“Viri?” came Reeve’s tentative voice, as if from far away.
She needed air.
She needed air.
“Viri, are you—”
The room spun around her, the urge to vomit rising with every second. She needed to escape. Needed tobreathe.
So she did the only thing she could.
She ran.
28
Viri bolted from the circular room, sprinting past the wayportal and through a doorway hewn into the wall, then along unfamiliar stone corridors and down perilously steep staircases. She heard her name called with urgency, but she didn’t stop,couldn’t stop, desperate to put distance between her and what she’d just discovered, needing a moment to process, to think, tounderstand.
She didn’t know where she was going, was only vaguely aware that she was in some kind of ancient castle, her surroundings passing in a blur of gilded portraits, regal statues, and elaborate tapestries. Silvers and golds rushed past her at eye level, while rich blue carpets lined her path, the colors blending hypnotically as she raced blindly down, down, down—
And then, finally, she burst through a set of double-arched doors out into the frigid night, the air thick with the scent of honeysuckle and jasmine. A quick, light-headed glance revealed she hadn’t left the castle entirely, but was in a small garden courtyard bordered by stone pillars and surrounded by more ancienttowers like the one she’d just fled. Glowmoths drifted lazily through the air, their radiant little wings fluttering from strange glimmering flowers to trees with bioluminescent leaves, and hovering around sparkling mushrooms in beds of glittering grass. The moon shone down upon a three-tiered fountain sitting in a pond at the center of the enchanted garden, the crystal clear water gleaming with iridescent fish.
The courtyard was impossibly beautiful and unfathomably magical, but Viri barely saw it as she stumbled toward the fountain, trying desperately to draw air into her lungs. She was choking and wheezing, just like when she’d been under the wraith’s thrall, and equally incapable of unblocking her throat. The garden began to tilt around her, the kaleidoscopic lights making her nausea so intense that she slammed her eyes shut against the dizzying sight. Only, the moment she did, all she could see were her parents lying on the ground in front of the obelisk, staring out into nothing.
I killed them. I killed them. I killed them. I killed—
“VIRI!”
Hands landed on her shoulders, grounding her in place. Her eyes shot open to find Reeve’s blazing silver gaze locked on hers.
“You need to breathe.Now!”
It wasn’t a request—it was a command. But Viri couldn’t obey it, the colorful garden spinning around her as her vision began to fade at the edges.
Reeve cursed when he realized she was beyond listening, and he quickly shifted one of his hands until it curled around her neck. His eyes kept holding hers as he sent his ellixen into her, like liquid sunshine filling her veins. The peace she felt was instant,a supernatural calm that made her feel languid and dreamy, her knees becoming so weak that Reeve had to circle his other arm around her waist to help support her weight.
“Breathe, Little Shadow,” he murmured into her ear as she collapsed fully against him. “Just breathe.”
This time, she could follow his command, her throat unclogging enough for her to inhale once, twice, three times, her burning lungs cooling as blissfully sweet air rushed into them, her heartbeat slowing, her vision settling.
Soon, she felt almost normal again, but that was when it happened.
A sob left her, then another, her body buckling with the force of her grief.
“I—I—I—” She was crying so hard that she couldn’t say the words, couldn’t share what the memory had shown her, what she’ddone.
“I know,” Reeve said quietly, holding her close, his fingers combing through her hair as she wept into his chest, saturating his shirt with tears. “I know.”
“Wh-What happened?” she blubbered out. “Wh-Wh-Why did they—did they—”
Die. Why did theydie? That was what she wanted to know, but the words continued to fail her.
Reeve tensed against her, though his voice remained soft, gentle, as he asked, “How much did you see?”
Viri finally managed to control her sobs enough to pull back slightly, though she couldn’t bring herself to step away completely.
“Something h-happened with my magic when I t-tried to Impart,” Viri answered tremulously, tears still leaking from her eyes,but at least she wasn’t bawling as fiercely anymore. “It e-exploded out of me and—and—”
And killed her parents.
