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CHAPTER 29

THE CORE, TAPESTRY OF MAGIC, THE WEAVE

VALEN

Power thrums through me, my head tilting back with the intoxicating wave that washes away the numbness from my body. I blink slowly, my blurry vision clearing with each swipe of my lids. My mind has dissolved into a sludge, thoughts battling their way through the thickness to try to reach my consciousness. Everything is a blur.

I turn my head so that my cheek presses against the ground. It’s almost as if there’s cotton in my ears, obscuring sounds until they’re muffled thumps and thuds and providing me with no useful information about where I am or what has happened to me.

Power pools in my fingertips, the tingling prickles waking them up until I flex and curl my hands. The sensation journeys up my arms where it intensifies to an agitating discomfort. I shift on the ground to ease the sensation. I clench my teeth, my lips pulling painfully like they’re sewn together, and pull my arms apart, anything to make the itching stop. A series of oddly satisfying pops has me exhaling harshly through my nose and I pull even harder, forehead pressing against the ground as I strain.

The seam along my arms tears free and they slam against the ground beside me. My jaw aches so I stretch it, but my damn lips are stuck together. Frustration flares within me, giving me the strength to work my jaw, forcing my teeth apart. My eyes squeeze shut, and I groan, my hands curling. My lips slice apart until I gasp through my gaping mouth.

I huff in breath, my body tingling in pulsing ripples. My ears ring, but a sharp, loud noise stabs through the tinnitus over and over, my fingers twitching with the discomfort of it. Slowly, my eyes open again, and the world sharpens. I’m no longer in the Archweaver estate. No, I am on a bed woven from thousands of thin strands.

Then it all returns to me in a rush, and I suck in breath. I’m in the Tapestry. Alasdair dragged me through to the other side. Now a massive, oval chrysalis is before me, and at its base is my beloved fighting for her life.

Astoria’s magic lashes at Alasdair. She’s bleeding, but the blood glints oddly. Her skin flashes gold and black, the outlines of fiery wings rippling in and out of existence. She’s weakening, her footing slowing. She uses only one arm, the other held behind her. A thin rope stretches out from her clenched fist to wrap around the behemoth cocoon.

Astoria stumbles and drops to one knee. My heart seizes. Alasdair laughs, striking over and over. Astoria’s shield flickers with each strike, and she pants, arm trembling to hold the protection. Her skin along her forearm splits with the next strike.

Memories surge in my mind. The first time she let me hold her hand. The way she looked up at me with her beautiful eyes. Our first kiss, when our childhood world ended and a new one began. All these moments—all these memories, all these bursts of happiness—flicker faster and faster until I’m on my knees before her, heart hammering and ring held forth in a question.

Our life was supposed to be together, and seven years were stolen from us. No more. I refuse to allow another second to be ripped from us. Not now. Not when we’ve found that missing piece in our love.

The three of us will survive this.

“You should’ve stayed in your prison!” Alasdair laughs, his eyes wide and smile manic. “You should’ve bowed to my power. Now I’m going to send you to your father in pieces.”

My hands flatten against the threads below me. A voice, one that floods me with warmth, whispers, “Give him hell, V.”

I drag myself to my feet, panting slowly as my magic returns to me. I straighten, my eyes glowing with swelling power. My hands tremble as I call on my magic, my skin rippling with an array of magnificent blue lights. I have no plan, only this blinding rage when Astoria screams, her shimmering blood splattering when her shield shatters. Alasdair closes his hands on her throat. My vision flashes, and I throw my arm outwards, exploding with power that shakes the threads below my feet.

Ice shards pierce Alasdair in long, hooked spears. He releases Astoria, and his back bows with a screech that slices my eardrums, his black and green eyes landing on me.

I bare my teeth. “That’s my wife!”

And I rip my magic back.

The hooks sink into Alasdair’s chest, yanking him airborne as I throw my arm out in an arc. He hits the wall of the sphere that encloses this odd place we’re in. Magic explodes angrily, and I realize that the sphere wrapped all around is Soul Threads, tightly woven together and enraged by the disturbance. Alasdair’s screams curl my lips in a satisfied smile. I release him, but the threads stick to him, clinging on. I take the few moments of reprieve before Alasdair frees himself to run to Tori.

I heave her to her feet. Running my hands over her, I desperately search for injuries. But there’s nothing I can do to heal her. The magic required to heal a soul is outside my skill set. I press my lips along each injury in soft kisses, murmuring as I go, “Forgive me, my love. I was late and will make up for it every day of our lives.”

Astoria strokes my cheek, and I lift my head to gaze into her lovely green eyes, opalescent tendrils shimmering throughout her irises. Her fingers trail down my face, and I catch them with mine. “If we kill his mortal form, he’ll be trapped here.”

She shakes her head. “No. It won’t matter. He’s not simply a weaver. He is my cursed creature and Alasdair’s damaged soul fused together. If I don’t stop my creation, he will ascend. The damage he will wreak will be catastrophic. It needs to end here and now.”

I can’t help the smile that comes to me. My vicious love has learned to be selfless. I hold her hands tighter, my skin rippling with that blue light again. “No, my heart. We will stop him.”

“You can still escape, Valen. It might be too late to save me, but it’s not for you. I can hold Alasdair off while you return to your body.” Tears well in her eyes. “Please, Valen. I don’t think I could survive losing you.”

My heart pulses, and I lean forward until our foreheads touch, our joined hands pressed together between our chests. “I will never abandon you again. If you’re staying, then I’m staying, and we’ll destroy him together.”

Her tears spill, and I kiss each one with a smile, my nose brushing hers. “If we get out of this, the three of us will start over. You, me, Lucas. I swear.”

Tori leans into me. “You mean when we get out of this. I love you, Valen.”

“I love you, too.”