And then it dove straight into Grimnor, colliding with it so violently that I nearly dropped the sword.
The blade flashed, briefly covered with blinding bolts of bluish-white, before settling back to its usual velvety black shade. I stared at it, breathless. The faintest whisper had hissed from the metal as the light diminished, so quiet and distant that I wanted to believe I’d imagined it.
Yet, somehow, I knew I hadn’t.
Had Lorien…boundhimself to my sword?
Would he be able to shatter it, as he’d done to Luminor all those weeks ago?
I quickly sheathed Grimnor so I could catch Aleks as he stumbled forward. The weight of both of them settled against me, and with them came the heavy realization of what I’d just done. The risk I’d just taken.
A thousand questions about what came next exploded in my mind, but I couldn’t focus on any of them.
Aleks was finally back in my arms, so I thought of nothing else in that moment beyond my shadows, wrapping them carefully around us both, and willing them to take us home.
TEN
Nova
“Your brother will not be pleased,” Eamon said, frowning as he lifted my wrist again, turning it over and inspecting the mark Lorien had left behind.
“The understatement of a lifetime.” I fixed my gaze, not on the mark, but on my bed, where Aleks was resting peacefully.
I still couldn’t believe I’d managed to bring him back.
It had been a minor ordeal, slipping him quietly into the palace in the dead of night—one that had involved a grumpy Phantom and an incredulous Thalia. They’d helped me carry him and distract the servants and guards we encountered, but we’d still attracted too much attention. Whispers about what I’d done were already flying, most likely; I was surprised Bastian wasn’t already knocking on my door, demanding answers.
Eamon, meanwhile, had been minding his own business, still awake and busy translating Midnasian texts—as he so often was here lately—when I’d stumbled past his room supporting a half-conscious Aleks on my shoulder. He’d followed us like a curiouspuppy who’d caught an interesting scent, and now he wouldn’t leave my side.
Not that I was complaining. Because if anybody could help me puzzle through the strange things Lorien had said and done, it would be Eamon.
He followed my gaze, frowning in Aleksander’s direction. “And I have to say, this seems a bit reckless, even for you.”
“Did you reallyhaveto say that?”
His frown deepened as he returned his attention to the mark on my wrist. He spent a long moment tracing it, during which I grew more and more tense. I was desperate for him to give me more details, more lectures—anything. His silence was disconcerting; healwayshad something to say when it came to magic.
“Well?” I pressed, nervously. “What do you make of it?”
“I…don’t know.” The words sounded strange, coming from him. “This is beyond my knowledge, Nova. Likely beyondanyone’sknowledge. This isn’t typical Vaeloran magic; we’re way past that. And if the curse Lorien spoke of is real, if Calista laid her own corrupted magic over him, then the powers we’re dealing with are…” He trailed off, shaking his head.
He wasn’t evenattemptingoptimism, for once.
Another knot joined the impressive collection I already had in my stomach.
“…He didn’t just speak of it, Eamon,” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady. “I sawthe very moment Calista struck him with it. And my visions have usually been trustworthy in the past.”
His attention shifted from my wrist to my sword, which I’d propped next to the window. He moved toward it. Meanwhile, I could barely stand to look in its direction; it had felt unbalanced ever since Lorien had seemingly bound his life force to it. I was just waiting for him to shatter it—like he’d done to its counterpart, Luminor—or to do something even worse.
Picking it up, Eamon carefully unsheathed and studied the blade. Normally, its dark steel only pulsed with twists of smoky-white energy. But now there were jagged lines of light blue occasionally disrupting it. It was like watching two storms battling for dominance over the midnight sky.
Quietly, I asked, “Do you think it’s ruined?”
“…Both sides of Vaeloran magic are rooted in the same power, so it’s certainly not a giventhat they’ll destroy one another. In fact, given enough time to properly combine, it could potentially make Grimnorstronger.”
My chest tightened at the thought of gaining strength from the likes of Lorien.
“There are even some legends that say Grimnor and Luminor were once a singular blade,” Eamon added. “Verinor, the True Blade, which was broken. None of the stories can agree onhow, but they all say that pieces of it were used to forge the two separate weapons.”
