“No. I’m not going to be the referee to your squabbling.” A rush of anger flares the power inside my body, stoking the heat that is fighting to overthrow my control.
“That is not your choice. You are a Fifth. Your mother. Your father. Every Fifth that’s ever been has the potential, and your time has come. You are my warrior in this fight.”
“You didn’t tell me that. You said you wouldn’t let this happen.” The power that flows in me awakens to my emotion, drawing its energy from the pain that swims around me, building and readying to aim. And suddenly I’m the one raining my ire at Aslendrix.
But all I seem to do is pull thick clouds of darkness, the same as what arose from the Transference Stone, all around me.
“I have no intention of freeing my brother from my curse, or to let my magic be used to bring me down.” Her words are sure. Filled with wisdom.
“All of that faith, sister, in one small person.” A menacing voice thunders around me, cracking the darkness and shining a sliver of gold, sparkly and bright. It dissolves the very essence of Aslendrix as he speaks. “She will succumb, and then what?”
Novandia.
It’s Novandia’s voice. He spoke to me before.
They both tug and pull, their powers refusing to mix, just like within my brother and me. Streams of power are flowing erratically around me.
“Then she will bring forth our mutual destruction, for you chose a selfish and arrogant man with a need for power at his heart. That will never win, Novandia. Have I taught you nothing over these centuries?”
Their bickering pitches back and forth, threatening to break me open and crack the very heart of me until there’s nothing but blood and dust left.
As they do, my tolerance of the pain and the menace that traps me draws closer. So close, I can reach it, feel it over my skin, and it calls for me to give in. To take it. To give myself freely to the magic. No more fighting. No more pain. No questions, no confusion. It’s so tempting. I’d learn of every scrap of information that was ever held against me. I’d save Ten in every conceivable future with no fear over what he may have to suffer because of me. I’d hold power over all.
I could let go.
And give in to the dark.
It’s my choice. It’s within my power.
The threads of my very soul are being unwound and severed every second I stay in this place—this limbo—trapped in the dark, amongst the stars. Amongst the gods.
“Hold on, Ever.”Ten! Ten’s voice.
Through the darkness, it jolts me, pulling me back from the edge. I open my eyes, but I cannot see. However, I don’t need to. I can feel him all around me. He’s the tether I need, and I grasp hold and concentrate on him. On the love I know he has for me.
He’s still fighting for me.
He’s always fought for me, and I want to fight for him. For us.
For Calix, who lost his sister, for Lyle, for Kyra, for Crimson, and even for Micah.
Not for Aslendrix, and not for Novandia.
If Novandia can put his power and faith in a person like the Usher, then he doesn’t deserve any scrap of control or power.
Aslendrix, at least, has only ever strived for balance. For peace.
She entrusted me with this—her burden of power.
Maybe it’s time I believe in that, even if there were consequences last time.
I let myself get lost in the magic.
Her power shouldn’t be what we war over. She gave us, her people, her magic. We’ve brought it to this.
That is not the Gods’ war. It’s ours—the Orders.
“Come back to us, Ever. Come back to me.”
