AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The tingling and burning along my core retreated, leaving nothing behind but the disappearing shimmer of my power on the canvas.
Stunned breaths came in and out of me as I lifted trembling hands to my face. Still, it wasn’t nerves or shock that made them shake. They quivered from the remnants of the power that had coursed through them, its potency still aching and burning through my every cell.
“That was…”
“Incredible,” Evie finished for Kingston.
“I had never seen pure, untainted Devenish magic…” He shook his head, “I almost forgot it could exist.”
My instinct urged me to place a hand on his arm, but as my palm neared him, tiny threads of energy connected with his skin, like static electricity. “Sorry,” I gasped, pulling my hand back.
“It didn’t hurt,” he admitted, observing the part of his forearm I touched. “It felt… invigorating.”
Frowning, I glanced at the painting, remembering the true reason we were there. Carefully, I picked it up and turned it around, pulling back the brown paper that covered it. Sure enough, there it was. An ancient-looking envelope was attached to the corner with a red wax seal holding it together—the same Dragon head I’d noticed on all my father’s stuff was stamped on it.
“It is the royal crest of the Devenish family,” Kingston offered. “Your mother took it with her when she left the fortress during the Uprising.”
“My parents led us to believe the princess perished under Raithian’s hand,” Evie murmured, ache capturing her voice with the truth kept from them all this time. “And anyone who remembered otherwise was gone… or keeping their secret.” Her gaze briefly shifted to Kingston, though no resentment filled her eyes, only sadness. “I never imagined she had survived and paired with the Harbinger of Justice.”
“She almost did, but the Harbinger saved her life,” Kingston answered. “He rescued her during the Uprising.”
Damn, my dad had truly been her knight in shining armor, hadn’t he? No wonder they loved each other as much as they did. Once this was over, I was totally going to hound my mom for her to tell me their story.
A light cracking sound returned my attention to the present, to find Evie breaking the Dragon seal. Swiftly, she unfolded the parchment, an air of recognition enlightening her features.
“That is my mother’s handwriting,” she whispered, seeming shocked by the words as her eyes rushed over the lines. “This is not just an accord, Braxton,” she added, her tone reflecting the severity of their request. “My parents invoked ablood oathfrom yours.”
“Ablood oath?”I asked.
“It is the ultimate contract. One that can never be broken,” Kingston explained.
“The Harbinger had no choice but to leave the battle and take your mother—take you—away if something went wrong… Something did.”
“What happens if ablood oathis broken?” I couldn’t help but ask, even when dread engulfed my being. Something told me it was bad.
“Blood is cleansed by spilling blood.”
“As in, killing him?”
Evie nodded.
Okay, dark but I kind of got it.
My gaze fell on the accord once she handed it to me, seeing two red thumbprints at the bottom of the page, right under my parents’ signatures. Evie’s parents had made them both sign, knowing well that my dad would never let anything happen to my mother. If he didn’t leave, it wouldn’t just be his blood which cleansed the broken oath, and he would have never allowed that. Not that I thought they would really kill my parents, but it was the only way to pressure him into leaving everything behind, even when he knew they still needed him here.
When I finished folding the letter, I noticed Evie searching the back of the painting again. “What is it?”
A burdened sigh left her. “Nothing important… I thought perhaps my parents had left me a letter too.”
The ache in her voice cut through me, making my chest tighten. “We should check the back of your parents’ portrait in our castle.”
“Sure.” She nodded, but the sadness in her gaze said she had no hope of finding something. Or maybe she just didn’t want to hope and be disappointed.
“Let’s go,” Kingston ordered, walking past us to the door. We followed.
Willow’s face came into view the second we landed in the Hidden Kingdom. She stood with the Elevated Warriors, waiting just outside the gates. How long had she been standing there with them, waiting for us to arrive?
Evanna embraced her the moment she got down from Luna.
