The scale had fallen into their hands and slipped out of their fingers all in the same night. The medallion glinted on the pillow beside her. She needed the Moonstone, but if she had only one question to ask the Druid, it wouldn’t have been about that.
Dyna poked her head inside the tent, and she smiled tentatively. “May I come in?”
Lucenna nodded.
“I’m sorry to disturb you. I know you need your rest, but I fear I’ll not be able to sleep at all if I don’t understand what happened at the fjord.”
Lucenna gave her a languid smile. “What is there to understand?”
Dyna came to sit beside her. “What was that?”
“Thatwas the most powerful Essence Blast I have ever witnessed. A concentrated explosion of pure energy that burns hotter than any fire.”
Her eyes widened. “Is that why it hurt?”
“There was too much coming out at once,” Lucenna said. “Your magic was contained for so long, it has accumulated. When it released, it came too forcefully through the Essence Channels that were not used to such power.”
“Contained?” Dyna shook her head. “That wasn’t my Essence. If not for Cassiel’s feathers, I wouldn’t have been able to cast such a powerful spell.”
The destruction in the fjord had been alarming and awe-inspiring. Lucenna hadn’t sensed the depth of Dyna’s power because it had been hidden. Until it surged, unlike anything she’d ever seen.
“Where do you think the magic came from?”
Dyna frowned. “You said feathers are like crystals.”
“They are the same in the sense that both heighten power.” Lucenna sat up and propped the pillows against the headboard to rest on them. “Mages use crystals to enhance the strength of their power, but they are merely enhancers. Celestial feathers are conduits. They draw the entirety of your power to the forefront at once. Neither one can produce spells beyond your capabilities.”
Dyna’s eyes widened. “Do you mean…”
Lucenna smiled and nodded. “Yes, that was your true power.”
A shaky breath left Dyna’s lips. She curled her fingers into loose fists, staring at them as if they weren’t her hands. “To have wielded so much. To feel it burning me from the inside. It was frightening, but I had never felt more myself than in that moment. It’s as if my power was kept behind a dam. The little I have been using all these years was merely what leaked through the cracks. But at the fjord, the dam dropped, and I was flooded with so much power I didn’t know what else to do but let it go. Why couldn’t I use it before?”
“After what I witnessed, I realized thereisa barrier that is containing your power,” Lucenna said. “But I don’t understand why.”
Dyna sighed. “It must be my heritage. My human blood is too strong.”
Could that really be it? The Magos Empire forbade mages to take human wives or to marry outside of their guilds because they said it dampened the power in their descendants. But Dyna’s power wasn’t dampened.
It was locked away.
“I am going to mention this to Lucien. He may know something,” Lucenna said as she studied her with a frown. “But other than this barrier, your mind also holds you back, Dyna.”
Magic fed off emotion, and Dyna’s fear wouldn’t allow her to wield it. That sort of thing could kill her in a dire moment.
She hunched. “I panicked.”
“I know, but you cannot allow that to happen again,” Lucenna said sternly. “Losing yourself to fear could be the difference between life and death.”
It was a lesson Lucenna learned the hard way, and she would make sure Dyna wouldn’t repeat that mistake.
Chapter 30
Zev
Zev heard the crunch of dried leaves as footsteps approached. He growled in warning, but didn’t move from the spot where he lay with his head resting on his paws. He kept his eyes closed, wanting to sleep and forget the night in the Moors.
“Get up,” Cassiel said.
