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The pain is almost unbearable again. It rattles my teeth, my bones, and burns my blood. I wrestle the connection back into the box in my mind. I feel like I’m trying to stuff too many clothes into a suitcase, but at last, I manage it, and I shut and lock the box, shoving it into a corner in my mind.
I can see the room in front of me again, and I blink. I hadn’t realized I’d lost my vision.
“It’s done,” I slur. My legs give out and it’s only thanks to Raven and North that I don’t go crashing to the floor.
Fuck, I can barely feel my limbs. I’m so numb. My legs, I realize dimly, are shaking.
“Don’t make her do that again,” North growls.
“It’s her choice to do it or not,” Tiorelle says calmly. “And the more she does it, the better at it she’ll become. Something like this will either consume you or become a tool. It’s up to you which way it goes.”
This last part she directs at me, and I nod weakly. Yup, got it. I’m not going to let this stupid power kill me, at least not without a fight. I’m stronger than this. I won’t let it beat me.
Shouts sound from outside, and for a second I tense before I realize it’s not shouts of alarm or warning. It’s joyful and surprised.
Raven gently takes me in his arms and carries me to one of the many windows so that I can look down.
Fae are walking into the village, dozens of them, looking delighted and full of wonder. They look just how I felt, finding this place just a few short hours ago.
It’s already begun.
CHAPTER15
I’m completely wiped out from sending that signal. North promises me I was only out of it for a minute tops, but it felt like so much longer and it seriously drained me. I want to just take a nap and sleep for hours, but we don’t have time for that.
Raven continues to carry me though, so at least there’s that. Having my mates around me lends me some strength. I can feel them in me, through our mate bond, and it’s more reassuring than I have the words for. Every day I find more reasons to be glad that they’re in my life, and I wouldn’t give them up for anything.
We go down to meet and greet the fae who are just arriving, all of whom seem happy if still confused and unsure. I’m glad to see that there are so many of them. The ones who are hybrids, like my mates, seem more unsure. The full blooded fae like me are just so happy to find a community and to not be alone. There’s definitely some crying. But the hybrids react a bit like North, unsure if they belong, and the other fae have to coax them into relaxing.
I wish that this could just be a celebration, but it’s not. It’s a call to war. So while these fae who are just arriving can relax and enjoy themselves, the leaders, my mates, and I need to strategize and see what we can do.
We stay in the throne room, or perhaps it’s a throne building, since I don’t see any other rooms in it. Tiorelle sits on her throne, but I don’t feel like she’s towering over us. It feels natural. This is a woman who radiates respect, and I have no intention of doing anything except giving her the deference she deserves.
Tiorelle has a council, similar to how Malcolm has his two men and his queen, except I don’t think Tiorelle is sleeping with all of her council.
The council sits quietly while I once again explain the whole Roanac thing. They seem alarmed but also a little grateful that there’s an explanation for the strange flashes of magic and pain they’ve been getting. When I finish, everyone sits quietly for a moment, contemplating the treacherous situation we’re all in.
“Can he still be killed by stabbing the wound in his chest?” one of them asks after a long minute of silence has passed.
“We’re not sure,” I admit. “I doubt that he’ll have any weakness if we get to him and he’s finished his magical transformation.”
“Perhaps we should give up on the idea of killing him altogether,” another council member suggests. “Perhaps the best we can hope for is to find a way to incapacitate him so that we can trap him somehow, imprison him.”
“Can anything imprison him?” Tiorelle asks sharply. “I don’t know that we can trust anything to hold him. Roanac is employing magic in such ways and to such an extent that nobody else has before. This is uncharted territory. I don’t know that we can rely on our known magical bonds to keep him locked up.”
“Surely his magic can be disabled in some way,” the first council member speaks up again. “Nobody’s magic is so strong it can’t be nullified or undone.”
“That we know of,” another person mutters darkly.
“Is there any way we can find all of this out?” someone asks. “Any way that we can do some reconnaissance? You said that you handed over one of his minions or assistants to the vampires. Perhaps he’ll know?”
“I don’t think we have time for that kind of investigation,” Tiorelle admits. “But we are fortunate. Roanac is strong, yes, but we have a formidable weapon on our side as well, someone whose strength Roanac might not fully realize.”
It takes me a second to realize who she’s talking about. I can feel my face heat up as Tiorelle gestures toward me. “Kiara.”
One by one, the others all turn to look at me. I can feel my mates shifting their weight, protective even if they know logically that there’s nothing to protect me from, exactly. There’s nothing they can do or say that will change the facts here. And what, are they going to just refuse to let me fight? To let me be used as a weapon? We don’t really have that luxury of choice right now.
“Kiara,” Tiorelle repeats, only now she’s speaking directly to me rather than just announcing me to the others. “You have a connection to the All-Soul the likes of which I have never before seen. I think that you can use it, and that you should use it.”
