The words.
Delilah was saying my name, urgently reminding me that I needed to keep saying the words. Meanwhile, I was on the brink of begging her to end this, prepared to cast the ruby aside and toss it off the tallest mountain I could find.
But I didn’t waste my breath on begging.
I resumed the verses.
This was the cost of the destiny I had forged, and if that tore me apart at the seams, so be it.
30
Jon
Icouldn’t stomach much more of this.
Every agonized cry that wove between Sylvia’s repeated verses cut like a knife. I thought I had been prepared to witness Sylvia struggle through this, but my mind and body revolted—the visceral, primal reaction I always had when she was in pain.
Her body was wrapped in a blinding light, preventing me from seeing what was hurting her so badly, much less if the spell was working. I exhaled shakily as I tried to squint into the luminance to make out something,anything.
Sylvia’s voice carried through it all, slightly distorted as though the gem magic was choking right around her vocal cords. Her next chant was little more than a whimper, and it sent a jolt through me, pushing my legs into motion before I could stop myself.
A hand seized my arm, wrenching me back in a crushing grip.
“If you interfere, you’ll make it worse,” Cliff hissed.
He didn’t release me until my ferocious expression crumpled. I stepped back, hands fisting restlessly. Tension lined Cliff’sexpression when he looked back at Sylvia, his gaze wide and soulful like he, too, was wrestling himself back.
She could do this. She was the strongest person I’d ever known. Stronger than me. She would survive this, because Ineededher to.How was I supposed to go on without her when our lives together had barely begun?
A rattling sound set off throughout the room. The polished wood floor was vibrating beneath us, and unanchored furniture and objects around the room began to suffer for it. Three books fell from the five-tiered shelves to our left. The vanity mirror attached to the dresser began to knock against the wall. A framed art print wobbled right off its nail, smashing glass-first onto the floor.
I couldtastethe magic strengthening in the air: a sharp, sour flavor that washed over my tongue.
The spellwork exploded.
A shockwave of sheer force rippled through the room with Sylvia at the epicenter. The air itself seemed to splinter for a moment as we were thrown back. Cliff and I grunted, both of us slamming into the wall. My shoulder caught the window, eliciting acrackas the glass fractured.
Tristan was on hands and knees, crawling toward Melanie, who was stirring weakly next to Hazel on the floor. Lee clasped a hand to a welt on his forehead, his hair knocked from its usual style. Ben had managed to stay in the air, but was groaning with the effort of reorienting himself. Delilah was the only one who’d managed to stay upright. Through the haze of the glow, growing ever brighter, I saw her clinging to the bedframe with both hands.
A faint ringing hit my ears, painfully stringent. I groaned through my teeth, shielding my eyes with my arm as the glow around Sylvia seemed to swallow the entire room. It was like watching a star explode. Through it all, she continued to chantobediently after Delilah, both of their voices growing ragged from effort. Another rush of power rippled out, and this time, the windows blew out from the force. A shard caught my cheek, sending a line of blood dribbling down my jaw.
Then, something shifted. Like a blown lightbulb, the illumination suddenly ebbed back into its source.
Silence choked the room. Much as Sylvia’s agony had been like a blade in my chest, the absence of her voice was even worse.
Breathing heavily and half-expecting another burst of magic, I lowered my arm from my face and looked toward the rune circle at the center of the room.
Fair, freckled arms were prone over the white silk. A mop of tousled red hair was splayed over the floor, several locks obscuring her face. She appeared to be unconscious, curled on her side with lips parted.
And human.
She looked completely, utterly human.
“Sylvia!” Her name tore from my throat like a guttural plea.
My lungs nearly seized when I made it to her side and scooped her into my arms. Warm, solid,real. A shaky, almost manic laugh of relief escaped me as I brushed hair off her face so I could take her in, careful to protect her modesty beneath the sheet as I cradled her.
Cliff knelt beside me, slack-jawed but urgent. He gingerly reached out and put two fingers to her neck, confirming a pulse while Lee, Tristan, and the others crowded around. The fairies hovered overhead, wings thrumming indistinctly.
