“I’ll be back for you later. Cora, Lioran has specifically requested you do not exhaust her.” He smirked.
Cora let out a little snort but didn’t promise not to. Fyn slid out the door, leaving the two of us alone together.
“What if I can’t control it?” I blurted. My nerves were ripping through me.
“You will figure it out—you’ve only just discovered it.” She set the teacup down on a small table. “Would you like some?”
“No, thank you.”
“Lioran said you made flowers sprout and bloom in Evyn. Can you try to use magic on this flower?” Cora removed a tightly furled bloom from the vase on the table. “Ask it to open up.”
I recalled the blooms in my mother’s garden, the flowers in Evyn and wished the bud would open—nothing happened. Itilted the stem of the yellow rose, my fingers gliding over the severed edge. Everything that responded to me—the flowers, the land, were all still connected.
“This flower is no longer a part of the land. It was cut to fill your vase,” I said.
“Let’s go outside then.” Cora led me through the trails further into the Heart of Lythira.
I didn’t know if I would be able to make anything happen at all.
“Try again.” She gestured to another yellow rose; its roots still embedded in the soil at the bottom of the stairs. I knelt beside the bloom, and with my hands cupped around it, I asked it to bloom. Silence greeted me.
Cora’s face was guarded.
She pointed to a different bloom and grazed her hand across it. “Magic doesn’t always work the first time we ask.”
The ground rumbled, fire pulsed through my veins into my fingertips—then it all disappeared. My thoughts returned to Evyn and the small patch of land I almost destroyed.
Cora tilted her head as she monitored me.
“Give yourself grace.” She crouched beside me, and her voice grew softer. “The journey is not always direct. There may be times when you can’t feel it at all.”
“Do you even know what it’s like? To be thrust into a different world and not know what any of it means?” I shook my head, sending my waves tumbling around my face.
“I used to have glances of visions of the future—fragmented bits that left out major parts of the story. I would tell my father to be helpful, but I would miss the details that mattered most.” Cora clasped her hands together. “I worried no one would ever believe me. My father gave me grace when I didn’t give it to myself. And now, I will give you grace when you wont give it to yourself, Aelira.”
My shoulders bobbed. “I don’t know how to show myself grace. The King of Bailoc…” As I spoke, I remembered glimmers of his gentle spirit when he spoke to Ashlyn. He beamed with pride whenever he looked at Agan. He never granted me those moments. “Never wanted me there.”
“Let’s take a break.” Cora’s hand wrapped around mine. She tugged, lifting me to stand beside her. “Maybe we can go get a cup of tea.”
In silence, we strode down the crooked stones that lined the path along the water’s edge. Across a thin bridge there was a sliver of land, and on it stood a willow tree. Without hesitation, I split from her and followed the bridge to the tree—it reminded me so much of my mother. It reminded me of home.
The willow’s branches danced on the wind. I lifted my hand to catch a branch as it grazed my shoulder. The onyx grew warmer.
My fingers trailed the willow’s leaves until golden light trailed the veins. The branches extended, shifting my hand with them. I knelt beside the tree, the cool soil settled beneath my fingertips.
A hum radiated from it, cascading through my body in gentle vibrations. Green stems sprouted from the soil, raising my hands from the ground—shimmering light trailed with it. The light glimmered in the sunlight a haze of gold shifting to shimmering white as the sun’s beams shone on it.
Perfume wafted toward me. Petals unfurled, tickling my palms as the vibrations of the land rolled through me. A rainbow of color bloomed. My nose wrinkled as the smell of each combined. It was overpowering and messy.
The display felt like me.
“Lioran was right.” Cora ran her palm over the tips of the new blooms.
I grew tired and leaned back into the tree.
“My magic is like his.” I spoke the words, not even sure what they meant.
“He told you then—I wasn’t sure if he would.” She hesitated, still trailing the flowers beneath her fingertips. “Magic is a blessing from the stars—it’s a rare thing for the stars to gift such a gift twice. Before we met you, it was assumed Lioran was the only one with the power to restore. Time will show how yours manifests. You both have grounding magic, but you are not the same.”
