“Please,” I beg. “I won’t ask you again—stop this!”
He turns to me, eyes glowing with hands raised. “I will not.”
Panic takes hold. I rush forward and push with all my might. He sways and then falls to the depths of lava below, and I don’t even look.
A father who had used me all my life, hungry for power, gets no more of my care. Instead, as my hands burn, I look down to find light sinking into them. It seals the bloody scrapes and makes them ignite with fire.
I turn back to the heat of the volcano and hold my hands up. A power that was not there before stirs.
I had always been strong—my family was blessed with a vast well of magic, but this is something… more.
The force of the eruption threatens to draw me out and swallow us whole.
I demand it to stop.
Hundreds of thousands were already dead.
Maybe millions.
But I could stop it from taking everyone.
Slowly, the lava comes to an end, and the ground quiets. Then, the ground beneath my feet begins to crumble.
Screams pierce my skull. There are flashes ofred, ochre, and yellow. They slosh with a vibrant heat that scorches to the core. It crashes over our home as we stand, helpless.
Everything sinks into the sea.
Asensation of being terrifyingly weightless comes as the stones of our tallest tower fold to the ground. A rock lands over my leg, and I call out in pain. For the first time in months, after all the killing and the seduction, I think myself ready to welcome death.
Instead, a large blue hand is thrust into the rubble. “Teo!” Vann yells. “Grab on!”
A light to my left draws me out of slumber.
Slowly, my eyes blink open. The hunter assigned to wait for us in the Parting Cave must’ve brought us back to the king’s suite because that is where I returned to consciousness.
Every part of my body is sore from the endless swimming. Though the royal pools had made swimming feel like something out of a dream, actual hours spent traversing through the deep is more challenging than running through sand. My skin is sore from chafing against the crystal suit and sticky with sweat.
Estela’s weight rests heavily on my arm, and I lean down to kiss the top of her head as she continues to sleep.
She… glows.
Faintly. Even now. The aura of her soul never fully turned off.
In this silent moment, I allow myself the luxury of watching this creature in my arms while pain churns in my soul over the memory. It is a small pleasure to know how much we have grown since she’s returned. Each piece of her is my treasure, from the stories of her raising her brother to the way that she laughs so carefreely around her fellow humans.
How can I tell her of my deepest shame?
We’ve spent the month working through each of her memories, and mine have been buried under grief, Lijasa, and the aftermath of the war.
I’ve tried so hard to erase every inch of my father from my mind, and yet… a part of him has clawed its way back out.
She stirs, arching her back into the movement for a second before letting out a groan.
She likely is as sore as I am.
A problem deeply needing to be fixed.
Later.
