I stared at him, my gaze unfaltering as I waited for him to break.
“Fine. But you need to tell me why.”
“There's no time, my star. Soon the castle will fall. You can stop this.”
“I’ll tell you after, now please!” I pleaded, reaching out for the statue. I used all of my strength to try and push it down, but it was too heavy. Constellastone was not a light mineral.
“King Hawthorne is going to kill me,” Kohen groaned, stepping forward. “Back up.”
He closed his eyes, tapping into his power and forcing the wind surrounding us to increase. Granted to him by the God of Weather, Zenith, Kohen's onyx jewel flashed as he created a damn tornado right before him. The force of the gust threatened to knock me down. I backed up further to avoid toppling over as his power built the windstorm up higher and higher, until it was taller than the statue itself.
Kohen looked back at me, his arms shaking from the extent of the power he held onto. “Are you sure about this?”
I nodded, brushing my hair out of my eyes.
Kohen clenched his jaw, then turned from me and released the full magnitude of his power.
The tornado collided with the statue, knocking it to the ground, where it shattered into a million glittering pieces of crystal. I had doubted the statue's integrity, but as the shards spread out over the courtyard, it was clear that the sparkling pieces were in fact the most sought after jewel in the world.
The final blow of wind shoved us both to the ground. We stayed down, watching the timeless figurine be destroyed right in front of us, and for the first time in hours, the voice that'd been filling my mind, quieted.
Once the dust had settled, Kohen rose to his feet. “Sooo…What was the purpose of that?”
Ignoring him, I stayed down, waiting for something to happen. Shouldn'tsomethinghave happened? My hand found my neck, checking my pulse just to be sure. It was still there, pounding away.
“What the fuck?”
Kohen looked down at me, his eyes tired and heavy. “Care to explain why I just put myself on Hawthorne’s shit list?”
My lips turned down and I gave him a half shrug as I attempted to pull myself to my feet. “I thought for sure that was the answer—” My knees broke down from the pressure, and I collapsed, my head throbbing with the familiar ache granted to me when I overused my power.
“Woah,” I hummed, holding a hand to my head and trying to recenter my sense of gravity.
Kohen crouched down before me. “What's wrong? You good?”
“Yeah. I don't know what happened.”
He grabbed my arm, pulling me to my feet. He held me steady for a moment, but when he let go, the same thing happened. My vision faltered and my knees hit the ground with such force that it sent a shock through my nervous system. I rolled back, sitting on my behind and blinking my vision back.
I hardly used my magic, so why did I feel like I just compelled an entire army?
“My star…”
My head snapped up. I looked in every direction, searching for the goddess who should have no longer been able to contact me. My eyes caught on Kohen, whose face clearly conveyed his concern.
“Did you hear that?” he asked, and I nodded a yes.
The wind picked back up, and this time it was not Kohen's doing. As the speed intensified, the shards of crystal covering the courtyard danced along the ground. They shimmered in the glare of the starlight and pulled to each other like magnets, sticking together and building up off of the patio into a mass.
My mouth went slack as a body manifested from the grains of scattered gemstones. They glued themselves together with magic, first creating two legs, then a torso, continuing until the courtyard was cleared of debris, and a glimmering goddess stood tall before us.
We were so small and fragile compared to her magnificent figure. Her skin twinkled with light, so bright and sparkling that she looked as though she had pure starlight emitting from her skin. Her hair was the color of ice and swirled down past her waist, ending in a softcurl. She looked just as her statue did, exceptreal.Exquisite.
Blythe’s silver eyes locked onto me. “So nice to finally meet you in the flesh.” Her voice hummed as she addressed me and offered me a dazzling grin.
I couldn't speak.
The goddess turned to Kohen, whose blank expression proved him to be just as dumbfounded as me. “Thank you for your help in freeing me. Go collect your loved ones—anyone who you don’t wish death upon—then return here with them.”
