Page 65 of A Kingdom of Magic and Rain

Celestina rose from her throne with a triumphant smile as she watched everything unfolding from atop the dais.

“Let me take you away. Please,” Adrian whispered next to my ear.

He sounded desperate, but not as desperate as I was. Desperate to do something, anything. But I was helpless. Weak.

Trembling in his arms, I watched in horror as the silver patterns on Sorin’s forearm snaked down his hand, which was still wrapped around my father’s fist. The air was sucked out of the throne room as the Fae king’s magic spilled into the space. The silver trails jumped onto my father’s hand, lighting up his veins. They slithered down his arm, disappearing under his sleeve, and a second later, a sound tore from him—a sound that would haunt me until the end of my days.

“Are you watching, Princess?” Sorin turned his head to look at me. Silver glow pulsed in his eyes, matching the rhythm of his crown. I barely heard him, his words drowned out by my father’s screams. “I am going to boil the blood in his veins.”

The ground went out from under my feet, and it took me a second to realize that was because Adrian was carrying me away. Sorin turned back to my father as the vines of silver crawled up my father’s neck to his face.

“Any moment now,” the Fae king drawled, “your death will be the beginning of a new era. An era where Emeraldia is no more.”

My insides felt like they were in shreds, raw and bleeding as Adrian dragged me away. I was nothing but desperation in that moment. I would give anything to stop my father’s death, the death of my kingdom. I would do anything.

The next thing happened too fast, but also as if in slow motion. With a shrill scream, I lunged forward, thrusting my arms out as if to reach for my father. An orb made of grief, desolation, and heartbreak exploded out of me, hurtling toward the Fae king. Sorin jerked his head in my direction as his eyes widened in shock. He froze for a moment—a moment that seemed to last an eternity as I felt suspended in the air, still lunging at him. The silver glow in his eyes pulsed once, twice, before it went out.

He collapsed, and with Adrian’s arms no longer around me, I also dropped to the ground. The king and I hit the floor at the same time, his crown connecting with the stone with a loud clank. Prostrate, I lifted my head, locking my eyes with Sorin’s. There was no life in them. They were open, and glassy, and…dead. An eerie silence descended, with my heartbeat a deafening sound in my ears. Holding my breath, I gathered the courage to slide my gaze to my father. He lay on the ground next to Sorin, breathing raggedly. His crown, which had fallen off his head, lay nearby.

“What have you done?!” A keening wail tore through the throne room, startling me. “He was my mate!” the Fae queen cried out as she crumpled down on top of the dais.

My gaze slid back to the Fae king. It couldn’t be. He couldn’t be dead. I couldn’t have been the one who’d killed him. Shimmering silver seeped out of him, leaking out of his eyes like tears and gathering in droplets on the surface of his skin. The substance ran down in rivulets and pooled around him, ebbing and flowing as if it were a living thing.

The air became thick with the ancient magic, and the next time I took a shallow breath, it felt like I was filling up my lungs with sludge. The potent magic was suffocating as it pressed down on me, driving me into the stone floor. My eyes widened when the quicksilver pool around Sorin shot away from his body, slithering over in my direction. Fighting the oppressive force, I scrambled to my knees to get out of the way. The oscillating mass rushed past me, and I followed it with my gaze to its destination. Its target was Adrian, who lay unmoving on his back on the floor. When my powers had blasted out of me, they must have knocked him off me into the nearby wall.

“Is he… Did I…” I whimpered as the ancient magic reached him.

It pooled around him, molding to his body, licking his clothes and exposed skin, sinking in his hair.

“Seize her!” The Fae queen’s shout of rage swept through the throne room.

The guards that lined the walls jumped into action, converging on me with drawn weapons.

A loud clap rang out at the same time a wave of magic rippled through the air. My gaze darted to the Sorceress, who had clapped her hands, then to the guards, who had stopped their approach. They stood nearly frozen, moving imperceptibly slowly, as if trying to break through an invisible viscous barrier.

Adrian’s scream snapped my attention back to him. The sound must have escaped involuntarily because he was still unconscious.

“He’s alive!” I gasped with joy.

The feeling of relief was fleeting as his body bowed up in a rigid and unnatural manner. Another scream erupted out of him as his face contorted in torment. Still on my knees, I crawled over to him. The silver pool around him had soaked into his skin, and the same patterns that had covered Sorin were etched into his body, visible on his chest through the gap in his shirt. They covered his hands and ran up his neck, creating a shimmering, glowing design on his face.

“Silberium,” Lady May said, coming closer to where Adrian lay, convulsing in pain. “Sorin must have been on the brink of having to transfer the magic into the land. He must have been saving it in preparation for war. It’s too much for Adrian to bear. The ancient magic is killing him.”

Her words were killing me, gripping my throat and cutting off air.

“What can we do?” I asked urgently, fighting for breath. “Can you wake him up so he can transfer the magic before it kills him?”

“There is no time. You are his only hope.”

“Me?!” I exclaimed before glancing behind me at my father.

He was a strong wielder. He could heal Adrian. I quickly gave up on the idea as my father looked like he, himself, needed a healer. My gaze fell on Sorin’s body. Somehow, I had been able to kill him. My magic had been powerful enough to accomplish that. Maybe it was powerful enough to end Adrian’s suffering, to counteract Silberium from the inside. My hands trembled as I reached for him. He was rolling on the ground, jerking from side to side, his muscles coiled tight. My fingers digging into his arm, I closed my eyes and went to my well.

Sweat slicked my brow as I searched for the healing powers within me. Down and down the well I went until…my fingers scraped the dry bottom. My well was empty. Panic took over, instant and all-consuming. I was going to lose him. So soon after I had found him. After we had found each other. He had lied to me and betrayed me, but my world would never be the same without him in it. I needed him to live.

“It’s not working. I can’t do it,” I rasped as tears spilled, gliding down my cheeks.

Opening my eyes, I watched Adrian through blurry vision as he was taking his last breaths. Silberium was overtaking him. The magic brimmed under the surface of his skin, the patterns glowing brighter and brighter. He was being torn apart from the inside.