We’d argued about this little detail. And I’d only won after I showed Bayne the oval brand at the center of my chest, next to the crescent scar Cyril had left me last year. While the amplifier Bayne had gifted me worked, the fire in his power, the pure sunlight, somehow activated when I used it. And I had the scar to prove it.
I’d need Kellan’s help to do a job this big. He was a living amplifier, in some ways. Everyone kept strangely quiet about Kellan’s powers in the past day, as if fearful to speak to him. To even speakofhis power. And the pirate lord didn’t offer any explanation. In fact, he seemed removed, his usual swagger replaced with a cold, dangerous thing. Had it not been for the months of close contact and the air oath between us, his presence might have sent me running from the room.
My stomach twisted as I eyed the camps below, hundreds of ashen wandering mindlessly about. Could I do this? I kept turning the same question over and over in my mind. I eyed my elven friends. The superior beings, in some ways.
We are not the same.
If we had been, could I have saved them sooner? Would Bayne have believed in our soulbinding thread? Would fewer people have died? Would I have mastered these powers before leaving Lotrennia?
Bayne’s brows pinched as he examined me, but it was Kellan’s voice that sounded from my side.
“Don’t for one second lower yourself, Lyvia. You are every bit their equal. Every bit as important, as incredible. I’m with you,” Kellan said once again, holding out a hand.
I’m with you… I blinked, turning to him, and in that glimpsing second, his dark eyes held the promise of hope and memory. The tendril of air connecting us stilled for a moment as his words found their mark, and for the first time, I looked at myself through my own eyes, and no one else’s.
I was imperfect. My choices shaped who I’d become, and though I was dark and shadowed… Though I’d killed out of necessityandout of brutality, I’d also saved. I was human, and I was strong. And though I had changed, one critical piece of me remained the same. A power that existed within me long before I harnessed either of the godlike forces now swarming inside me. The one that made it possible for the two not only to coexist, but tothrivetogether. The power that drew Enya and Ordell together in the first place.
Love.
I could acceptandlove myself for the person I was today, and I could do this. I was ready. I took the hand Kellan offered and slung my leg over Ti’s back before giving a firm dip of my chin to the others.
“Let’s go,” I said to the group.
Kellan pulled himself up behind me and settled into place. Tawny, copper feathers lifted Vulcan and Nerissa into the skies above, and Tiberius took off at a gallop along the edge of the cliff, his black wings beating twice before his hooves touched only air.
“Rise up, Lyvia,” Kellan murmured against my hair.
We soared over the camp, the rush of wind drowning out the shrieks of the pale creatures below.
I’m ready, I said to Ti, who relayed the message to Aquila. The hawk soared south, to where the line of menders and soldiers stood, ready to intervene.
“Take what you need this time,” Kellan said into my ear, his breath warm against my cheek. “I’ll give you a taste and then take what you need. I’ll pull back if it’s too much.”
I nodded my understanding and blinked against a tunnel of frigid wind as we swept over the northern ridge of the camp and circled back. I closed my eyes for a moment, allowing myself to dive deep into that chasm of power.
I passed through rivers of darkness and death, nodding my greeting to the Obscura. I soared deeper and deeper until the Transcindiel’s lilting tune announced its presence. I grabbed hold of that tune and pulled it up with me, higher and higher until a wave of golden light had gathered around me.
Kellan’s hands slid over my leather jacket and beneath my arms, lifting them to either side of me as Tiberius soared through the clear skies. I kept my palms facing down toward the ashen as we began the first sweep over the camp.
Keeping my eyes shut, I nodded, and Kellan’s rough hands slid beneath my palms, and he laced his fingers between mine. My back pressed against his chest, and the tip of his nose grazed the side of my head as he took a long, slow inhale. His spark followed, and I sent that golden Transcindiel light soaring toward the ashen below, a tune of triumph and redemption eclipsing the monsters’ shrieks.
Shimmers of golden light erupted below as Tiberius added his own Transcindiel power to the mix, and I blinked my eyes open. Kellan’s power poured into me as we made sweep after sweep, the transformational power devouring the pirate lord’s magic.
Ravenous shrieks turned to moans and cries of agony. Human cries. Elven cries. My eyes drifted closed as Tiberius took us back and forth, and I leaned into Kellan Astraeus as he kept his hands clasped around my own, our powers a healing caress to the souls below.
Time didn’t exist in this place. This place of transformation, of rebirth. The wind continued to whip around us before fatigue finally stretched through me. I slumped against Kellan. His hands were around my waist as Tiberius banked hard and descended, aiming outside the gates of the camp.
“We did it,” I mumbled, fighting against the claws of exhaustion.
“Youdid it,” he murmured against my hair.
My feet hit the frozen ground for a mere moment before they were swept up, and Kellan cradled me in his arms. I groaned, ready to protest, when he set me down on the cliff’s edge, my back against its small, rocky face. He plopped down next to me and his shoulders slumped back.
We watched silently as menders knelt next to bodies, and cries floated up from the camp. Selvina’s shimmering blue Ramadiel light twined through the crowd, encircling some entirely, others sending tiny sparks to heal minor injuries.
Bayne’s dark head bobbed as he moved through the camp, searching.
She was here, I’d realized, in that strange, dream-like state I’d entered moments ago above the camp.
