3. Declan

Chapter 3

Declan

I stared out at the island landscape, my feet dangling over the edge of the cliff. Ayden’s shoulder pressed into mine. His thumb rubbed the back of my hand as he held it.

His warmth offered comfort and peace.

The last time I sat on that ledge, órla had been by my side, chiding me for my lack of progress in mastering the many facets of my magic. I smiled at the memory of her barbs, missing her perky voice more than I ever thought possible.

The island shone like a jewel.

Palm trees swayed in the wind.

The ocean crashed sapphire blue against white-gold shores.

Far below our mountain perch, villagers milled about on distant roads, hard at work, enjoying the day.

“The sunrise is incredible, isn’t it?” My mother’s voice startled me out of my musing.

Ayden’s hand squeezed mine as I turned. “This may be the most beautiful place in the world,” I replied.

“It really is,” Ayden added.

“Come back during storm season and say that.” She leaned down and kissed the top of my head, then repeated the gesture with Ayden’s fiery locks. I shot him a sideways glance, catching a smile creeping across his lips. “You may find yourself thinking something entirely different when the gods of the sea begin their fights.”

“Gods of the sea? When did you get religious?”

The ocean was so lovely. I couldn’t picture it angry.

She snorted. “I am the Keeper of Magic. How could I not wonder at what hands guided our paths?”

Ayden lifted a brow but held his tongue when I shook my head. If my mother started walking a philosophical route, we might never get to eat.

As if her mother’s instinct had heard my thoughts, Kels? spoke as she turned toward the cavern’s entrance. “I made breakfast if you are hungry. I know it is early, but I have seen both of you eat.”

“Hey!” I protested as Ayden and I stood. “We’re growing boys. We need to maintain—”

“Pshaw. Atikus raised you. That means you never stop eating. Come on.” She laughed and slapped my arm. Her light tone sobered as she said, “Besides, your journey calls.”

“How . . . ?” Ayden and I shared a baffled look. “How did you know we wanted to leave today? I was planning to talk to you this morning about it but hadn’t figured out how.”

“You will learn that a mother always knows, especially when it involves her baby leaving the nest.”

I snorted and looked into her twinkling eyes. “Baby?”

She reached up and cupped my cheek. “You will always be my baby boy, and don’t you forget it.”

Ayden elbowed me. His annoyingly handsome smirk was on full display as he mouthed, “Baby Dec.”

I resisted the urge to shove him into one of the stone pillars.

Kels? rolled her eyes, her smile brighter than the sunrise. “I still want to hear more about what happened with Saltstone and Irina. I did not press when you first arrived, but it is important I know everything before you leave.”

“Not the best breakfast conversation, but it’ll have to do. After you.”

As we wound our way through the ancient tunnels, Ayden’s hand rubbed my neck. His touch was never far when we were near, and I relished each moment. How anyone could love another so deeply, so completely, was baffling to me. And yet, a single glance from Ayden Byrne could reduce me to a gibbering idiot.

By the lazy arc of the island’s sun, we’d spent a few months together on Rea Utu. Battles and wars felt so distant. All that mattered was being together, feeling Ayden close, getting to know my mother and becoming a family.

I had a family now.

The Mages raised me. Atikus was like a father. And Keelan . . .

Kee had always been like part of my soul.

But now, I had a mother who loved me, a mother who wanted me with her, who cared what I thought and felt. I had never known that kind of love. Not from anyone.

And Ayden . . . he was something altogether different.

I could not begin to reckon how long we had known each other. Mainland time and island time moved so differently that the present and past seemed muddled in my mind. However long it had been, each day felt new and fresh, like the beginning of a new eternity with a man who made me want to savor life with every breath.

How could anyone affect me so, wriggle their way beneath my skin and live within my heart and soul?

How could anyone fuel my joy and inhabit my dreams?

I found I no longer cared for answers to those questions.

Ayden did all of those things, and I was a better man for it.

I was better because of him.

Kels? bristled when I first arrived with him by my side—not because I was with a man, but because I had violated the island’s sacred rules.

The security of the Well had always been sacrosanct. It always would be.

Still, my heart ached for Kels? to know him. For her to know me, she had to know him, as well. Ayden was part of me now, the better part of all that I was. So I risked her ire and walked him up the Path.

Ayden would never remember the place.

He would lose all recollection of my mother.

There was no reprieve from that sentence.

While I understood and agreed it was for the best, a larger part of me was saddened at what he would lose when we returned to the mainland. Seeing him interact with my mother, seeing her wrap her arms around him so freely, lightened my heart in ways I never hoped possible.

She was my home.

Now he was, too.

The smell of bacon greeted us before we reached the entrance to the kitchen.

My stomach growled.

Piles of food awaited us: eggs, bacon, steaming scones, and a small bowl of assorted fruit.

“Did you make enough for the village? Spirits,” Ayden said. I ignored him and grabbed a plate.

Kels? beamed. “I can’t have my baby going off hungry, can I?”

Ayden laughed and mussed my already ruffled hair.

I ignored them both and filled my plate while Kels? poured piping tea into mugs and set the kettle back on the stove. Long moments passed in silence as we enjoyed our meal, but Kels? couldn’t keep her curiosity at bay for long.

“Start from the beginning. You said Grove’s Pass was destroyed by the time you returned, but I could tell you saw more than you were willing to discuss.”

I took a sip of tea, set my fork against the edge of my plate, then stared into the grain of the table’s wood for a long moment. Those were memories I had hoped to never relive, but Kels? needed to know.

The Keeper needed to know what transpired.

“I grew up in the guild in Saltstone, but Grove’s Pass had become my home. There were over a thousand rangers who lived, worked, or passed through the town. Most of us lived in the headquarters, a massive complex larger than many small villages. The place always amazed me. Mages helped build much of it, you know?” My voice descended to a whisper. “They were my brothers and sisters, my family. And the people of Grove’s Pass . . .”

Kels? set her own fork down and cradled her mug in both hands as she listened, brows creased in worry.

“The innkeeper was like another uncle, one of a hundred I see in my mind. When I first joined the Rangers, I was young and stupid, getting into every kind of trouble you could imagine. I spent more time at his bar than I did in the HQ. He helped a lost boy find some measure of peace and focus. I wouldn’t be alive if he hadn’t taken me under his wing.

“I could say the same about a dozen of the Rangers.” My voice broke. “They were all dead when I got there. And the people . . . Who kills children in their mothers’ arms? Babies and . . . Who does that?”

Kels? reached across the table and placed her hand on mine. “Show me.”

My heart seized at the thought of bringing such memories to life, but I nodded, closed my eyes, and called forth my Light. Ayden’s calloused hand gripped mine as images flickered.

A reflection of Grove’s Pass solidified above the table.

I pick my way through the town’s snow-covered streets. Hands reach up through the snow. Broken bodies, too many to count, lay beneath.

Burned-out buildings, charred black, are all that remain of the Rangers’ home.

The snow blows back.

I see one cadet, then another.

Men and women—more boys and girls than men and women—stare up through unseeing eyes.

Wetness tickles my cheek, but I press onward, stepping over one body, then another, until reaching the burned-out tavern.

A mound of rubble two stories tall rises before me. Only a door stands. It mocks us.

Captain Whitman lies interred, forever a Ranger, forever at his command.

He is one of many who will never rise again.

My skill with Illusion had grown since my first time on the island. I could almost smell the death in my images.

My illusion shifted to Saltstone.

The proud city’s growing fortifications rise before us, defenses erected prior to the Kingdom’s troops’ arrival. People, horses, and carts bustle through the crowded streets in preparation. Soldiers are everywhere.

Then we are surrounded.

The sounds of war boom throughout the night.

Tens of thousands of men, many on horseback, watch as stone after stone are hurled against the invisible barrier of my magical shield. The view through órla’s eyes is dizzying, but the inevitable outcome of the scene below is clear.

The city cannot stand.

I could only recall snippets of the battle between Irina and Arch Mage Quin, as I was tumbling down the tower stairs when most of it occurred, but I was in position to remember the blinding light of Irina’s fires as she blasted the city’s dwellings, killing indiscriminately, exacting a millennium’s worth of pent-up rage on innocent people.

There is a grinding of stone against stone as the tower cracks and begins to break apart.

Arch Mage Quin falls, then Isabel’s body crumples.

The Phoenix streaks down and wrenches Irina’s crown from her head.

Kels? clapped a hand over her mouth and emitted a gasp.

The Empress’s spirit evaporates into the sky, and the Phoenix sails out over the Silver Mountains, trailing plumes of magical smoke from her massive chest.

Then the Phoenix, many leagues away, hurtles from the sky into the Kingdom’s army. Brilliant light flares across the land as magic’s guardian sacrifices herself a second time so innocents might live.

The images vanished.

Only then did I realize Ayden was sitting back, staring, while Kels? gripped my hand.

She released me and sat back, her eyes brimming with tears.

“We survived, as did most of the civilian people of Saltstone. Our army lost almost everyone, but the Guard remained intact. We’ve had to recall the Rangers from the eastern border to begin rebuilding. The new Triad invested in a navy, since most of our fleet consisted of unarmed merchant ships.” I rubbed my temples and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to make the images flee my mind. “I don’t think the Kingdom fared much better, but we’ll be prepared if they try anything again.”

“What about Irina? What about her crown?” Kels? asked.

I looked up. “Irina? She died when Isabel was killed, when the tower fell. No one’s seen the crown since the Phoenix took it.”

Kels? shook her head. “She is not dead, Declan. Her spirit was not contained.”

Ayden crossed his arms but remained silent. Tension tightened about his eyes.

“How could you know that?”

“The currents never calmed after the battle. I can still sense great turmoil. And in the images, I saw Irina’s spirit flee Isabel’s body. If she had been taken beyond the veil, I would not have seen her spirit. She is still out there.”

“Her spirit roams the continent?” Ayden whispered my thought.

I sat back, struggling to grasp the implications of such a thing. “When you taught me about spirit communication, you said spirits could cause great harm if not contained by a circle. You were insistent I learn to draw the circle perfectly with no breaks. When the tower fell, that broke the circle containing Irina, didn’t it?”

She nodded.

“Could she inhabit another person, like she did with Isabel?” I asked.

“Perhaps.” Kels? stared into the distance. “If she did, she would not want to inhabit just anyone. She would want someone with a strong Gift.”

“That could be any number of people, though I suspect that number is much smaller now.”

Kels? thought a moment. “She would also want someone with a weak mind so she could control them. That would be a hard combination to find. Most of those with powerful Gifts have a mind to match, making their ability to repel Compulsion far greater. Based on what you have told me—and what you learned from Keelan—she gained most of her power from the crown, which is now missing.”

“But if she found the right host, and then found the crown . . .”

“Declan, I wish you could stay here forever, but you need to leave.” She stood. “You may be the only one strong enough to find and contain Irina.”

My eyes widened. “How am I supposed to do that?”

“I . . . I do not know.” She stepped around the table and rested her hand on my shoulder. “All I know is that you must try. There is no one else who stands any hope of facing her, especially if she rises to power again.”

I stood on the porch of the Keeper’s cottage, staring into my mother’s eyes.

“Seeing you again was more than my heart hoped for,” she said. “Please come back when you can.”

I moved onto the first step and wrapped her in a tight embrace. “If I had my choice, I would never leave this place again. I love you, Mother.”

Kels? swallowed hard, as if to hold back her tears, then pulled away from my embrace and slapped my chest teasingly.

“Don’t you dare make me cry again, Declan Rea.”

I smirked and gave her a peck on the cheek.

Ayden chuckled a little too loudly.

“And you, Ayden Byrne.” Kels? marched around me and poked him in the chest with a finger. “You take care of my boy, or the Phoenix and I will hunt you down. You hear me?”

Ayden’s eyes widened as they shifted from Kels? to me.

“Can she—?”

Kels? and I burst out laughing.

“She’s yanking your chain, lordling.”

“Oh,” he said, returning his gaze to hers but not losing a bit of his childlike trepidation.

Kels? cupped his cheek as she so often did mine. “You are my son now, too. I will think of you often. You boys come home to me, please.”

Before Ayden could think of a witty retort, Kels? grabbed him and hugged him close. When she pulled back, his eyes held more than a little moisture.

“Oh, I should’ve mentioned this before,” I said.

“Uh-oh.” Ayden found his smirk again.

Kels? spun and planted her fists on her hips. “What is it, Declan Rea? I know that tone.”

I lowered my head and muttered, “So . . . I kind of told Keelan.”

Kels?’s arms crossed, and her already arching brow rose further.

“Yeah. So, I told him about . . . um . . . well . . .” I looked down, trying to avoid her gaze. “I told him about everything , but I used magic to bind him to silence and mask the knowledge in his mind. He can’t speak about it, even if Compelled.”

Her mouth set as she gripped my arm. “What is done cannot be undone. But son, no one else. Ever . Do you hear me?”

I nodded.

“I’m serious. órla gave you—gave both of us—a magnificent gift in letting you keep your memory. More than that, she gave you the ultimate trust. The security and fate of magic itself rests with the secrets you carry. If Irina—or anyone with ill intent—learned of the location of the Well, it could mean disaster beyond imagining.”

I nodded. “I know, but Keelan is the most trustworthy person I know. His whole life, even his Gift, revolves around the truth. Add my binding, and I’m confident he will never betray that trust. Wouldn’t you . . . someday . . . ?”

Her eyes flew wide. “Oh, Declan, of course I would want to see him, to see the man he’s become. There’s nothing my heart craves more, but my heart can never take precedence over the welfare of magic and this world—and neither can yours. That is the burden we both bear.”

I hesitated, then asked, “How do I even remember you?”

“What?” Her brow furrowed.

“When I leave this place, how do I remember everything? I know órla told me things, but could her magic restore what the Keeper’s protections took away?”

“All that time with her, and you still do not see, do you?” Kels? smiled. “órla is beyond us all, beyond any Mage. Only the Well surpasses her in strength and power. If she chose to break a spell cast by mere men, she could do so with barely a thought.”

“But . . . if she has that kind of power, why could Irina . . .”

“In the end, órla had to choose. She sacrificed herself to save the people, but that meant allowing Irina to go free. She can do wondrous things, but being in two places at once is not one of them.”

“But couldn’t she have stopped her? Before all those people died?”

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. In the end, she gave herself for the good of others. We may never understand more than that.”

She stared into my eyes for a long moment, then drew a deep breath and cupped my cheek.

“Enough of that. I refuse to say goodbye. I love you. Travel safely and come back soon, all right?”

I wrapped her in another hug. Ayden was quick to join in, wrapping his arms around both of us.

Afterward, with a hand on Ayden’s shoulder, I thought of home and . . .

Nothing happened.

“Give me a minute,” I said when Ayden shuffled. “I just need to get a place in my mind.”

I thought of the Mages’ Guild, the place where I grew up.

Still nothing.

“Declan, what is happening? You look like you ate something sour.” Kels?’s face scrunched in concern.

“I don’t know. I don’t even feel magic’s tingle when I try to Travel. It’s like . . . I just can’t.”

Terrified my magic was gone, I pulled moisture from the air and formed a wobbling ball of water before me. I released a heavy sigh as I let the water splash to the ground.

“My magic still works.”

“Have you only Traveled the one time?” Kels? asked.

“Twice. The first time was when I returned to the mainland. I Traveled to Ayden,” I said. “The second time was when I Traveled from Grove’s Pass to Saltstone, before the siege began.”

“Was órla with you each time?”

I thought a moment, then nodded.

“I do not fully understand the Bond. No one has bonded in millennia. Something about órla’s presence may strengthen your power or respond to your need.”

I tried one last time. Nothing worked.

“Maybe you’re right. I guess it doesn’t matter why; we can’t Travel.” I shrugged and looked toward Ayden. “Ready for a hike? The gate is on the other side of the village.”

Ayden clapped me on the shoulder. “After you, my good sir.”

Kels? gave each of us another peck on the cheek. Then, far too quickly, Ayden and I made our way down the mountain path.