Chapter 56 #2
He ducked below, a spray of water leaving his hands in his wake to put out the fire. Steam wafted in the air behind them. It didn’t take long for Dominic to sidle up to her again, still drifting through the air on his back.
She gave him a sly smirk, brow arched in amusement. “You’re not the only one with powers, remember?”
He tilted his head back, face aimed skyward with his eyes closed, and drew in a long, exaggerated breath.
He breathed in the fresh air like he’d been deprived of it for centuries, like he’d never truly felt the cleanliness of it inside his lungs.
Like he’d been living but had never truly felt alive until now.
Adara’s lips curled up as she admired him.
His tan skin glowed beneath the sun’s gilding rays, casting shadows on the sharp angles of his face.
The corners of his lips tilted upward, smirking, as if he knew—even with his eyes closed—that she was eyeing him.
He turned his head to her, features so relaxed, completely at ease with the air despite the fact that his magic could give out any second, given his recent circumstances. Adara was still unsure what had been going on with him, but she didn’t want to ruin such a glorious moment by asking.
Mirroring her cunning expression, Dominic responded, “But I’m the only one with the wind on my side.
” He launched forward, turning back over as he left her in the dust. He glanced back, a triumphant grin breaking out on his face.
“See you at the finish line, Phoenix!” he shouted over the distance with a wink as he dove through an open space between the treetops.
Rolling her eyes, she flew after him. With his panoply of powers, she knew he’d beat her, but challenging him was too tempting.
Even though she hated losing, a smile graced her features as she trailed behind him, wondering why she’d never seen this side of him before.
Hoping it wouldn’t disappear as suddenly as it came.
Moments later, she stood in the middle of the clearing, wings folded neatly behind her as she landed.
“I clearly won,” Dominic stated.
“Obviously,” she admitted with a hand on her hip.
“Now what?” She glanced around the empty clearing.
Tiny orbs of sunlight bloomed from within the foliage, shining down on the shadows, sensing their presence and drifting throughout their little village in the trees.
Even more of the bioluminescent plants had sprouted throughout the island, their azure glow illuminating the wooden walkways and huts in the trees.
Bright butterflies and bees flittered around, perching happily on the vibrant flowers.
Gods, Adara had missed the magical beauty that was Andreilia, the way the light bloomed in the darkest of shadows, an island overflowing with vibrant life in the middle of the sea of death.
“We wait for the others to anchor the ship and meet them at the beach,” Dominic said. One of those glass-looking spiders slowly descended from a single thread of its web, and Dominic reached a hand out to it.
Adara cringed away as he held it out to her. Its iridescent, bulbous body reflected the glow of vegetation around them, entrancing yet eerie as it took up the expanse of Dominic’s palm.
“It won't hurt you,” he said. Lifting his tunic, Dominic let the spider crawl over his abdomen, where the cut he’d gotten from the pirate attack was. He winced slightly as the spider sank its fangs into the wound. Adara’s eyes widened in awe as the wound started healing.
“Why didn’t you show me this before?” she asked, holding out a hand for the spider to crawl onto her. “We could have taken them with us! Used them to heal us before,” she said enthusiastically.
Its legs were featherlight as it skittered across her stomach, biting into the mottled skin where the lykren had sunk its teeth into her. A rush of magic flooded through her like a drug, making her feel invincible as the lingering pain disappeared.
Dominic shook his head. “They’re timid creatures,” he explained. “Won’t let you near them unless they approach. Their venom can heal, but their stingers can kill within a second.”
Adara now noticed the tiny needle at its behind, like a scorpion tail. At that, she tensed, but Dominic merely took the creature from her with gentle hands and placed it on a massive leaf where it spun another glistening web.
“Do you have a plan to return to Blemythia yet?” he asked.
Adara grimaced, caught off guard by the sudden question.
She shook her head. “No,” she replied grimly.
“Unless someone on one of the other continents managed to get shadow steel from the empire, I’m out of luck.
” A deep sigh. She wished she could blow away all the fear and defeat that weighed on her chest. “Even if I make it back, I don’t know if I’m strong enough .
. . to be the savior. I could very well destroy my kingdom, and all of Blemythia. ”
Dominic grasped her hand. “I didn’t mean it when I said those things,” he said regretfully.
“You’ll find a way. You defeated a lykren.
You escaped before, and you can outsmart them again.
You know who you are.” Dominic laid a comforting hand on her sacred sword attached at her hip.
“Infinova,” he said, hope lighting his eyes.
Adara’s muscles went taut. An icy chill crept through her bones, like all the fire within drained from her blood.
She never told Dominic the name of her sword.
“Stars infinite,” he continued, oblivious to her sudden alarm. “Light prevails. Your power is a force of nature that has already been burning for an eternity and will burn forever more. You, Phoenix, are strong enough.” He offered her a smile that lit up the world. “You are eternal.”
But it didn’t light up the world in the sense that her soul mended or her heart soared with hope.
No. It lit up the world in the sense that her entire universe just fractured in an explosion of searing, blinding light. It crumbled and burned and turned upside down, all while her heart shattered into a thousand sharp, bloodied pieces.
It felt as if she’d been stabbed in the back as she recalled the first time she’d heard those words.
They clanged through her, echoing so strongly in her mind that it hurt.
So familiar. So mocking coming from Dominic’s lips.
The emotion in his face, in his words, did not strike Adara with hope as he intended.
Instead, they struck her with such deep fear and panic that she had to stand there and blink away the dizziness in her mind.
It felt as if all the air had been removed from the space in which they stood.
She wanted to scream at him, at the entire world for tormenting her with its twisted, cruel games of fate. She wanted to rip herself out of Dominic’s arms and thrust a knife into his back to show him how it felt. She wanted to take his key and destroy everything he ever cared about.
Thief of Hearts. King of Keys. The boy who carved out his own heart and tossed it into the Plagued Sea. The boy who rid himself of a portion of his own memories. All so he would not feel a thing.
How could she have forgotten?
Dominic stared at her with skepticism. Adara said, “Let’s not talk about it.
” She’d do anything to get away from him right now, to find out if her racing thoughts were true.
To know for certain that she knew Dominic before all this.
“I’m going to freshen up. You go ahead and meet the others at the beach. I’ll be there soon,” she lied.
He reluctantly glanced to the horizon, where the sun was setting, painting the sky with pastels, then back to her. “Just don’t take too long,” he said, an excited grin on his face. “You won’t want to miss what’s coming.”
Adara’s thumb stroked gently along the back of his hand. “I’ll be quick,” she said.
He nodded, and Adara turned to climb the stairs to their hut while Dominic walked toward the shore, unsuspecting that this one trivial piece of information he’d revealed had Adara unraveling all his lies.