When Raine made a move to approach her, she settled in further on the armrest, closer to Kerym.
A low chuckle—one that was still filled with sorrow—escaped Kerym, but he put a hand on her knee, leaning his head closer to whisper, “Good, little one. Don’t let him get away with it this time.”
As she offered him a small smile, she caught Pellie’s eyes again.
Frelina was about to wince—guilt tightening her shoulders at her intimacy with Kerym—when the witch’s kind eyes moved from her to the raven-haired Fae, and Pellie’s lips curved at the shadow of happiness that painted Kerym’s features brighter.
Pellie’s smile remained when her sister began speaking, even though Soria’s tone was low, as if the story she shared was too delicate to be spoken out loud.
“It was guardians that created this realm and all others—their magic fueling the creation of land and air and water and every creature that would walk or swim or fly within it. That beginning was so long ago that most have forgotten, and unlike the gods, who came later, we have never asked to be worshipped. We werecreated ourselves to keep balance—to keep magic from growing too strong, from anything honing it becoming too powerful. There always, always needs to be balance… or nature will force it.”
Pellie nodded. “It’s why we can cast spells only when certain elements are in the right place—like the moon or the sea, or the sun. It’s why, unlike the Fae or the shifters, we can only access our magic in certain places. Our power is balanced by the access to sacred ground—which we aren’t certain exists in Havlands.”
Her hand waved toward the Fae warriors. “Your balance is that your magic isn’t limitless, and it’s the same for the shifters. Those Fae in the prisons? They need access to anything created by the earth to dip into their powers. Veiled queens… they are supposed to come forth only when they need to balance out another power—one that has become too strong, too dominant.”
Pellie quieted for a moment, her eyes bouncing between Elessia and Merrick. “Lessia, does… does your other gift still work?”
Elessia’s brows snapped together, but her eyes shone their soft golden glow as they landed on Merrick’s, and she rasped, “Kiss me.”
And even though he would have done it anyway, it was clear to everyone in the room that Merrick’s eyes went unseeing, glossy, for a second before he captured her sister’s mouth.
That kiss continued, deepened, something passing between Elessia and Merrick that Frelina didn’t fully understand until Raine offered,She feels guilty that she compelled him that day. That she told him to let go.
It seemed as if the two had forgotten about the rest ofthe world, and Kerym finally cleared his throat loudly enough to break them apart.
“See.” Pellie nervously licked her lips. “That shouldn’t be possible. It shouldn’t be possible for you to have two gifts. It’s… it’s too much. It’s too much power.”
Elessia broke her staring contest with Merrick, her face still not back to its usual color as she locked eyes with Frelina. “So that’s what happened? It’s… it’s because I used whatever this new power is? But why did it affect Merrick, then? He doesn’t have two powers.”
“We don’t know,” Soria responded, her hands wringing in her lap. “Maybe because of your bond? The mate bond… love… it’s not a creation of the gods—it’s another balancing act from nature. Or perhaps… he’s affected because of what he did…”
Elessia nodded, her face calm.
Still, something cold started spreading in Frelina’s chest when her sister spoke again. “So that’s why we are so tired? My powers—or… our powers—are making us run out faster to counter how powerful we are?”
“No,” Pellie whispered after staying silent a beat too long. “We… we think using it is killing you.”
Chapter 6
Lessia
She couldn’t do anything other than roll her eyes, a humorless laugh huffing out of her that had Merrick stiffen, shifting the threadbare couch beneath them.
Of course it was killing them. She’d felt it back there—that wasn’t a normal tiredness, and it wasn’t a normal nosebleed. It was as if her soul itself tried to detach, fighting to leave the confined space that was her body.
The laughter continued to pour out of Lessia, and when every pair of eyes in the room landed on her, the worry in them as clear as the hard drops smattering against the windows, she knew they thought she’d lost her mind.
Only Merrick shook his head, and when she caught the guilt hardening his beautiful face, she captured it between her hands, the chuckles drifting away with every moment his darkness held on to her.
“This wasn’t your fault.” Lessia bore her eyes into his until his features softened. “I would have been dead ifyou didn’t do what you did.” Her gaze sharpened when he continued to shake his head. “I would have been dead, Merrick, and… I didn’t want to die.”
Finally, his face stopped moving, and while his grip on her tightened, that guilt faded with every second she let him feel that she truly meant what she said.
She had felt peace on that island with Solana, but there had been something within her… something that she wasn’t ready to let go.
A fight she wasn’t ready to lose.
Not yet. Perhaps not for a long, long time.
