Page 6 of On Brutal Thrones

Fenric laughs softly, but when he pulls away, hope has replaced some of the exhaustion in his face. “You said you might be able to get us out.”

I nod and reluctantly untangle myself from them. “The crystals aren’t weakening my magic. And I can feel the roots now that I’m actually paying attention to them. I think I might be able to control them.”

“You can control all of those?” Talon asks, looking at the thick roots strangling the walls.

“I don't know.”

“Encouraging.”

“I said might.” I've only ever managed my magic in bits and pieces. Small things. Instinctive things. Even hiding us during the first Trial, the biggest thing I've ever pulled off, had been more desperation than skill. What I'm considering now is different. I've never tried to control this much of the world around me at once.

Thorian gestures toward the wall, which seems to have crept another fraction closer while we’ve been talking. “Try. Otherwise, I’m going to kill myself attempting to batter through something that clearly cannot be moved.”

“Also encouraging,” Talon mutters.

I look between them, then draw in a slow breath. “Okay. I’ll try.”

I hold the torch out to Thorian, who takes it without a word, and I lower myself to the ground, freeing both hands before closing my eyes. At first, there’s only the cave around me. Dripping water. The faint crackle of the torch. The breathing of the three men behind me. Then I reach deeper, searching beneath all of it for the life I sensed before.

The roots answer.

They’re everywhere.

They wind through cracks in the stone and curl around the crystals, thousands of living threads spreading beyond this tiny chamber and deep into the earth. I reach for them with my magic, and warmth rushes through me so suddenly that my breath catches.

For smaller spells, instinct is enough. This will require more.

I press two fingers to the dirt and begin to draw.

Golden light follows my fingertips.

I trace the runes I secretly learned from the books in my father’s hidden library as a child. Nature first. Then movement. Love, not the romantic love I feel for the men behind me, but the deeper force that binds one living thing to another. The symbols glow against the dark earth, their light reflecting from thousands of crystals until the entire cave begins to shine.

I add another rune, then another, following the magic more than memory now. It moves through me and into the symbols, then outward into the roots. The connection grows stronger until I can no longer tell where my own pulse ends and theirs begins.

The roots twitch.

Someone behind me sucks in a breath.

I keep going.

Light floods the chamber, brilliant and golden, scattering through the pink and blue crystals until every surface blazes with color. Power pours through me faster now, enough that my hands begin to tremble, but I refuse to release it.

Move.

The command isn't spoken aloud. I push it through the magic.

For a heartbeat, nothing happens.

Then the cave cracks.

The sound is enormous. The ground jolts beneath me as roots wrench themselves from the stone. They twist around the crystals like great serpents, tightening until the first crystal shatters. Then another breaks. And another.

“Nyx,” Fenric breathes.

I can’t answer him. My body has become a conduit, magic rushing through me and into the earth with such force that my hands begin to tremble. I press one palm against the ground to steady myself while the other continues tracing the glowing runes. Thorian crouches beside me, his hand settling firmly on my shoulder, while Talon moves close on my other side, his cool fingers brushing against my arm. Fenric kneels behind me and rests a warm hand against my back. Their presence anchors me as I guide the magic into the roots, urging them to pull and twist and tear until stone begins collapsing away from the wall.

The magic takes more than I expected. My vision darkens at the edges, but I hold on. I think of the lightning rod Fenric built at the bridge, how it drew the storm into itself and gave all that power somewhere to go.