And what is Spring’s power if not rejuvenation?
“You are stronger than you think, Petal.” I squeeze her hands hard. “The wells of your magic run deeper than you know. They flow down into the very depths of the Vale. Will it to be yours.”
She closes her eyes. Spring’s essence flows over her, the way the river courses from the top of Mount Lumidor into Sylvanita Lake. I can feel her magic responding to mine, then bubbling, like a dam about to burst.
She’s doing it. Coaxed by Spring’s rejuvenation, she’s soaking in the magic that lives in every stone, root, and speck of dirt within the Vale.
“That’s it, Petal,” I urge. “When you ask, the world answers.”
She pulls away from me and holds her hands out to the sides. Twin briars crack upward and snake around her arms. Her eyes snap open, and she smiles. “Oh. They’re in trouble now.”
A matching grin crooks up my face. “I think I’m about to do something crazy.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice.”
I give Rosalina the locations of where I last saw Cas, Dayton, and Farron.
“I’ll see you soon.” Her briars whip her away.
I turn toward the swarm. Underfae are running at me, probably looking for Rosalina.
They won’t find her.
For Irahn’s sake, for everything he gave his life for, I will not let the enemy take Voidseal.
The blessing of Spring—it is the magic of rejuvenation, of all growing things. But Spring has never been a place of fragility. Spring, Florendel, myhome, is a land of stone and ore and the bellowing fires of a forge.
Spring is the very earth itself.
I reach out my hands and dig my magic into the foundations that make up Voidseal Bridge.
Golden briars appear at my feet: Caspian in a tangle, still unconscious. I see a flash of Rosalina’s hair before she briars away again.
This entire bridge is made of stone, but there’s metal throughout it in the many elevator lifts that dip into the chasm. Smithing is in my blood. I can feel the iron and nickel and pewter that make up the structures.
I tear it apart.
With a roar, my magic surges out, pulling at the metal, springing it from its hinges, ripping it out of the chasm. A great groan echoes, and the swarm trembles in unison, looking for the cause.
Another tangle of briars appears, and Farron lands on all fours, nude and shaking. “H-he was about to kill me?—”
I can’t listen to him. My entire consciousness flows out like a rainstorm, stretching across the bridge. I lace my magic through the cracks in the stone, prying, pushing, digging.
Dayton tumbles out of a third eruption of briars, screaming in pain. He’s still tangled in an electrified net.
“Dayton!” Farron scrambles to him, gritting his teeth as he pulls off the net.
Dayton rolls away, patting at burns across his skin. “That bitch is psychotic!” I feel his gaze on me. “Ez? Why do you look like that?”
My magic has soaked through the bones of this bridge. Now I’m only waiting for one thing.
Rosalina appears at my side, supporting a nearly unconscious Kel. My chest heaves at the sight of spears sticking out of his body, the blood that dribbles from the corners of his mouth. I want to rush to him, heal his wounds. But if I don’t do this now, we’re all dead. And with Rosalina here, now we’re ready.
“You shall never take Voidseal Bridge. Go back to the depths of the Below where you belong,” I growl.
And then I pull.
The middle of Voidseal Bridge crumples. I roar with the force of it, every piece of my magic sunk deep into the earth that makes up the bridge. Irahn’s beloved bridge house tumbles as the stone shatters beneath it, falling into the chasm below. The swarm screams, moles and underfae alike careening with the collapsing structure.
