Page 39 of The Reaping Rose

My gaze lifts, and the hallway shrinks until the edge of the rune that marks my cell meets my knees. Nudging me. Beckoning inside and promising peace when I know the truth.

There is no peace.

Not here.

Not outside.

There is nothing but raging guilt and constant regrets.

Closing my eyes, I steady my breath, allowing the prison to set me on its tongue and swallow me for a moment. Giving in to the lashing memories instead of fighting them because what am I fighting for?

Malachi seems to think I’ll find him and ask for his help. Idunn thinks my ambitions are laughable. Can I blame them? I’m a human girl, dreaming too big. Fighting to save what’s well beyond me. Taking risks that do nothing but put others in danger.

A tear slips down my cheek, and I’m back in that cave with chains at my wrists and ankles. Stretched over that stone. A peak of jagged rock digs between my shoulder blades. The obsidian belt at my waist rubs my ribs raw. Chains contained the magic I didn’t yet know existed.

But they knew it did.

A budding blossom that would soon destroy everything.

I would destroy everything.

A sob rips from my throat as the prison presses around me. No one is left to face but me and the darkness.

Bending forward, my palms are met with cold stone. I don’t know why I expect it to be warm. Maybe because the longer I’m here, the more this prison is a living, breathing beast. Its temperament is hot on the back of my neck, but the stone is cool to the touch.

Cool and comforting. I could just let this be it.

For the sake of everyone else, I could give in and stay.

I curl my fingers, scratching the edge of the runes before me. Embers fleck at my touch, growing. Warming. They spark and spit until they are no longer simply at my fingertips. The golden light is all around. An incredible warmth seeps through my bones. It blossoms in my chest from the deepest well.

Not a well—a thread.

It opens in the darkness with a whisper of heat that crawls along the hollow edges, turning them from shadow to light. Creeping like a flame but smelling like static.

Like aether.

Gold cracks like lightning. Thunder rumbles along the sea and settles in my heart. My vision swims with the push and pull. One tether tries to keep me, while another pulls me back.

When I fall this time, it isn’t the prison that catches me. Strong arms cradle my body and hold me close. A flash of gold sparking in a pitch-black sky.

“Wilder.” I curl against his warm chest.

“I promised I’d find you, Starfire.”

Chapter 14

Elorie

Eucalyptus pulls me from my dream—my nightmare.

The scent of fresh rain and pine calms my senses. It’s the opposite of Alyssium, which is rotted and riddled with death. I breathe deeply, and the scent of damp soil fills my lungs. Soil with so much moisture, it must be crawling with roots.

Rich, endless.

I take another breath, and my body drinks it down like I’ve been starving for air.

For magic.