It hadn’t been hard to dispose of a rabid pest.
There was no grieving something I’d never had. Even my anger had flown, shed to drift through the air along with his ashes.
I touched my people one after another as I cast the spell that had released the creatures from portraits at Bledmire. Here, it didn’t seem to make a difference. They remained frozen in place—my army in waiting if only I could free them.
I finally found myself standing on the top of a hill overlooking the broad valley full of gleaming homes and stone people. Drask flapped his wings and cawed, a mournful sound that slid across my soul.
Lydel deserved to shine once more. My people needed to befree. If I didn’t find a way to release them, there would be no one to fight the flying dregs who were coming. I could ask Jessia to send help, but they were overwhelmed at the border already and wouldn’t have even one rider to spare.
These weremypeople, and only I held the key.
It was past time.
Gathering from that smoldering place deep within my well, I tugged up a mass of the seemingly endless power. More. And even more. I bound it together with my court’s core, the power that didn’t truly belong to me but to everyone who called themselves Lydel. I only borrowed it for now.
The mass churned and grew, and it glowed with both energy and fury.
I closed my eyes and with a rushed exhalation, I shot the magic out of me, coating everyone and everything on Lydel Island and beyond.
The world exploded, and I was the flames. The power. The storm churning across this world, leaving only scorched, new earth behind.
When I opened my eyes, the sweetest sound reached my ears.
The laughter of my people echoed around me. Blazing, glorious sunlight shone down on the city, making it sparkle with life and beauty and everything right in this world.
No more spell.
No more thorns.
“Thank you, Mama,” I whispered. “For protecting me. For shielding them. You can trust me to carry forward your legacy and finally end the bitter blight tainting this world.”
Vexxion’s voice bloomed in my mind.
Fury?he drawled.Where are you, my love?
Oh, how I smiled, stretching my face and my heart wide open. Letting my beloved Vexxion back in where he belonged.
I flitted to where he still stood in front of the fireplace and wrapped my arms around him.
His encircled me with his love, and everything was right in my world once more.
He wasone of the king’s minions,I told Vexxion as I sat on his lap on the sofa with the fire dancing merrily on the grate and our friends slumbering in their chairs around us. I’d sent power through them, but it would take time for the willwort to clear.
Brodine’s latest forget spell had ended the instant he died, freeing Vexxion. He’d made quick work of the willwort plundering through his body, then added my magic to his to ensure our friends suffered no ill effect from what lingered.
Zayde snored. Did he know that? Layla must.
Reyla kept muttering something about channeling magic.
I swore Airia’s clothing kept shifting to something that appeared tattered, but I had to be mistaken. She wore a tunic and pants, like me.
My aunt kept lifting her hands before dropping them back onto her lap.
They’d wake soon.
How long?Vexxion asked in a deadly voice. His threadssnapped out and wavered in the air, hissing as they sought a threat that no longer existed.
This man was my shield, and I was his high lady. We’d die to protect the other.
