“Are you there?”
“I’m here,” he said, his voice hollow against the resonance of hers. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t hear him. He was there. He was there and he’d fix this.
She knocked once more, and he welcomed the reverberation like a caress.
Gods, this was as close as he could get to touching her. To being beside her.
He stayed like that for several long moments, even after he realized she’d left.
“You projected yourself outside the crystal on your own this time,” Emylia said, suddenly beside him.
“It was Cora’s voice that brought me here.”
She released a heavy sigh. “You shouldn’t have overexerted your ethera, Highness. It’s dangerous to wait until your ethera forces you to rest.”
He turned away from the door to face her with narrowed eyes. “Why?”
“Your ethera requires rest and recovery, just like a human body does.”
“I know that, but why is it so dangerous for me to be forced to rest after overexertion? What haven’t you been telling me?”
She nibbled her bottom lip before answering. “Being forced to rest abruptly severs your connection to your vitale, the same way fear or panic does.”
Teryn folded his arms. “And that’s a bad thing because…”
“Because it causes your body’s functions to begin to shut down.”
Teryn blinked at her. So that was why she was always reminding him to focus on his breath, to strengthen his vitale. It had been less about maintaining his strongest connection and more about preserving his body’s functions. Did that mean…
“Could that…kill me?”
She nodded.
Anger sparked inside him. “Then why the seven devils didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to worry you,” she said. “I knew it would only make you panic more.” Her voice was brimming with apology, and yet…
He remembered how nervous she’d seemed when they’d followed Morkai into the Godskeep. How she’d tried to get him to rest before Morkai spoke with the king. Had she only been anxious over the prospect of him overhearing something that would cause his fear to spike, tearing him away from his vitale and forcing his ethera to rest? Had her concern been due to precaution…or premeditation?
Teryn’s fingers curled into fists. He hated that he was starting to get used to the way the gesture buzzed, the way he was beginning to forget what being made of flesh and blood felt like. “Did you know? When we entered the Godskeep, did you know what Morkai had been planning to do?”
She shrank down, shoulders tense. “I had an inkling, but I didn’t want you to panic. You can’t focus on what he’s doing. You can only focus on regaining control of your cereba.”
“So I can remove the crystal from my body and destroy it. Which we still don’t have a solution to.”
“I have an idea.”
Teryn tightened his jaw. “Why the seven devils haven’t you told me?”
“Because it’s just that—an idea. Actually, it’s less of an idea. It’s simply…knowledge. I know how Morkai made the crystal unbreakable. A year ago, he wove its fate to a unicorn horn, focusing on the horn’s indestructibility. The crystal now has the same properties that a unicorn horn has. It cannot break, burn, or crack.”
Teryn was torn between feeling daunted by such facts or elated that he finally had something to work with. There had to be a solution now. He pondered what he knew about unicorn horns, most of which he’d learned from the now-dead Prince Helios. “You said the crystal can’t be cracked or broken, but there must be a way. If it has the same properties a unicorn horn has, then it can be cut. Horns can be carved.”
She shook her head. “Only severed horns can be carved. The horn Morkai used was still attached to the unicorn when he cast the fate weaving.”
“Then what is your idea? How do we use this knowledge to destroy the crystal?”
“To break a curse, spell, or enchantment, one must go through the motions that were placed upon it but in reverse. Morkai used a bastardized version of an ancient Elvyn magic calledweaving. Elvyn weavers used sky, but Morkai was never able to utilize this magic. Instead, he used blood. He’d draw out blueprints for complex patterns to execute his spells and cast them using blood. Since the crystal and horn were both inanimate objects, he had to use his own blood for that weaving, along with most of the magic he’d currently stored in his Roizan.”
