The witch gawked at him before closing the opening. The witch looked at the others gathered in the room, but none of them acknowledged the dread in the woman’s eyes.
“When we’re ready, and when your daughter is better, we’ll come for you,” Cole said to the witch. “And we’ll go through together.”
He could open a portal into the witch’s new realm now, but it would be better if one of their own did so. If he opened a portal into this new realm, it might cause distrust amongst the witches, and they needed their help too much to risk that happening.
He turned his attention to the others. “We’re going to clean up. Someone stay here in case Kaylia comes back. Until then, don’t let anyone else know we’ve returned.”
“We won’t,” Maverick promised.
Cole turned Lexi away from the others and led her out of the room.
CHAPTERFORTY-FIVE
“I don’t understand what happened,”Lexi said. “Elfie said the arach could heal, but she said my grandmother used a spell. I don’t know any spells, and I certainly didn’t perform any.”
She held her hands up from beneath the blanket and studied her bloody palms as she recalled the warmth flooding her system and filling her fingers.
“But I felt something,” she whispered. “I wanted so badly to heal her, and then something broke. I don’t know if the dragon’s flames unlocked something, the last of Sahira’s potion finally wore off, or maybe whatever walls I was subconsciously keeping erected finally fell.
“I’ve been hit by dragon fire before, but this was more intense. The power inside me changed into something else. I’m still not sure how to use that power, but I didn’t say a spell.”
“Maybe Elfie lied about what she saw your grandmother do,” Cole said.
“I didn’t take her for a liar, did you?”
“No. That is one thing the light fae aren’t known to be, but maybe the arach lied to her.”
“How could my grandmother lie while performing a spell?” Lexi asked.
“The spell could have been for show. We know the arach were notoriously secretive about their powers; your grandmother might have trusted Elfie enough to let her see the arach could heal in such a way, but that doesn’t mean she trusted her enough to see she could heal without a spell.
“Your grandmother needed to save her daughter’s life, her only choice was to heal her in front of Elfie, but she still could have kept the depth of her true ability hidden. Considering what you just did, that’s a pretty good possibility.”
“I saved a little girl’s life,” Lexi breathed.
With the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, she turned her hands over to study them. Not so long ago, she believed she was powerless. She couldn’t even open a portal; now, she’d breathed life into a dying child.
The urge to weep from the sheer wonder of it all while also crying over the burden it could become hit her. Feeling as if a crushing weight pressed on her shoulders, she dropped her hands as she trudged beside Cole.
She couldn’t save everyone; even immortals had to go through the ebb and flow of life and death. There would be far too many of them otherwise, but…
“How do I decide who to save and who not to? How can I let anyone die if there’s something I can do to save them? And if I do save them, would I mess up the natural order of things?” she whispered. “And what about humans? How do I let them die if I can prevent it?”
“Let’s leave those philosophical debates for another time, when we’re not at war and we’ve had time to learn more about what you can do. But I think you’ll know who to help and who not to when the time for such things comes. You’ll never be able to save everyone, so don’t worry about messing up any natural order.”
Of course, he was right, but she still couldn’t shake the nagging doubts and questions running rampant through her mind. This was a burden she wasn’t sure she could bear. But, for now, she would only look at the good of her newfound ability.
“I saved a child,” she breathed. “I felt her blood pulsing against my hands and her heart slowing as those flames enveloped us.”
“You saved a child, you’re growing into yourself, and you will learn more and get better with every passing day. The arach might not be around to teach you how to use your abilities, but you’re breaking through them on your own. The more you tap into them, the stronger they’ll become, and the more you’ll learn how to control them.”
“What if I can’t handle it?”
“Do you think you can handle it?”
Lexi pondered this before replying. “Yes.”
It surprised her how much she believed this to be true. She had her doubts as she fumbled through all this, and probably would for a long time, but shewouldhandle it. She would learn and grow and master every new thing she could.
