Chapter Forty-One

DAYS PASSED, AND EACH NIGHT, I secretly practiced my new skill until I felt sure I could do what I needed. With time running out before battle reached us, I knew now was the moment. I wanted to fall asleep, curled around Rune's naked body, but I forced myself to stay awake, waiting until my Fox fell asleep. What I was doing was probably crazy, but if it worked, it would be worth any amount of danger.

Rune would probably disagree, as would everyone else, which was why I hadn't told anyone my plan or what I'd learned to do. They would think the risk of meeting Myra, the woman who loathed me with every fiber of her being, was far too dangerous. I couldn't accept that. I couldn't sit back and do nothing as we headed into a battle where Rune might have to face her.

I'd learned early on in my interactions with Myra that she had one weakness, one thing that actually got to her—Balgair. If there were any chance of saving her and restoring the relationship she used to have with Rune and the twins, it would be letting her talk to Balgair again.

Risk and danger be damned.

Once I felt Rune's breath even out and his body relax further into the mattress, I waited an extra ten minutes before carefully pulling myself away from him. I slipped out of bed, pulled on a pair of leggings and t-shirt, then made my way for the door.

Just as I reached the door, I stopped. I looked back over my shoulder at Rune's sleeping form. Nibbling on my lip, I considered going back to his side and leaving a note, just in case things went south. No one knew where I was going, so if I didn't make it, they'd have no idea what happened. Not until Myra returned my headless body.

She liked keeping the heads.

I quickly pushed that morbid idea and any doubt away. I was going to come back. I wasn't going to die tonight. I would come back to my husband and everyone else.

With my determination firmly in place, I finally slipped out into the hall. I hugged the walls and clung to dark corners as I traversed the corridors, and even though there were some close calls, I managed to sneak out the back of the palace unseen. There were patrols stationed along the walls surrounding the palace, and I realized there was no getting past them without being spotted.

At least, not by waltzing across the yard as I'd planned.

Thinking quickly, I reached out and focused on the water right outside the wall. The ocean called back to me, and I silently beckoned it to aid me. Picturing figures rising from the sea and approaching the east side of the wall, I waited and listened. The soldiers lining the outer wall suddenly erupted in shouts, and they raced to the east side as some commotion captured their attention.

Smiling to myself, I raced across the yard and out the back gate, diving into the ocean. The water, sensing my urgency, launched me deep into its depths like I was a torpedo barreling into the dark. Once I was sure no one could see me at this distance and depth from the shore, I took a moment to pull a ball of water to my hands.

Speaking into it, I said, "Myra, it's Bria. I need to meet with you about something urgent. Meet me alone in the Lylora Woods. The water will show you where."

Nodding at the orb, I released my hold on it and ordered, "Go find Myra and give her this message."

The ball bounced before zipping up and out of the water, following the command I'd given it. With that part done, I reached out to the water around me and used it to propel me toward the Lylora Woods on the mainland. I reached it quickly thanks to the speed at which the water carried me.

I waded out of the water and onto the sandy bank. Now that I was here and that much closer to facing Myra again, my stomach tightened with nerves. I forced myself to ignore the unsettled feeling and quickly weaved through the towering trees.

When my entourage and I had traveled through here to meet with Elias, we'd passed by a grouping of trees that seemed to make a sort of ring off the path. Because it was so distinguishable and secluded, I'd decided to make that the meeting spot.

I arrived first, as expected, and I couldn't stop bouncing from foot to foot as I waited for Myra to arrive. The longer I waited in the dark forest, the more anxious I got. Maybe she wasn't going to come. She could've gotten my message and just flat-out ignored it, not deeming me worthy enough of her time. It was no secret how little she thought of me.

It will truly be a delight to watch you lead the downfall of your people.

Her words still haunted me, clawing at my mind every so often, especially in moments where my insecurities were at their highest. With us heading into battle soon, it was even harder not to question if she was right. I believed in what I was doing and the end result that would come with it, but that didn't mean Myra's words didn't still get to me at times.

"If you asked to meet so that I can kill you, I won't."

I whipped my head up at the sudden sound of Myra's haughty voice.

She stepped into the circle of trees, sporting trousers and a tunic typical of soldiers in Ambrolia. Her long white hair was braided, and it swayed with her fox tail as she took a few steps toward me, then stopped.

She smirked, flashing her canines, and threatened, "I want your death to be drawn out and public, so it won't come today."

Well, that's comforting, at least. Neither of us want me to die today.

I swallowed down the flurry of nerves at her sudden arrival and pulled my shoulders back. "I didn't call you here to battle. I asked you here because I wanted to extend the offer to join our side. To join your sons and husband."

Myra gave a humorless chuckle. "You must be even more brainless than I originally thought."

I kept my face calm and sure, refusing to be affected by her words. "Wouldn't Balgair want you on the same side as Rune?"

Her face instantly darkened. Her nostrils flared, her lip curled, and her fists clenched. "Don't you dare say his name."

My skin prickled with a new layer of fear. I'd just poked the agitated Fox, so I knew it was now or never. Inhaling deeply, I drew water to me from the air around us, as well as the earth below. As it gathered in the space between me and Myra, she watched with a look that could only be described as boredom. She clearly found me to be no threat, which I tried not to take offense to. Once I felt I had enough water, I focused past the need to gather the element and more on the deep connection that allowed me to tap into this newer ability.

"Is that all?" Myra asked, quirking a brow at the mass of water. "What do you expect that to do?"

I ignored her taunt and felt a rush of relief and excitement as the familiar weak fog wrapped around me. I managed to hold my ground and watched as the water morphed until the large man I'd only seen in pictures and in my mother's memory stood between us.

He clutched his watery head and shook it like he'd just been jostled and needed to steady himself. When he finished, he looked up at his ex-wife and gasped. "Myra?"

The Fox Fae's face went red when she saw Balgair, and she started to stomp toward me as she screamed, "What is this trick? You vile monster! I'll slaughter you where you stand for such trickery!"

Balgair's watery form met her before she reached me and held his hands out to her. "My flame. Darling. It's me ."

Myra's golden eyes immediately locked on his, and the air sputtered from her suddenly trembling lips. Her face drained, and she collapsed to her knees in front of Balgair, who sank to his own knees in front of her. I nearly followed as the toll of bringing Balgair here was starting to hit me, but I leaned back against a tree and focused on keeping him here a bit longer.

Balgair cupped her cheeks with his translucent hands, and even though his body wasn't physically here or as defined as normal, there was no missing the misery flooding his eyes. "Oh, my love, how you've changed. This isn't you, Myra."

Tears poured down her cheeks and merged into the water making up Balgair's form. "Isn't me? Balgair, I am nothing without you. How could you leave me? I needed you."

"And Rune needed you . Don't let my death steal away the woman I know and love."

Her eyes closed, and her lips quivered. "She's already gone. She died the same moment you did."

Another dizzy wave unfurled within me, and even with the tree's support, I wobbled on my feet. Balgair's form rippled and nearly lost form at the same time, making Myra's tear-filled eyes widen in alarm. She tried clutching onto Balgair's arms, crying, "Don't! You—You can't leave me again!"

Still cupping her cheeks, he leaned forward to place a loving kiss to her lips. He seemed to sense I was losing my grip, because he begged, "Please. Go back to our son, and no matter what, keep burning brightly. I love you, my flame."

Unable to hold onto the connection any longer, I let go. Balgair's watery form collapsed into a puddle. Myra bellowed out an agonizing cry that made my own throat tighten with the threat of tears. It was a sound of pure desolation, and because of it, I felt her sorrow deep in my bones. Her shaking fingers tried to cup the water at her knees as she pleaded for him to come back.

I'd never liked Myra for all the cruel and hateful things she'd done to her children. Despite this, my heart broke as I watched her wail over the slowly disappearing water. The powerful Fox wasn't numb to emotions, after all.

Before I could make an attempt to console her or tell her she could see her love again, a figure emerged from the trees behind Myra. I tensed as Elias sneered at Myra, who continued to sob on her knees.

"Pull yourself together, Myra," Elias snapped. "It's unbecoming for a Fae of your status to be so unhinged and emotional, especially over such an obvious parlor trick." His green eyes flicked up from Myra to meet mine. "When Myra got your message, I wondered what you could possibly have up your sleeve. I must admit, I didn't expect such trickery from you."

Myra suddenly looked at me, and that's when I saw it. The look flooding her eyes was a desperate need for what just happened to be real. "Trickery? But it was his voice. He—He called me his … his flame."

I nodded quickly. My heart pounded as alarm flooded my chest. My control of the situation was slipping through my fingers, but I couldn't stop, not when she seemed to be closer to our side than she ever had before. I wanted to reach out to her then, but my heavy limbs forced me to continue using the tree for support.

"It was real," I argued. "It's an ability I—"

"Please!" Elias scoffed. "You think because he called her by their old nickname that somehow proves it was real? You expect her to believe Rune didn't just tell you about the name for this farce to work?"

Myra went rigid, and the anguish clouding her features morphed. Anger moved in like a thundercloud, and she slowly rose to her feet with a deadly calm. The usual gold of her eyes began to change like it was being lit from within.

"Myra," I pleaded desperately in an effort to get her to listen. A cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck, and dread sank its claws into my gut. "He's wrong. That was Bal—"

"I planned on dealing with you on the battlefield," Elias growled at me. He moved to stand directly beside Myra, who trembled again. Only, I knew it was no longer grief making her shake. It was something far more sinister.

"However," Elias continued. "You clearly don't deserve the generosity I've given you. If you manage to make it out of here unscathed, I'll pretend this didn't happen. If not, though, I'll send your head as a message for what happens when you cross the line. Myra," Elias barked before tipping his chin in my direction. "Kill her."

Myra screamed again, but this time, it was all fury. She reared her arm back and launched a flame the size of three basketballs right at me. I narrowly avoided the deadly blow by falling to the side behind another tree, which acted as a shield. At least temporarily. The bark and trunk cracked after the blow, and I looked up with a startled gasp as the looming tree began to snap and fall backwards. Pushing past the weakness flooding my limbs, I rushed to my feet and quickly ran to the side to avoid getting crushed.

And I didn't stop running.

Starbursts exploded behind my eyes with the threat of passing out as I stumbled through the trees with a fuming Myra still giving chase, launching fire at me from seemingly every direction. I pulled water from the air and ground as I ran for the Morardian Sea, and I blindly threw it behind me to create barriers of ice to slow Myra. Each time, I heard the shattering of ice, and her screams drew nearer as the heat radiating off her fire began to lap at my ankles.

I pumped my arms and legs as hard as my worn body could, and just when I reached the sandy beach, I felt Myra surge close behind me. I called on the ocean in front of me, and it rushed to my outstretched arms. I quickly spun around and threw it in front of me like a wall just as Myra slammed her clawed, flaming fists into it. The force of the blow and mixing of the two elements sent me hurtling backward. I rolled across the sand, gasping for air, and pain fired through every limb in my body.

Myra huffed as she stalked toward me. Her eyes glowed, and smoke billowed around her from the path she'd taken through the forest. Fire appeared in each of her footfalls along the sand.

I tried pushing myself up, but I fell back to the sand as dark webs stitched themselves across my vision.

Don't. Please. Can't faint now.

Myra let out an animalistic snarl and summoned a flame so hot, it burned blue in her grasp. I watched as she held it above her, and I just knew. This was it. I couldn't move. I was starting to fade.

But I couldn't give up.

"Water," I whispered, listening to the sea behind me.

Suddenly, the sound of crashing waves rose high into the sky, and a shadow fell over Myra. She didn't even seem to notice as she launched her flame right at me, but the water was faster. The sea fell between us like an impenetrable wall. She wailed as it cocooned me in its cold grasp and pulled me out to sea. The giant, watery hand tugged me under the surface and out of her reach.

My eyes slipped closed as I drifted deeper into the ocean, and I listened to Myra's muffled angry screams from the surface. The bitter, hateful sound was the last thing I heard before the inky webs darting across my eyes finally consumed me.