Could I beat Fenix now?
Can I get the others free? Can we escape?
“Selina?” I check, my conscience also returning, wanting to see if she’s still got her power. Up until now, it’s always been temporary if I drain someone. Even with Crimson in the torture ring, she’d have her power the next day. I absorbed it. I didn’t take it.
Selina is on her knees, leaning against a craggy rock before the drop to the sea below. Her hands are cradling something in front of her. As I step closer, I see she’s mumbling to herself, talking over and over.
“Are you okay?” I push the reluctant words from my lips. “I’m sorry. I… didn’t know I could do that, but…”
“You used it. You used my magic. My power.” Her mumbling grows louder, more bereft. “The Usher said I was special. I was the first he broke the curse with, and then you come along and take it!” Her words snap at me.
Words clog my throat. Angry words, resentful words that I want to throw at her and grind her into the dirt with.
But I swallow, choosing to be better, and breathe through the urge. Kyra would be proud, although she’d also tell Selina where to go.
The thought of my friend seeing what I just did sends an icy chill through my veins, threatening to freeze any new magic inside of me.
“I want to leave,” I state.
The Usher just nods, and my brother flanks him. Neither of them lends a hand nor worries about Selina, as if she were of no importance to them any longer. Discarded.
“Hey! Don’t just leave her like that!” I shout. But they keep on walking. “Listen to me.” In a rash move, I lunge for the Usher, grabbing his arm. As my hand grips his, my fingers touch the crepey skin of his arm.
A rush of power bolts through me, and in that second, I know we have a connection. I shove my walls and mental shields up, but attack his, barrelling forward with one singular intent as the strength in my hand intensifies.
I expect to see a similar vision to Fenix’s—the dominance of power over Kirrasia and Estereah, of finding their rightful place to rule over the Orders who have dictated the way of things and interpreted Aslendrix for so many years.
But I don’t.
He doesn’t just want to rule over Kirrasia. He wants to take control of everything. Aslendrix and Novandia combined.
He wants to be worshipped as they are—as a God—a deity. For the world to grovel at his feet. And he thinks he has the key to destroying not just the curse between the sibling gods, but each of them in turn.
An image of the Transference Stone appears in my mind, the darkness and mist pulling back to reveal it. Flashes of people, all going through their ceremony. Where drops of power over hundreds of years have bled and filtered into the stone.
I remember when Ten took me there. That ancient, dark presence that I felt. The terror and fear that conjured inside of me the moment I touched the stone. The menace of it.
He wants to break the stone and take the power that’s amassed for himself, use the power of Novandia to unleash it,and consume everything and everyone in his way to becoming the ultimate god.
It takes everything in me not to react. To keep my face masked in anger that he would leave Selina on the ground and not show my hand.
If he knows I’ve seen his intentions, there’s no telling what he might do.
“Well?” I bark and turn to look at Selina, holding onto the dread that’s swarming inside me.
He lowers his head to where I have a hold of his arm, so I release my grip and take a needed step back.
Under his hooded cloak, his eyes stare through me, as if he’s testing me, looking for the lie as if it were brazenly written across my face in blood, so I hold my breath, hoping he can’t hear my stammering heartbeat.
“Fenix, help Selina,” he commands, but doesn’t take his eyes from mine.
“Thank you.” Finally, I turn away, easing the breath from my lungs.
I have to stop him. He’s manipulated everyone. This isn’t about Fenix, or revenge on the Orders, or their power struggles anymore. He doesn’t want to support Fenix’s vision and belief. This is all about him.
If what I just did isn’t a show of strength, I don’t know what is. And I’m out of time.
We need to get back to Kirrasia and warn them.
