CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
Meili Advetis, traveler of worlds. Distance and time walk a fine line.
—Lock Scroll, the Arx.
The Nivis royal met my gaze as her delicate fingers folded over the bone one by one. Her eyes drifted closed for a moment before she turned and strode toward the female slave standing at the edge of the hill.
“Selvina,” I said, my voice sounding far away. I stood, ready to fight for the bone of power resting in her hands.
She ignored me and surveyed the pile of bodies on the hillside, eyeing the humans and elves now stirring and whimpering. Ashen, no more.
“Selvina!” I shouted, allowing the weight of the wet dagger in my hand to steel me. I needed the healing power in her hand. I needed it for my caeluma. For my friends here, for the friends I’d left in Sultira. Myfamily. And I would kill for it. I slogged past Tiberius’s heaving form and stopped short as the slicing whine of a blade rang behind my head. Something sharp slashed at my face and neck.
Olienna’s face contorted in wrath as she unsheathed Enya’s blade from my back and attacked. I ducked, the tip of the blade painting a crimson stripe against my cheek. Drips of blood pooled along the line as I leaped to the side, flipping Honor’s hilt in my hand. She surged forward with the Bellator’s blade, crashing it down in the ashy slush. I swept my leg behind her knees as she heaved the sword in my direction, shoving up with the butt of Honor and crashing it into her wrist. She screamed as the blade flew from her hands and slid along the edge of the hill.
Olienna spun through the air, the Aeterna Bone blessing her with the speed of her youth, and her boot crashed into my wrist. The golden gem in Honor’s hilt dimmed as it flew through the air. She barreled into me, knocking me to the ground. She straddled me in the blood and frigid mud, her nails digging into my skin as her hands found their way to my neck.
“Lyvia—” Astraeus groaned from where he lay nearby.
My hands grappled with hers, slipping against the blood. My mind whirred, searching,searchingfor those lessons of defensive moves I’d learned from my friends, my family, this past year. Bayne, Ronan, Nerissa, Vulcan… They had drilled them into me, but my mind grew fuzzy. Panic broke through my carefully built-up wall. My fingers slipped between her palm and my neck, but she was so strong…
“Hand… Your hand…”
Hand.
My hand.
My hands were the only things stopping her from squeezing the last breath from my lungs. I would die.
A gentle tug on the line of air that tethered us, like it was saying,I’mhere...I’m with you… You’re not alone.
Kellan Astraeus.
But I couldn’t take my hands away.
A sound escaped my lips as she squeezed harder, and that tug of wind turned into a yank. A demand. Tunnel vision darkened my sight, and I pulled one hand away, the back of it hitting the snow.
That hard, calloused hand clasped onto mine. It was familiar. It was safe. It squeezed as a spark of raw power stormed into that chasm of magic, fueling the Obscura and Transcindiel.
And my powers reared in response.
I ripped my hand out of Kellan’s and clasped them around Olienna’s head. Black mist and golden light collided. An iron-like mask of darkness formed around her head and face, quickly wrapping itself around her body, ripping her hands away from me. She screamed, going rigid as the cage clanged to the ground.
Air filled my lungs in quiet chokes as I rolled to the side toward Kellan, his hand still outstretched toward me. His dark eyes stuttered under his lashes before gently closing as he let go of that small bit of air connecting us.
I stared at him for a moment, my emotions paralyzed despite my powers still streaming into Olienna’s cage. His chest slowly rose and fell, and I reached a tentative hand to his cheek, the back of my fingers grazing his skin. A yelp drew my attention to the slope of the hill, and I whipped my head toward Selvina.
The Nivis elf knelt in the snow, her hand hovering over the slave’s ankle. My legs were heavy and foreign beneath me as I shoved against the ground, snatching Honor from the frozen slush. Selvina murmured a few words beneath her breath, and blue,beautiful,crystal blue light sparked around her outstretched palm, settling on the slave’s foot. Power brushed against my neck and my ankle, as if the healing that had occurred there was reminded of the touch of magic igniting across the field of blood.
A cool breeze picked up as the snow stopped falling, and evening streaks of resting sun peeked through the partingclouds. I blinked as she gripped the slave’s scarred hand and pulled her into an embrace.
Selvina’s manicured hands slipped around the woman’s pale face as she pressed her dark mouth to her lips. She pulled away, reaching behind the woman’s neck, sliding a key into her thick collar, which dropped to the ground with a dull thud. The slave looked up, as if finally noticing me, and a gasp escaped my lips.
Eira. The slave who had given her life for me during my time at the Crystal Castle, but not quite. I staggered a step back as crystal blue eyes found mine. Eira’ssister. And Selvina’s lover, it would seem. A moan from behind me drew me back.
“Selvina,” I snapped, and the royal elf finally turned toward me.
“Lyviánala Natara,” she said, clasping her hands together and bowing her head.
