AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Aligning himself with demons? Calling on dark forces to strengthen his magic and destroying half of the island?”
“It wasn’t him,” Ruby argued stubbornly.
“He was exiled before a proper court could judge him,” Emerald piped in, calmly rationalizing. “There has been no explanation other than him turning just like that, and there shouldalwaysbe an explanation for everything.”
The blonde punctuated it with a pointed look in Ruby’s direction, to which Ruby glared. Pearl rolled her eyes.
“Whatever. That wasn’t the point of this. The point is…Em, you need to get off that high horse and just live with this. And Ruby, we are already at the bottom of the barrel and should be behaving our way up, not down. What were you trying to weld, anyway?”
Again, the truth flashed in her mind, but the humiliation rose to drown her words.
“The usual. I was just distracted. I’m sorry.” Something occurred and had her gaze narrowing. “Where’s Saph?”
The mention of their eldest sister usually didn’t have the two turning rigid like this, so their reaction had her on alert, too.
“She asked us to get you.”
“Why? So that I can be given the same lecture that Em here provided?”
Emerald lifted her chin. “No. Not everything’s about you—”
“Em,” Pearl whined.
Emerald sighed. “Sorry. Not that. She had a breakthrough, and needs all of us gathered immediately.”
No other words could have made dread form faster in Ruby’s stomach.
“Silver’s innocent.”
The starting statement of their meeting in the Sutton’s family cottage had brows raising, but they remained silent as Sapphire Sutton stood at the center of the living room, gaze boring into each one of theirs. Unlike the three with their unique features, Sapphire was average in all aspects—except for her eyes, which could pin one with the deadliest look or burn with fire at her angriest. Now, the woman was more agitated than deadly-looking.
“I know I keep saying that, and I know we swing back and forth between believing it and doubting it,” Sapphire continued. “And there are many reasons for that.”
Pearl held out a hand and ticked her fingers off. “We believe it because he is our brother and we grew up with him. Our villagers don’t because they witnessed the disaster and his refusal to surrender as clear as day. Our council abhors him and sent him to Hellhole, where the truly evil creatures will rot for eternity—which, in turn, makes us doubt him sometimes, too, because we also saw evil in his eyes that day.”
Sapphire nodded, seemingly expecting that tirade. “Right.”
“So, we can keep saying it, but it doesn’t change those reasons unless there’s proof that…” Pearl trailed off. Ruby perused Sapphire’s expression, but it was Emerald who voiced out their dawning realization.
“You have proof.”
Sapphire nodded. “Kind of.”
“Explain kind of,” Ruby demanded.
“I have a way to find out the truth. To know if he had been influenced or had turned evil out of his heart’s desire.”
“Saph, enough with the dramatics,” Pearl moaned. “Just tell us.”
And there it was: the fire lighting up Sapphire’s eyes until plain blue transformed into blinding brilliance. She flicked her fingers and let an image form over her shoulder, dancing with her beat and showing them a montage. Emerald gasped. Pearl shot up.
“Old magic,” Ruby deduced, mind tumbling. “The Sutton’s old magic.”
Their eldest sister nodded. “Old, buried magic because it was dangerous. Basically, our ancestors combined their powers and became one as they did with a lot of things, but mostly they used their powers for communication: with the dead, with long-distance relatives…”
“With lost family,” Emerald murmured. “Those who do not have the means to communicate on their own.”
Silence encumbered the space as they mulled over the discovery. Sapphire fisted her hand, taking the magical montage with her.
