Chaos sizzled in the air, an uncomfortable ache in my bones that jolted me from sleep with a gasp. For a long moment, I stared wide-eyed into the darkness of the bedroom. The growl of thunder guided my gaze to the window. Night had fallen. I must have slept through the entire day after my collapse.
Each bolt of lightning made my body tense involuntarily, the release of magic tugging at me with an almost overwhelming force. Curse it! I had hoped this wouldn’t happen anytime soon. Even without my powers, Chaos continued to haunt me, a bitter reminder of my loss. My weak mortal body could no longer control the power raging in the storm outside.
I had learned that lesson the hard way. After Aramaz had dropped me off following my punishment, I had holed up in Isterath, a small town in the Kingdom of Mekat, seeking shelter in an unremarkable inn and spending the money my brother had given me. I quickly discovered that alcohol was the easiest way to numb the crushing loss and impotent rage that pulsed inside me. Most of that time was lost in a haze of being roaring drunk.
When I had sensed the force of Chaos in the air one night, I dashed outside like a lunatic, hoping to reclaim what had been taken from me. It nearly got me killed. The untamed magic called for me, but I couldn’t harness its power. It burned through my veins like wildfire, slipping through my fingers again and again. I survived only by sheer luck after falling into a small brook on the outskirts of the city, the cold water clearing my senses.
After that incident, I stayed far away from any eruption of Chaos or dulled my senses with drinking until the pain passed. Neither of those were an option tonight.
I groaned as lightning struck with increasing frequency, my body convulsing. Everything inside me screamed to go outside, to give myself over to the magic, to revel in its power for one glorious moment, even if it devoured me afterward. Desperate, I clasped the wooden headboard above me with one hand.Lyr, why was I so terribly weak?
“Is everything alright?”
Lost in my misery, I barely noticed Baradaz entering the room.
“I thought I would check on you, since the storm is quite bad and…” A gasp above me, and then a warm hand on my forehead. “What is wrong? You’re shivering.” I noticed a hint of concern in her voice as she carefully placed the blankets I had tossed aside back on top of me.
“Chaos magic,” I forced out, my vision blurring as I tried to focus on her. Her figure was a flash of red and white, a bright beacon in the storm of my mind. “It pulls on me… and the need for it…Lyr!” Another seizure ripped through my body, my muscles convulsing uncontrollably.
“A side effect of using Chaos magic for so long?” she asked, her voice devoid of compassion despite her firm grip on my hand. “What do you normally do when this happens? I assume you have a way to deal with it, otherwise people would have realized long ago that you have a connection to Chaos.”
I shook my head, trying to clear the fog from my thoughts. “Distract myself,” I muttered, a rough chuckle escaping me. “You could bring me some of that vile moonshine. That would help.”
Seeing that I could sit up, Baradaz withdrew her hand from my grasp. “I am not helping you replace one addiction with another,” she commented, moving to the window. “For what it’s worth, the worst of the storm has passed. It should get better soon.”
I glared at her, annoyed at the prospect of enduring this torment for several more hours. Would it really kill her to allow me a few sips of booze? But then, she probably thought I deserved the discomfort.
“Spare me your self-righteous condescension,” I growled. “I am well aware—”
“Quiet!” Baradaz interrupted, her gaze fixed on the storm outside. Her voice remained eerily calm as she said, “There is someone lurking at the barn.”
“What?” Alarm raged through me so violently, I instantly forgot about my predicament.
“Stay here.” Before I could say anything more, she had hurried toward the door.
“Are you out of your mind? You can’t go out there alone,” Iexclaimed, making her pause in the doorway. “You don’t even know who or what is waiting for you.”
“I haven’t needed your help in the last few years, and I won’t need it now,” Baradaz retorted. “There was Chaos magic around them. So, there are two possibilities: this is one of your crazed followers trying to find his fallen god. Or it is whoever tried to kill you, here to finish what they started. Either way, I don’t trust you at my back.”
She left, likely to fetch her spear. My irritation turned to worry. While she had the power of a goddess and could easily handle most enemies, she was also the most stubborn creature in existence. I wouldn’t put it past her to refrain from using her magic to keep her location secret from the Ten—a decision that could prove fatal if the person waiting for her outside was who I feared it to be. Some things could hurt even the Aurea.
Curse me to the deepest part of the Abyss. I had brought terrible danger to her doorstep.
Ignoring the excruciating pain that tore through my body, I forced myself out of bed and limped toward the door.
CHAPTER
9
Rada
Ihad to stop doing this.
Shaking my head to clear my vision in the pouring rain, I clutched my spear tighter. I had not dared to grab another weapon, fearing that whoever was lurking outside would catch me inside the house. A magic wielder had the advantage in close combat, their powers devastating. In the open, I could dodge any attack. And—I touched my pocket, reassured by the presence of thelyr-stone I had quickly retrieved from its hiding place—going outside might prevent me from burning the entire house down if I had to resort to using Fire magic.
My heart raced as I kept to the shadows, drawing closer to the barn entrance. Frustrated anger welled up inside me. This was all Noctis’s fault. I was quite sure this was whoever had tried to kill him.
Though my irritation was directed more at myself than at my unwelcome guest. Here I was, sneaking through the dark to protect the life of the man I had every reason to wish dead. Would I honestly never learn?
