Her heart began pounding. She took deep breaths, trying to keep not only herself, but the creature within her calm. She glanced over to Rion, uncertain, only to find the same fear reflected in his eyes.
Then pain exploded through her body.
Arianna nearly screamed, biting back the sound with a muffled grunt as she pressed her other hand to the wall to brace herself. The searing current ebbed, then slammed through her again. Could the runes have iron in them? Arianna tugged at her arm, pulling frantically to no avail.
The door’s magic sank into her body, prodding at places she wasn’t even aware existed. To her left, Arianna heard Rion grunt in pain as well. She turned to see his forehead pressed to the wall, teeth gritted and fist clenched. But his eyes, those eyes were on her, watching intently, as if he could intervene if the need arose. She half wondered if Rion was capable of tearing this entire place down if he wished.
A slender strand of his magic lifted, reached for her, puzzling itself together grain by grain. She hated his magic one moment and feared it the next, but right now… right now all she wanted was to reach out and touch it. She wanted those grains to cascade over her body and remind her of all the ways she’d once loved the sensation.
A strand of her own power formed, the droplets materializing from thin air. That tiny strand was so, so heavy. She wondered if his felt the same.
The two strands inched toward one another, pushing against an invisible weight. They wound together, spiraling, reaching, reaching, reaching.
Another burst sapped Arianna’s energy, and she dropped to her knees. Rion called her name, desperation in his voice. She pressed her head to the stone, expecting the cold only to find it pleasantly warm. A warmth she somehow recognized. Arianna lifted her head to stare at the markings glowing along her arm.
Don’t fight it,Róisín had advised. Arianna thought she might be repeating the words, but couldn’t be sure.
The creature—no, the previous Divine, Laoirse—thrashed, desperately clinging to the magic being sapped from her body. Arianna furrowed her brows. She stared at the markings, willing them to tell her what they needed. Something in her arm … pulsed. As if nudging her toward the answer.
Don’t fight it.
She looked over at Rion again. He was on his knees, too. The others were moving around the pair, voices full of frantic worry. None dared to touch them. Was someone screaming? She couldn’t tell with the humming that had filled her ears. Her body. Her soul. She’d hadn’t realized until this moment that the rest of the world had gone nearly silent.
Don’t fight it.
Arianna reached for Laoirse. Not for help, but to harness the magic she’d been granted via this female. It was the previous Divine’s power, after all.
No.
No, it wasn’t. Arianna stared at the wall before her. Maybe that had been the problem all along. The magic within her body didn’t belong to anyone else aside from Arianna. It was hers to control. It was hers to wield as she saw fit. Even if Laoirse found peace during or after this war, the magic wouldn’t disappear.
Laoirse wasn’t the one destined to lead the Fae of Alastríona to victory. Arianna was. Laoirse had failed. Arianna wouldn’t.
This power belonged to her.
Arianna turned away from Rion and the pleading in his gaze. He was so afraid. She could scent it in the air. It felt as if he were telling her that if her heart stopped, his entire world would stop with it. Maybe it would, but no one was finding out today.
Arianna gritted her teeth and grabbed at her writhing magic. It pulsed through her body, a million strands reaching in different directions. The magic was in a frenzy, struggling to decide how it might protect her. Arianna forced it to mold into a single sphere, then opened her eyes and stared up at the arch.
“You want this power?” she said to whatever mechanism controlled the door. “Then take it.” Arianna struggled to rise, then let that ball of energy shoot down her arm, straight intothe runes that had molded themselves to her skin. The symbols grew brighter, that power spilling into the runes of the wall and cascading over the entire structure like a wave.
She shoved harder, pouring from the endless well within her body.
Frost glazed the skin around her arm and stretched along the wall, coating the runes in a circular fashion. She turned back to Rion who was staring at her with a mixture of awe and fear. Then Rion did the same, surging his power straight into the wall. He, too, rose, grains of sand forming around his feet. They floated through the air, spiraling around his body. His forearm was shining now, the power illuminating the runes in the doorway.
There was something on the other side of the stone. She could feel it now and couldn’t understand why she hadn’t sensed it before.
The lock. Or … well. It was a gaping space that had to be filled before the mechanism could flip open. Arianna wasn’t sure she could have done it alone. But she wasn’t alone. She had Rion. They could do this together. They’d unlock the library and find the answers and defeat Vairik.
Whoever had been screaming quieted. The movement around them stilled. Arianna imagined her companions staring in confusion, still panicking over whatever was happening to the people they cared about. To their leaders.
Arianna searched the wall, feeling through the runes. It was an intricate network of webs. An entanglement one could never hope to unravel. The foundations of the spells were carved into the stone itself. Almost as if whoever had created it had intended it to be a sentient being.
Over half-way now. She could feel it.
Arianna’s body lightened. She didn’t stop. She understood the warning in the runes now. Even with immensepower, a regular Fae would never have the magic required to open the door. And even if one did, they wouldn’t have a counterpart to match. It required two powerful beings. Two who were willing. Two whose magic were one and ready to sacrifice for the other.
Minutes ticked by, that pool filling, filling, filling. The room glowed, bathing everyone in a bluish hue.
