“I have to go.”
“I know.” She leaned in to whisper in my ear, and the flowers gripped in her hand tickled the back of my neck. “You’re going to bring our magic back.”
Gods, so everyone knew. “I’m going to try.”
She nodded, as if my try was the same as certainty. When I set her down, the handful of flowers teased over my arm. The longing I felt for Lidi’s magic rose. So did warmth, rising through my body; a sudden quickening flowed through my arms and legs as if I were growing stronger.
The three wildflowers in Lidi’s hands trembled. She had plucked the petals for their shop, leaving only their centers and stems. Now they were closed. Lidi looked up at me, wide-eyed. I dropped to my knees before her without thought. I cupped my hands over hers to keep anyone from seeing, but golden light—the color of an early sunrise—glowed between our fingers.
I moved my hands away, and Lidi stared at the three flowers, tightly furled. They bloomed, yellow petals restored; the flowers made new again.
Lightbringer suddenly pulled away. The warmth, the sense of strength, fled.
“How?”Lightbringer’s voice was a growl in my mind.
My mind spun, trying to make sense of what happened. Lightbringer had sounded startled. I’d assumed this was a gift from my dragon, but perhaps I couldtakeit.
“Cara,” Lidi whispered, and her voice was joy itself. “Did you see that?”
“I saw.” Despite all my questions, I was grinning.
“If you wish your sister to regain the rest of her magic, you will keep this a secret,”Lightbringer warned.“Until—if—I am ready.”
Triumph hummed in my chest. It was only a beginning, but it meant everything was possible.
“I’ll keep your secret for now.”I had more power than I had realized. I could be generous.
“Go light all the magic,” Lidi told me with her childish faith.
“Don’t tell anyone yet.” I touched my finger to my lips. “Just between us.”
I trusted an eight-year-old’s commitment to secrecy as much as I trusted Stonehaven not to gossip. This moment of hope would grow wings and take flight among the mortals, no matter what Lightbringer demanded.
Lidi’s face was still bright with hope. She hugged me hard, and I kissed the top of her head.
I went back, still feeling jubilant. But I had to walk past the mortals who had gathered on the outskirts of Bismyth’s preparation, watching.
Their observation seemed hungry. The hunger of people who needed something to be true and were here to see it confirmed.
They came for a miracle.
The queen had told that to Fear, too.Take your miracle and go.
She had believed I would fail, and the mortals would lose interest in me and in our rebellion. The rebellion needed the mortals, and the mortals needed the rebellion.
“Can we fly today?”I asked Lightbringer.“Are you ready?”
She was there. The warmth flared the way it had when I threw myself off the overlook before she changed her mind. She was an enormous presence at the same time she was only in my mind, and for one bright second, I thought…
And then she was still.
Not gone. It was the difference between a fire that had gone out and a fire that was banked. She had saved me from death. Everything about life, apparently, was my problem.
Except…I had bloomed Lidi’s flower with my wishing. Somehow I had drawn Lightbringer’s power. Perhaps I could force more without her will.
That seemed like a violation. I was not going to use her.“Fine. I’m waiting for you.”
Fear appeared at my elbow. He’d taken in the mortals and, of course, he had assessed the problem of followers faster than I had. “Walk with me.”
