“Yes,Isaw the day you tried to take your own life.”Shewas shaking, but it wasn’t with rage.Ireached out for her, but she slapped my hand away.
“Youmust thinkI’mpathetic.Somewoeful excuse for a fae.”
“Tori,Ihave thought you are many things, abrasive, reckless, demanding—”Shetwisted her face for just a moment, but it dropped away back into that deep sadnessIcouldn’t stand. “Fearless, but also caring, devoted to your people, clever, and strong.Somuch stronger thanIthink you realize.ButIhave never once thought of you as pathetic.”
“Stopit.”Hereyes welled with tears, but she didn’t try to hide them from me. “Please, just stop.”Sheshifted her feet away, andIknew she was going to run again.Igrabbed her uninjured arm,
“Comewith me.Ihave something to show you.”Shetried to pull away, butIwouldn’t let her, not yet. “I’msorry, my little bird, but this one last time, you don’t have a choice.”
Chapter49
Tori
Wedescended down the steep stairs that seemed to spiral into an endless pit.Thewalls grew damp with condensation.Atfirst,Ithought he was leading me to the dungeon, but these stairs were too deep and too narrow.Wecontinued to descend until my legs shook and my arm began to ache at the shoulder from supporting it.Ireached out my opposite hand, clinging to my forearm, trying to relieve the strain.Heturned back to me and observed my discomfort.
“Weare almost there.”
Whatfelt likenot-almost-therestairs later, a faint light seemed to grow below us.Itwas an eerie pale blue, soft and harsh at the same time.Wereached the bottom of the stairs, and instead of a doorway, a great gash in the wall led into the next room.Oncloser inspection,Isaw that the wall was actually a giant slab of rock and the gash a great crack that allowed us to pass through.
Onthe other side, that eerie light grew, andIlet my eyes adjust.Wesat in a small cave where thin stalactites clung to the ceiling and stalagmites grew opposite them on the ground.Icould hear the faint trickle of water from all around us, and it seemed to all flow into a shallow pool at the center of the space.Thepool was about the size of a large table and only a few inches deep.Butthe water glowed that ethereal blue, lighting the cave that otherwise had no cracks to the outside.
Strangely, the cave was filled with vines and flowering plants that had no right to grow in a place without any sunlight.Overthe water danced small whirls of light thatIthought might be fireflies, but they dove in and out of the surface of the water with ease.Somethingabout this place felt familiar, like an old friend.
“Wispspirits,”Abraxasstood close to me, asIleaned over the pool, “they are attracted to the wild magic here.”Ispun to face him.
“Wildmagic?Ithought it had all vanished.”
Asmile with no kindness crossed his face, “Itis almost amusing how quickly people have forgotten what magic feels like, but it still exists all around us.Youfelt it atLupercalia, didn’t you?Somethinggreater than ourselves.Theembers of magic still linger in this land, hidden and dormant.Itis not common for it to exist in such a concentrated form as this.Infact,Ihave only seen one other place like this in my life…”Hetrailed off, butIwas thinking back toLupercalia, the festival, how the death of the stag had caused a tidal wave of energy through the crowd.
“Deathis the beginning,”Iwhispered.
Helooked at me with pride in his eyes, “Yes, death is a great catalyst for magic.Oneof the reasons so many great beasts were hunted down was for the release of magic at their death.Onedeath could bring a bounty of life for an entire kingdom.Butthe cost is often far greater, for life and death go hand in hand.”
Ithought of the drought in thePearlKingdom, and the crop failures all across the continent.Withno more beasts to slay, the magic of the world had dried up.Butsomehow, that explanation had never made much sense to me.Magichad existed since before there were fae and man to slaughter the beasts.Whywas it gone now?
“Ifmagic still exists, why can so few use it?”
“Magicis dying, make no doubt of that.WhenIwas young, almost every fae could wield it to some degree, even some humans.Butmagic is an exchange of energy with the world, and it seems that our world no longer wants to trade.”
“Butit trades with you.I’veseen you use it,” he wouldn’t look at me then. “Youused it to save me inNiata.”
Hefinally turned to me, “Yes,Ican.Andyes,Idid.I’vealways had an affinity for the air, among other things,” he raised his hand, andImarveled as a small flash of bright green fire hovered over his fingers.
“So,Ididn’t imagine it?”
“No.Iconjured those mists that allowed us to invadeNiataas well.”Shamefilled his voice.
“Howhave you hidden this fromHadeon?”Iasked, barely a whisper.
“Oh,Ihaven’t.Heknows.Hemanaged to kill most of the remaining magic users in the war, but there are a few of us in his control that he allows to live.Ourmagics are useful to him.”Hisvoice was laced with bitterness.
“Hehas imprisoned you as well.”Hetoyed with the flames in his hand for a moment longer before it flickered out of existence.
“Notso directly as he has your brother, but the magic thatIhave now is but a shadow of the powerIonce had.Itgrows weaker every passing year, whereas his only grows stronger.”
“Iwouldn’t have believed you would allow yourself to be controlled like that?”
Hebarked a dark laugh then, one that sent me back to that manIhad met inNiataso long ago. “Ifyou had asked me before all of this,Iwould have told youIwould rather die than be in this position.”
