She stumbled again, and Fyn held her steady. “It won’t just take your magic.”
Lioran gripped my arms, bracing me as we heard the news together.
“Don’t say it.” Lioran’s words fell flat even in anger.
The weight of the onyx bore down on me, its chill running into my veins.
“I’m sorry, had I known—I would never have said anything at all.”
Even without her words, I knew. Fyn’s eyes watered. Lioran’s grip on me tightened.
Cora reached for me. “It’s all my fault. I thought it would just take your magic, but you...”
“I won’t survive it,” I said.
Cora held a desperate silence.
The onyx ran ice cold on my chest; I attempted to warm it with my fingers—wanted to feel its lull, but it wasn’t there. The air pulled from my lungs. They constricted with what littleremained. My choice didn’t give me a future of my own—I had bargained my life, so that everyone I loved would live.
“There has to be a way around this.” Lioran stiffened behind me, his arms wrapped around me, holding me upright.
“Lioran.” Fyn’s hand set on Lioran’s arm.
“I will find a way…” He rocked me in his arms. “I can’t lose you.”
I gasped for air, until my eyelids fell heavy—life slowly being drained from me.
“Aelira, you need to breathe.” Cora’s words pierced through her muffled sobs. I couldn’t…I pulled at Lioran, desperate.
“Leave us.” Lioran’s tears soaked my hair. “Leave!” he yelled.
“She needs…” Cora reached for him, but pulled back.
He lowered me to the floor. “Aelira, I’ve got you…breathe. Breathe with me.” Lioran inhaled and exhaled loudly. I mirrored each breath until the room stopped spinning around us.
“Just breathe.” I was desperate for the hope he offered.
Lioran remained with me. I stopped shaking in his arms. Our time here was stolen, but soon, we would be together in a way the High Court could not control.
The glaring truth haunted me. I gripped the leather book, trailed the familiar embossed flowers. I hadn’t stopped to speak with my father since we arrived.
My mind was too cluttered with the decision to be made. It was one that only I could make. I didn’t want him, or anyone else to tell me what to do. But since I made the bargain, everything had shifted. I needed him.
“I am here at the High Court. I need to find you.”
I am not at the High Court.
Someday we will be together again, but the time is not now.
The words fell heavy on me. “I made a bargain…to heal the land.” The words barely escaped my lips. “Cora had a vision. I didn’t survive it.”
Your magic is strong, stronger than you imagine.
No one can know what will happen.
“I’m scared.” I said it out loud for the first time.
It is normal to fear what you do not know.
