AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Until I screamed, and its song joined with that of Tal.
Until the crown cracked, and the Gate began to close.
Inside me, Lumi’s voice sounded from far away, and I knew this was the final time.
“You’re not the only one allowed risky, harebrained acts. Consider this mine and make the changes I could not. Live fully and without excuses. Be kind as only you can be. Fight, even if you think it’s useless.”
There were no words left in me. No way to express my love and loss.
For a second time, she left me, but this time I could feel her hand in mine and knew that I needed to let her go. She had lived a separate life for years while I had used her as an excuse to not go after what I wanted.
She asked me to be brave enough to live.
One by one, I opened my fingers, until our palms rested against each other, and I let go of the fear and pain and guilt. I would grieve her until the end of my days, but I would not carry the weight of her decisions. I would make my own.
Stepping away was my greatest leap, trusting myself to make it on my own.
Lumi’s smile dropped and her eyes widened in fear, focusing behind me.
I moved too late.
As a body hit mine, I crashed into the ground and the final remnants of my magic and light extinguished. The green glow of the Gate cast a sickly shine across the ground.
The creature I still thought of as Ealhswip but bore no resemblance to Eydis’s mother, Herebov’s wife, or Dimitri’s councilwoman, stood over me, eyes burning, torn flesh struggling to reform. Half her skull had been caved in by Helia’s stones, clothing burned away by Pyre. Shadows and blue fire twisted around her mutilated body, as if death itself was leaking out of her wounds.
My head pounded. The world swam. I wanted to cry and laugh and scream and faint. Only a sliver of my magic remained after giving Lumi everything I had. Full of guilt, I recently accepted death with the noose around my neck.
In so many ways I had not yet lived, rather waited for a future that never came. Done what others told me. Expected the world to change while I stayed the same.
Dimitri lay next to me, the crown cracked by his head, blood leaking from his eyes.Was he still breathing? Had his Spirit already passed through the Gate?
Rolling to my feet, I grabbed the sword at his side and threw myself on Ealhswip, screaming my rage and pain. None of us had asked for this.
The blade struck true. It did not matter.
Ealhswip’s laugh gurgled from her collapsed lungs.
Witha dismissive slap, she sent me flying. My head rang, vision swam, and pain sharp enough that I had to check if she’d split my skull open, kept me down as she limped closer.
“How many times do I have to kill you?” She spat warm blood across my cheek. “I got rid of your mother’s diluted line and anyone else possibly strong enough to restore the Gate. Poisoned and killed every mageline in Tal even remotely powerful.”
Inch by painful inch, I dragged myself away, the world spinning.
“Imagine my surprise when I saw you—the spitting image of the princess from Oberwalden. And you showed no signs of the magic taint, you sneakily hiding your heritage. I should’ve killed you as soon as I sensed your sister’s power, but you were so perfectly willing to be used.”
She kicked me in the side. Something snapped.
My body threatened to shut down and take my mind away from here and into oblivion, but I had promised to fight when it seemed impossible. To hope.
Unable to drag myself further, I lay still, watching the last Spirits disappear through the Gate.
“I did everything right this time, and still you stupid, short-lived things had to go against me.”
She stomped on my shinbone, snapping it.
My screams echoed through the silent cave. Darkness closed in until Ealhswip pressed her palm against the broken bones in my chest and brought me back.
“I ensured they did not have the real crown to bond with the Gate. I killed that old fool of a king. I poisoned the city and tamed the dead. Still, here you are. Even that idiot prince. All he had to do was get married on the correct day and open the passage down to my Gate.You closed it, but don’t think I cannot still eradicate your lines and restore Tal to its proper rule. Your king has no heirs. Oberwalden will not stand by him. The clans are already waiting to see how this plays out.”
