Not that flying would help me, anyway, because the wings I kept hidden until recently are still not much use to me.
In the exact center of the room, not ten paces away from me, are four stone statues. They stand in a tight circle, each one facing outward so that their backs are to each other.
Each one is a different color: one white, the next golden, then black, and finally crimson.
They are depictions of the four keepers of magic.
Their arms are bent at the elbows, their palms turned up.
Until minutes ago, the black statue heldThe Book of Dark Magic.
Once again, my own father has given rise to a deep despair and powerlessness within me.
“Your keeper is weak now, Daughter,” he says, continuing to croon at me. “Which means you have two choices.”
I could tell him to take his choices and shove them somewhere dark, but instead, without taking my focus off Emil, I demand to know, “What are they?”
Taiven steps closer to us, his focus flickering again toThe Book of Dark Magic.
No doubt, he is desperate to retrieve it now that it has done its work and hurt my heart.
“You can’t defeat me,” my father continues. “The light magic I control can flay the flesh from your bones within mere seconds. You must surrender to your death.” He nods to himself as if it’s a foregone conclusion. “But before you die, I will give you the chance to decide your keeper’s fate. Because I am merciful like that.”
As he speaks, bright light glimmers around his palms, casting up across his triumphant features and sizzling in the air across our heads.
Each time he draws on the light keeper’s magic, she shudders harder against the wall.
I feel the heat of her energy burning through the air around me. Its destructive force.
Tearing my gaze away from Emil, who has remained unnervingly silent, I ask my father, “What are my choices?”
Taiven relaxes a little, white light continuing to spill around his fingertips as he lowers his hands. “You can kill your keeper yourself by stabbing your claws through the heart in his chest.”
He pauses for a moment, as if he thinks I’ll immediately choose that option.
As if I would.
I have no idea what will happen to me if the keeper’s heart is destroyed. My own physical heart still beats in my chest, but my heart’s power connects him and me in ways I don’t completely understand.
He feels my pain, my heartache. He even sensed when I had nightmares while I slept. I kept him awake many nights because of it.
I can’t be certain that if Emil’s physical heart is torn out, my own physical heart will keep beating—or if it will destroy me, too.
Of course, my father wants us both dead, so it makes no difference to him.
In fact, I imagine it would be quite an efficient way to get rid of me. Especially if he thinks my current pain and anger will cloud my judgment.
Taiven’s eyebrows rise when I grind my speech through my clenched teeth. “Or?”
“Simply move aside.” He shrugs. “Let me flay open your keeper’s chest with my light magic. I will tear out his heart for you.”
I latch on to his last words. “Forme?”
“A final gift,” my father says with a smile. “Before I kill you.”
No, thank you.
Although, the fact that my father thinks he will have to kill me separately indicates his belief that tearing out Emil’s heart won’t end me.
