The creature laughed. “Do you have something to bargain?”
“I—what do you want?”
“Oh, how pitiful you’ve become.”
The last thing I felt was the tug of magic surrounding me until it felt as though I was floating atop the water.
In the darkness, I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel. There was an arm coiled around my waist, pulling me close against a body and into a warmth that was unlike anything I’d ever felt. Fingers swirled patterns along my bare skin, running down my arm, along my waist, over the curve of my hip. Each delicate touch left a trail of goosebumps in their wake. I could stay forever entwined in these arms. I needed nothing else.
“I’m still waiting,” a voice whispered.
It was familiar… and not. Something inside of me knew that tone—that cadence—like the back of my hand. Something muffled and faded the voice, as if it came from a distant place, far, far away. If I could only focus a bit more, I knew I could figure it out. I closed my eyes tight and listened closely, but the voice did not speak again.
“I don’t want to leave,” I whispered back.
It was comfortable here in the dark. Outside of whatever this was, was the reality of my mistakes—my failures. I’d hurt the people I cared about with my own hands. Despite knowing the risks of accessing a power I didn’t understand, I’d pressed forward. I’d opened the door for the thing in the mirror to roam free.
I’d felt it there, snickering as the shadows surrounded me, satisfied that it’d broken me. Nearly two years of failed attempts, and I’d ruined everything in a matter of moments. For nothing. I still hadn’t been strong enough.
The voice returned, a gentle caress. “We made a promise.”
“What’s wrong with staying here?”
Maybe this was death providing me solace in my final moments.
“We made a promise,” the voice repeated.
Flashes of blurry images flickered in my mind. A grand tree in the middle of a pool. A stunning blue flower. White robes. A dagger. Blood. So much blood. And then there wasthe sensation of it—being stabbed. Horrible, piercing agony. I gasped, gritting my teeth as the pain continued to spread through my body like a corruption.
“You can’t stay here.”
I clutched my side, expecting to feel blood—but nothing. “What is this?”
“A dream. Open your eyes, my love.”
I woke with a gasp, eyes burning from the sudden infiltration of light. My fingers were gripping soft cotton sheets as I shot up from the bed I’d been lying in. I was in a bedroom—somewhere. I was alive—somehow.
I looked down at my hands. My skin had returned to its normal color, with no traces of the shadowy tendrils of my magic, nor the raw tenderness associated with them. I closed my eyes and focused, but my mind was quiet, too. As if nothing had happened. Had I dreamt the entire thing?
The door burst open, and I jumped back. My heart dropped when I saw who—or what—had entered: the creature from the ship.
“Good morning.” It grinned, fangs on full display. “I’ll be escorting you to our meeting room.”
I stepped back until I no longer could, the back of my shins hitting the bed frame. “Where am I? Where are my friends?”
Its voice twisted with irritation. “I’m not in the mood to answer your questions. My darling asked me to bring you back here, so I am bringing you. Now, come along nicely.” As if sensing my hesitation, it added, “or I’ll happily bring you in pieces. They didn’t specify that part. So, so foolish. I’ve told them a thousand times to be very detailed with their requests.”
I had no doubt it was telling the truth.
I did as it asked.
Ifollowed the creature through unfamiliar hallways, dimly lit by sconces along the brick walls. Wherever we were, it was no longer on The Phoenix Heart.
It stopped in a doorway and held its arm out for me to pass. “After you, esteemed guest of honor. Ready for a family reunion?”
My heart sank. It didn’t mean the people of my village, right? I’d not returned since Evri’s death, and I had no intention of going back now.
I stepped past the creature and sighed in relief when I saw Kaelias, Lorian, and Makatza sitting at a table in the center of what appeared to be a library of sorts. Tears stung the corners of my eyes. A weight lifted off my chest, and I felt like for the first time in a long time, I could breathe. They were safe. Unmarred and free from the black tendrils of my magic. This was the family I’d been hoping to reunite with.
