
But now, as I struggle to shove more power into Darius, I can’t help but wonder if it’s not the curse talking, but my light magic.
Yes, you fool! The same voice trills. Now listen and RELEASE ME!
Gods, save me…
I-I don’t know how, I think back to the entity.
I grit my teeth against the icy cold trying to combat the warmth I send into Darius. The hand holding his begins to shake.
Since manifesting light, I’ve always felt my power had a mind of its own. It reacts to the world. It expresses emotion. But having a voice of its own? I…I don’t understand how this is possible.
It is not hard, the voice counters. Just undo the bindings holding me back!
I send another wave of heat, scorching the cursed tendrils attempting to retake the ground I’ve gained.
That doesn’t make sense!
It doesn’t have to! Just do it!
Anders speaks, but the blood pounding through my skull masks his words.
Silas drops next to me. His hand grips my shoulder, but he immediately rears back, his features twisted in pain. His red palm fills the edge of my vision.
I burned him.
I don’t have the ability to apologize. The curse is stronger than ever before, spreading too far, too quickly.
Darius is going to die…and I can’t stop it.
But I can. Do you trust me?
My thoughts muddle. I don’t even know you.
Yes, you do. I am you. I am all those who came before. And I am telling you…I can do this. Just. Let. Go.
A scream builds in my throat. “I can’t!”
“Can’t what?” Anders shouts. “Elara! What’s going on?”
“I— AH!”
My head whips back, and my back arches with another scream.
The distraction has cost me. The curse now flows into my veins, leeching all warmth from my cells.
RELEASE ME!
My head snaps forward. A dark aura surrounds Darius’s unmoving body.
Thick.
Pulsing.
It bleeds outward, creeping along my flesh.
My heart seizes as it begins to overwhelm my light.
No!
Ferria, sunlight beaming on her bright-red hair through our kitchen window, sits at the kitchen table. She tosses a piece of charcoal at me, chastising me for not sitting still while she sketches my likeness.
The image is replaced with Juniper, dirt caked under her nails, placing two Rootshearth petals in my palm, explaining how to grind them to extract the sap for medicine.
The memories rip through my mind. My eyes burn, and the curse slithers toward my aching heart.
This can’t be the end.
I can’t leave this world.
Ferria needs me.
I need her.
My vocal cords scream.
Still, I manage to strangle out, “Do…it.”
The marks on my arms dig into my flesh, holding firm, as if it can withstand the magical war waging within me.
Then—
A tether snaps.
Power surges upward, ripping free, rising from unknown depths within my core that are now split open like the fiery gates in Velmira’s underworld kingdom.
The force is nothing like the light I’ve wielded before.
It’s molten. It’s fire. It’s out of my control.
Finally, the voice sighs.
My arms burn.
The marks scream.
Sluggish thoughts attempt to rise in the inferno, but I never get the chance.
The power detonates.
Like the explosives used to carve mines in Verdanthia, the blast shatters everything. Heat, fire, and smoke soar into the air. The ground trembles.
The force slams into me and hurls me backwards. I fly through the air until gravity takes hold.
My weakened limbs can’t brace myself, but I do have the clarity of mind to note that Anders and Silas are also tossed back just before I hit the sand.
A jolt of pain ricochets from my tailbone up my spine, and my head snaps back.
I collapse, facing up. The stars above shift and dance, in and out of focus.
Two loud splashes follow. Then—
“What in The Mother was that?” Silas shouts from a distance.
Water sloshes.
I can’t lift my head.
I’m drained in a way I’ve never experienced. Like all the magic in my veins has flown free after that tether snapped, taking all my energy with it.
More water sloshes, followed by someone coughing roughly.
“That was her magic, you moron,” Anders clips out.
“Why did it go off like a bomb?” Silas snaps back.
“You’re supposed to be the smart one. Figure it out.”
I stare at the stars, counting their twinkles, grateful when they stop their disorienting dance and stay in one place.
“Did her…” Silas’s next words are quiet, but I hear them as if he speaks them right next to me. “Did her power finally unlock?”
That gives me the strength to turn my head.
I’m lying parallel to the shore. The boat bobs on the water, seemingly unaffected by my magical outburst.
Silas and Anders are both soaked, slogging through the shallow water back to the dock.
The Mountain Fae raises his hands in a slow clap. “Very good, Silas. We will go against your father’s wishes and make a proper scholar of you yet.”
Silas scowls. He reaches the dock, plants his hands on the wooden surface, and leaps out of the water. He stomps toward shore.
No, not the shore.
Toward Darius.
I draw in a ragged breath.
Darius sits upright. Shadows swirl around his torso like eager puppies, desperate for attention.
But all of his attention is trained on me.
“Elara…” His voice surges with wonder.
Gritting my teeth, I roll to my side and plant my shaking palm into the coarse sand to push myself up.
The world tilts.
I blink until it refocuses.
Silas has reached Darius, kneeling at his side. Anders, too, has climbed out of the water. He wrings his tunic out with his hands and he heads toward me.
But Darius’s bright, pain-free eyes never leave mine.
“Beautiful, stubborn, clever Elara…” he continues, shaking his head. “You should have let me go.”
A wobbly smile tugs at my lips. “One day you will meet The Mother, but not because of that fucking curse.”
Even in the dim moonlight, Darius’s complexion radiates a healthy color.
I lift a trembling arm and triumph roars through me. The dark twisting vines are gone.
I did it.
I completed the deal.
I’m free.
Anders reaches my side. His hands glow with magic. “Are you hurt?”
“No.” Giddiness floods me, mixing with fatigue, making me a touch dizzy. “I’m great.”
He tilts his head, giving me an odd look, but the light fades from his hands with a subtle nod.
I watch him return to Darius’s side with a wide grin, seconds away from shouting my success to the heavens when a series of taps against my sternum gives me pause.
It almost feels as if someone is vying for my attention.
I turn my senses inward. The warmth of my magic is absent, drained by my efforts, but there…tucked between my ribs, weaving around the slender bones, is a cool sensation that wasn’t there before.
Shadows.
I suck in a breath.
The dark magic stills.
Apprehension floods me.
It’s as if the shadows fear my reaction.
My heartbeat quickens.
What in the hells is this?
The shadows that created the marks on my arms should have left my body.
They should have returned to their master once I upheld my end of our deal.
Why do they remain?
Perhaps because their master is gone?
My throat tightens.
No. I refuse to believe that.
Rian is fine. He’ll be here with the others soon, and then we can all escape this wretched place.
“Think you can stand?” Silas asks Darius.
My gaze refocuses on the newly healed Fae, tracking his movements as he does, indeed, stand.
My smile returns, wider than before.
Darius looks strong. Imposing. The shadows around him continue to bounce and twist, thrilled with their master’s recovery.
His eyes lock onto me, his smile just as wide and bright as mine. Until it falters.
“Elara!” he shouts, lunging forward. “Behind you—”
His warning comes too late.
A strong fist dives into my hair.
A scream tears from my throat as I’m yanked to my feet, but the sound cuts off when the head of a dark arrow digs into my neck.