And that was his punishment for keeping Scotlind’s second ability a secret… If he knew she was harboring information about the prophecy, if I had told her everything and he found out… I shuddered. I didn’t care what he’d do to me, but if he hurt her… There wouldn’t be anything left of her after he was done, and I knew he would only keep me alive long enough to watch it.
“We’re here,” Sav shouted over the roar of the ocean, forcing me back into the moment. We were long off the mountain pass,but the area wasn’t any less forgiving. It took half a day trekking through semi flat terrain before we could smell the salty spray of the ocean. Miles of icy, large boulders separated us from the water, forcing us to climb them.
By the time we made it to the water, a storm was coming in. The clouds darkened, and the tide rose to our right. The more we climbed, the worse it got. The waves started spanning high above our heads, reaching the height of the boulders, threatening to join us with the sea.
The only thing that saved us was Dovelyn’s constant shield, blocking the brunt of the water, and Scottie using her powers to slow it down. After an hour, water started seeping past her shield, gently spraying us, making us decide we’d risk having a fire if it meant warmth. We were all too exhausted and too cold to care. I had tightly bound balls of flames following everyone, but it did nothing to squelch the chill. Hours later, I was starting to feel my own powers drain from reforming the flames every time the water wiped them out.
Snow was whipping into us from the wind, mixing with our already drenched clothes. It left the ground slippery, making it impossible not to fall on the rocks. I had no idea how Savannah made this trek alone or why.
I looked up at where she stopped ahead of me. Her hood was down with her short lavender hair falling out of her braids and blowing all over the place. She turned to face me. “It’s over there.” Multiple strands of her wet lavender locks were stuck to her chin as she tried—and failed—to wipe them away with one hand while pointing with her other. The boulders cleared ahead of us and turned into a large clearing about fifty feet past the ocean. There was one singular stone positioned directly in the center of the snow—no. Not a stone, a makeshift tomb.
My gut fell through me. I couldn’t breathe.MaryLynn N.was splattered over the stone in a red smear that resembled blood. Which would have been impossible for it to remain after allthese decades, except I could smell the magic holding the prophecy within.
My mother’s abilities were unique, like Dovelyn’s, they were one of a kind. Her powers allowed her to create blood seals. I remembered the King dragging her to parts of the castle and forcing her to use her gifts for him when she was still alive.
She could create barriers and seals, blocking entrances to anything or anyone. When we were little, she did the same to our private rooms back when we all shared quarters. It was our only sanctuary in the castle, the only time we ever got to feel like a family without the King’s looming presence.
No one fully understood what she was capable of, but I knew with certainty I was looking at the last remnants of her power.
Everyone started walking toward her grave, but I stood there, still as the stone before me. I was frozen. The waves were beginning to crash over me as Dovelyn got further away, but I still couldn’t move. Guilt was riddling and festering inside me. My mother died for this. She believed in it enough to end her life so I never saw what she took to the grave.
Scottie came up beside me and only then did I realize I was still standing on the rock. She was pushing back the waves as best as she could. A pallor had filled her sun-kissed skin, and I knew that she had sweat mixed with the water that was splashed all over her. She was struggling against the ocean, yet she didn’t tell me to move.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly.
I shook my head. I couldn’t speak. My emotions were stirring at the surface, emotions I’d been pushing down for nearly a century. But one thought kept outweighing the others. If we open the tomb, my mother’s death would have been for nothing. If we went through with this, I was cursing her.
At the same time, I couldn’t fathomnotopening it. One life wasn’t worth the chance of saving countless others. Dovelyn confessed shortly after our mother killed herself that shebelieved she was trying to protect me from my fate—she thought I was going to die. But if this prophecy meant I had to give up my life, I would do it. I couldn’tnotsave innocent Advenians just because my mother didn’t want me to. I couldn’tnotgo through with this even if I was going against her. Because if the King wins, the life keeping me grounded on this slippery rock would be lost with it. I wasn’t willing to lose this war over my feelings, but more than anything, I wasn’t willing to loseher.
“You aren’t cursing her,” Scotlind said softly. “Your mother loved you and that won’t change. Regardless of your actions today, it doesn’t take away the love she had for you.”
I looked at her in shock. Her eyes were just as wide as mine, a deep sapphire blue matching the ocean at our backs.
I hadn’t realized I said the words out loud. I swallowed hard and a lump stirred in my throat. My lips were cracked and dry, and my tongue felt like sandpaper. That’s when I noticed her hand. She had grabbed mine. Our hands were clasped over our scabs, and I realized, somehow, she had gotten into my mind, or I got into hers.
She withdrew her hand quickly, maybe realizing the same thing. “We should go.”
I took one shuddering breath before I started making my way toward the grave. I was staring at my feet, too much of a coward to look at Dovelyn right now—if she was crying, I might give in to her.
I had to remind myself this was what I wanted, even if I was hurting my family in the process.
I wanted the chance at freedom. I wanted to destroy the King. I wanted Scotlind to live in a world without anyone hunting her down. I wanted to spare my siblings from their father’s rage. I wanted to save my own people from his brutality and control. I wanted to save the humans before he tried to take over them too.
I knew in my bones this was the right decision. I just wish Icould’ve gone back a century and saved my mother too. If I could have prevented her from killing herself, if I could have done more… After all these years, the ache I felt with her absence still destroyed me. It killed Arcane and Dovelyn too. Our mother was all the good things in this world. She was the one person who showed us love, who took on the brunt of the King’s rage to spare us. Every day I wished she was still with us—
I staggered back into Scottie, not registering what had happened until I felt the sting on my cheek the next second. Sie’s dark eyes were honed in on me. He was about to throw a second punch when Scottie stepped out from behind me and jumped. They toppled to the ground, their bodies entwining into a tangle of limbs. A loud crack sounded as Sie’s head slammed into the tomb, his blood spilling onto the rock.
“What the hell are you doing?” Scottie seethed, her breathing ragged, and hearing her voice broke me out of my trance. I pulled her off of Sie and shoved her behind me, not wanting to wait to see how he would react.
“It’s one thing to pick him over me,” he spat, his eyes narrowed on us. He still hadn’t moved from the ground. “And it’s another to flaunt it in front of everyone.”
Scottie huffed, her chest rising and falling in anger as I kept her pulled back. “I’m not flaunting anything. Can’t you see—”
“Not trying to break up this lover’s quarrel,” Savannah interjected, “but this storm is only getting worse, and I’m freezing my bum off. And seeing as we’re stuck here until we figure out how to open the rock, we need to get started.”
Scottie stared at Sie for another long second before she nodded and stepped out of my grip.
Savannah stepped up to the Dark Prince, extending a hand. He stared at her for a moment before accepting it. “You alright?”
