CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
I collapsed on all fours, moist grass tickling my fingertips. Crisp air filled my lungs in a welcome reprieve from all the layers of dust. And the canopy of stars above winked at me as I heaved.
And vomited. Over and over.
I retched until cramps racketed my stomach, its contents more than empty.
Only when my body ceased its trembling did I push into a sitting position while wiping a palm across my mouth. My muscles were strained. Weak. Perhaps a sign that shimmering liquid had worked.
A steady flow of water, still trickling from one of the large oaks, beckoned.
Hastily, I crawled through the grass. Eyeing the roof of the temple.
Deserted. The dragon was nowhere to be found.
My knees stopped outside the lip of the growing puddle. I reached up, hands cupped to allow the trickling water to fill them. Careful not to upset my stomach yet again, I drank slowly. Just enough to rid myself of the bitter tang coating my tongue.
Ripples danced across the water’s surface, calmer now that I’d cut off their source. On my next sip, I glanced down at them.
And choked.
The ripples distorted shapes and features, but I was no fool. Where my face should have peered up at me, a dragon’s snout leered instead, the curve of black horns wavering above it unmistakable.
Water dripped down my chin and neck as I scrambled sideways, neck cranking to check over my shoulder with a speed that had my vision swimming.
But I faltered. Not a single dragon stood behind me. Branches and leaves waved in a salute of solitude.
I had no clue what the first signs of magic manifested as. But magic was supposed to cure me from the hallucinations, not induce more of them.
Something hard dug into my thigh—the bell. Not yet. Not until I got what I came for.
Earth was the easiest element to control. At least, that’s what everyone always claimed.
I laid my hand flat against the dirt, fingers entwining with blades of grass. Allowed my breathing to even as I concentrated.
A tiny sprout. A tremor in the earth. A crack in the dirt. Anything to prove that I’d succeeded. That my curse was lifted.
Time slowly ticked by. Until frustration gave way to panic.
Nothing happened.
Desperation gnawed at my ribs like a rabid animal. The blades of grass did not so much as lengthen an inch. They did not sway on a gust of wind, nor did they dampen further with water. Not even a spark lit the ground at my knees.
“No,” I whispered frantically, lifting my hands to study them. “No, no.”
I did exactly what I needed to. I consumed the magic nestled in the Temple of Borealis. Just like every Starlight Champion before me. But nothing. Happened.
My decision was made then.
There were hundreds of vials with glowing liquid in that chamber. I would down every single one of them if that was that it took.
Even if the pain threatened to kill me first.
For either I would lift my curse here, and now, or I would die trying.
I would not return to Aedreath without magic. I would not return powerless, head muddled with shadow and madness.
No. I would return as the very monster it had shaped me into. The blood shed would be that of my choosing.
And, stars, was I looking forward to the rain.
Something stirred in my chest then, foreign, and cold. My eyes widened as I stared at my palms expectantly. But it wasn’t fire that wove between my fingers like fine silk, nor was it water that wound up my palms in ribbons, reaching towards my wrists.
Shadows, writhing like any snake would, moved along my skin.
Shackles. Damning, visible proof that the gods still held me in their grip.
I had no magic. I failed.
“No,” I croaked again, unable to tear my eyes away. The shadows grew, encasing my hands completely.
Like a trembling newborn fawn, I stood. It didn’t matter that my legs could barely hold my weight.
I forced one foot in front of the other, back towards the entrance of the temple.
Only when I made it to the first stair did I look up, the sound of boots scuffing against stone drawing my attention to my right.
Kodhan, alive and whole, leaned against the wall of the temple, a pained expression marring his face. Yet no visible wounds marked him.
Where were you? I should have asked. Are you alright? Are you hurt?
Instead, I held out my hands—my cursed hands. “It didn’t work,” I whimpered, the words breaking off into a sob. “It didn’t work!” My knees gave out from under me.
He shot into motion. Gathered me into his arms before I could collapse. Then settled on the bottom stair, sitting me in his lap. “I’ve got you,” he murmured as he studied my still outstretched hands.
My sobs turned into wails. “I failed. It was all for nothing.” The dam finally broke. Crumbled into thousands of pieces. “Theia and Brannon died for nothing.” Tears slid down my cheeks in endless rivers. “I have to get back inside.”
I tried pushing out of his lap, but Kodhan held fast. “Let me go,” I cried. “I need to go back!”
“Stop.” Kodhan gripped my chin, forcing me to look at him. My world was suddenly filled with jade. “There is nothing of worth for you in there.”
“Don’t you dare lie to me. Not now.” Salt spread along my tongue as a stray tear slipped between my lips. “Look at my hands. It’s gotten worse.” I tried jerking my chin out of his grip, but it was no use.
“I am not lying to you, little viper.”
“I have to drink more of it,” I pressed on. “If enough light floods my veins, it’ll wash out the dark. I swear, you won’t need as much as me.” I sounded crazed now. But I didn’t care.
“The vials won’t work, Eloise.” His eyes shuttered, and lines bracketed the sides of his mouth. Again, with that pained expression.
“There’s enough for both of us. I can break my curse, but you—” I faltered when his gaze darkened. “You’ll be unstoppable.”
“Enough. That’s enough. Listen to me.”
“Please,” I forced out. Then, on a whisper. “I’m running out of time.”
His brows drew together. “What do you mean?” Realization sparked behind his gaze, turning that darkness into a promise of death. “He’s threatened you, hasn’t he?”
I shook my head.
I had to tell him. Even if the dragon could return at any moment. I owed it to him. I couldn’t exactly hide it anymore.
“Ever since the beginning of the Starlight Trials, shadows have been looming over my shoulder.” I clenched my trembling fingers in my lap.
Refused to look at them. “Darkness brought to life. They’ve been…
following me. Like they have a consciousness.
Slowly eating away at my mind, working in ways I cannot begin to comprehend.
They’ve gotten progressively worse with time.
” A shallow breath. “I deduced they were attached to my curse, and I was right. They’re fighting back now.
” More tears slid down my cheeks, plopping onto my wrists.
Still, I did not look at them. “It’s only a matter of time before they grow to consume me entirely. ”
He looked at me for a long moment. Something like regret swirled in his eyes. “Eloise,” he ground out, before sighing. He let go of my chin, curling his arms loosely around me instead. “I haven’t been entirely forthright with you.”
“Of course not. I’m not daft, Kodhan. I know very well you’ve been hiding things from me.
It’s only natural, with your father’s position.
I knew the others were hiding things from me, too.
” I could still see the outlines of their figures as I fell from the lookout.
“Did you know she would push me?” I asked, softly.
“Did they speak to you, mind to mind, before they died?”
Questions I hadn’t been able to ask back in my rooms. Back when the dam still had a fighting chance.
But it was destroyed now. Leaving my heart to drown in the ocean of pain and sorrow it had been holding back.
Kodhan took a breath. Rested his chin on my head. It was almost like he was avoiding my gaze. “I’m going to tell you the truth now, alright?”
“You can tell me anything you want. It won’t change anything.”
His arms tightened around me. “It will.”
“The truth won’t bring back the dead.” Finally, I peered down at my hands. Shadows still swirled around them like mist. “And it won’t change the fact that we’re here, at the Temple of Borealis, and I still managed to fail.”
“Theia and Brannon are not dead. And there was never anything for you to fail.”
My spine went rod straight. “I thought you said you were going to speak the truth.”
He sighed again. “There’s a lot to explain. And I will explain, all of it, I promise. But we need to leave.”
My voice was as cold as the ice that coated my veins. “Spin whatever tale you want. But I am not going anywhere until I break my curse.”
“I’m not spinning tales—”
“I saw Theia and Brannon die. I saw the way that dragon destroyed the watchtower, after Theia pushed me out of it so that I’d live. Neither of them made it out of that wreckage, or even the dragon’s jaw for that matter. And there’s no story that can counter this.” I lifted my hands in emphasis.
He did look at me then. With a tenderness that made my bleeding heart stutter. Then took my hands in his own, shadows and all. “They did not die in that watchtower. They’re waiting for us as we speak. But I can’t explain anything else, not here. This place isn’t safe.”
Wingbeats filled the air, giving substance to his warning.
Two dragons hovered high above, their hulking bodies blending into the night sky.
Kodhan wasn’t fast enough to stop me from shooting out of his lap. “They can’t hurt us if we’re inside. Once you get your portion of power that’s down there, you can kill them,” I urged.
He merely watched as they circled above. “I’m not going to kill the dragons. And we’re not going back into that temple.”
“You would rather die out here? Without a fight? How very unbecoming for the Son of the Second.”
“Promise me that you’ll believe what I tell you.”
“I promise nothing.”
I inched up two steps. Three.
“Brannon and Theia never died. They’re right up there, waiting for us. And you were never cursed by the gods.”
My breath seized in my throat.