A grip like a constricting snake clenched around the abstract memories, and what followed was a twist of pain. Suddenly I was watching my mother’s funeral. An argument with Tula beforeI permanently joined Rahana. Mira describing my father’s last moments. When I released the arrow that struck Alba.
Dae being hauled into the depths of the Black Pool, the water becoming disturbingly still. Braxius’s tiny body tossed into the same water like a piece of trash. Nora, limp and still and covered in blood. Evenita dissolving before my eyes.
Dae sucked into Marvoe’s clutches.
Loss. There’d been too much loss. It overwhelmed like a bursting dam. I clamped my hands over my ears to silence the screams I cried in my mind. Or at least, the essence of my ears. I existed, but had no form. Saw, but had no eyes.
The horrific scenes rippled, then faded away. Nothing but a kernel of glowing light and I remained in this suspended ether. Where was it coming from? Curious, I reached to touch it.
It pressed against me—or, what would have been me, had my body still existed. A comforting warmth emanated from it, and I recognized what it was. The magic Evenita gifted me. A combination of kernels of power that bound themselves together. She’d named them all, magics derived from the rumored gods.
All except one.
Thanna, The Goddess of Death. Her power didn’t reside in me.
Because hers had taken root inside the earth, hidden in a lake in the north of an old kingdom.
Melody had given me the answer. She thought her light should have defeated the dark, but we weren’t fighting against darkness. We were fighting against the power of death.
The scroll the seer had given me finally made sense.
Death ends with life,
A cease to strife, and it starts with just a flicker.
My magic hadn’t been simply telepathy with animals, a low-ranking power undeserving of classification. It was a connection to life itself. I could sense nature, the unease of the forest as I’dtraveled north. Heard the thoughts of creatures and answered their cries.
I was the receptacle for all life giving magics; fire, sky, flora, fauna, water, wind.
And with them, I would overcome death.
My eyes shot open. I couldn’t see beyond the blinding brightness. But I did not need to see. I sensed life around me, felt it rally to my call. I was back on that grassy battlefield, repelling the smoky tendrils that clawed at me.
Life’s energy was crystal clear in my mental vision, mapping and identifying every source. In stark contrast were all the areas it was absent, corroded by that natural equalizer. In the depth of a nearby black mass, a hint of life flickered weakly.
Marvoe.
A brighter spark lay on the ground to his left, though its flare was erratic. Even Dae’s hazy silhouette was handsome.
Instead of drawing from my quiver, I drew from that basin within, summoning a familiar form. Instead of nocking wood to string, I nocked concentrated magic upon itself. I wielded the gift from the gods in the only way I knew how.
With unseeing eyes, I retracted my arm. Like a supernova, power exploded from that well inside of me, concentrated into a single arrow. All the donated drops of power left me and soared with the shot.
Through the smog of darkness, it struck true, infusing him with light like an injection.
Marvoe’s blood-curdling scream rent the air. Trees bowed at the force of his cry, leaves torn from their branches and carried away on a breeze of fury.
Like a fuse to a cannon, golden light sparked along every dark projection from his body. A burst of invisible force spread from the epicenter, engulfing the land beneath its expansion. The world restored before my eyes, the dark magic receding, like Alaina was using her time turning magic to return Windguard to its former glory. A blanket of light climbed over Dae, and the ground around him lit up like the sun. A dazzling display set the forest of Windguard alight, erasing every darkened mark and leaving behind vibrant green life.
The obsidian crystal in Marvoe’s grasp exploded into shards. He collapsed, returning to his human form when red light recoiled into Dante like a shooting star. “NO!” he cried, the sound filled with loss over the destruction he’d worked so hard to accomplish.
“Dae!” With no trace of darkness in sight, I raced to his side, my knees crashing onto the grass the moment I made it to him. My hands roamed over his chest, his neck, his face. His skin was wan, lacking its usual vibrance, and it was clammy to the touch. “Dae, I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to save you.” Hot tears filled my vision.
I choked on my words as they poured out. “I never got to tell you just how much you meant to me. You’ve saved me from myself so many times. When I had no one, you were sent to me by the gods, I just know it. My perfect Sun God.” I laughed as I caressed his cheek, savoring the bristled texture of his beard, and stroked my thumb back and forth. “I loved you more than I’ll ever get to show you.”
I searched for his hand and held it tight as I pressed my forehead to his chest.
“Loved?” Dae’s garbled voice had me lurching up and gasping.
