Chapter 58

The magic from the ward hummed inside my bones like a never-ending melody I couldn't stop.

A long time ago, before I'd known what such awful power could do, I'd coveted this magic like it was the rarest, most precious thing in the world. Now…I feared it.

I swallowed, scanning the faces of my friends. My allies.

None of them shared my hesitation, this sense of impending doom. None of them wanted to consider another option, anything to prevent this cataclysmic rise of power that would transform this realm forever.

Cosimo gestured to the freshly churned-up ground around us, the same light brown as any other patch of dirt in Solarys, but here…power rumbled beneath my feet as if this realm trembled at the storm that was coming.

"We used an extraction spell to separate the iron from viable soil, which took a few hours, and we were only able to cleanse this small section before my friends expended their magic."

"How did the king do this in the first place, and why?" Zor asked, squatting down and running his fingers through the dirt.

"A magicless population is easier to control," Cosimo mused. "In my lifetime, Solarys was never known for its magic, only for their military might, which means the nullification of magic goes further back than I've been alive. If magic existed in Solarys when Serpens was first banished here, there could have been magic wielders powerful enough to cast a spell to cover this land in a layer of iron."

"In order to keep the population compliant." Raziel scratched his chin.

"Carex had killed their father to inherit the Fae magic," Zor pointed out. "Serpens had to devise another way to rule over his people and keep his brother at bay."

"So he created the army." Zephryn shook his head, gazing out over the miles and miles of encamped soldiers. "Not magic but every bit as powerful, and capable of killing thousands."

"In theory"—Cosimo's eyes landed on me—"I would open the portal. Anaria would summon the magic which would then cross into Solarys." The astrologer indicated the barren plot of earth. "The magic should rise from this swath, causing a chain reaction that would sweep across the entire realm. The force should be enough to wipe away the wall and unify both realms."

"The last time the magic was activated by the spilled blood of ten thousand soldiers." As one, we glanced to the unsuspecting army camped nearby, Zorander's mouth tightening into a thin line.

"Many are good men with families." He held up a hand. "Misguided men but not inherently bad. They don't deserve to become sacrificial lambs."

"The Oracle also cast some sort of spell, a summoning spell according to Adele," Tavion reminded us. "Her magic played a part in that resurgence. Let's hope not anywhere close."

I closed my eyes, letting the hum from the ward sink into me, weighing the risks. The magic wasn't inherently bad. The forest had listened to my pleas and helped rescue our friends trapped underground.

Maybe…maybe the magic would listen to me today.

I looked up at Raziel. "Before we open the portal, before we do this, I have to…cross to the other side. Speak to the magic and make a request."

I knew how foolish I sounded; I didn't need Cosimo's eyeroll to tell me what he was thinking.

"Give me five minutes," I told Cosimo, "or I won't do this, no matter what we risk by defying the Oracle. We still have two days left, by my count, and if there is a way to satisfy her and save lives, then it's worth five fucking minutes."

The astrologer held up his hands in mock surrender, his eyes softening. "Once you're there, don't wander far from the wall." Even as we spoke, the portal flared with light and three…four Fae stumbled through, clothes in tatters, looking shell-shocked.

"Is this…" One of them stared around in awe, mouth falling open when he spotted the army stretching out for as far as they could see. "Is this Solarys?"

"It's your lucky day. I'll be your tour guide." Tavion tilted his head, hand resting on the pommel of his sword as he pointed behind him. "Blackcastle's that way, about a half day's walk." Then Tavion's eyes met mine and his expression gentled.

"But you look like you've been on your feet for days. Deepwood's less than an hour down that path. There's a decent tavern called Mossy Mug Inn. Here." He dug in his pocket and pressed two gold gilder into the male's dirty palm.

"Enough for two nights. And dinner."

My heart got even tighter when he added, "The food's not fancy, but it's good, and the beds are clean. Get some sleep before you decide what to do next."

They limped off down the trail toward the tavern where we'd stayed a few weeks ago, then I went back to studying the portal. "You're a big softie, Tavion Montgomery."

He elbowed me in the side. "Maybe you bring out the best in me, wife."

"Hmmm." I kept staring at that portal, pondering the meaning of inevitability. "Maybe your best was always there and you kept it hidden behind your big, grumpy exterior." I stepped closer to Raz and took his hand. "Ready to find out what's on the other side?"

"No," he said, but then, faster than I could even blink, our feet sank into the rich, loamy soil, acid-green ferns whispering against our thighs and acid green moss coating every surface.

The air here was humid, no trace of cold, dry, stale air from the other side. Instead, our every breath dripped with dampness, moisture brushing my face like a soft caress.

Now that we were here…I drew a deep breath, tasting growing things and burgeoning life.

And even that wasn't enough to erase the coating of iron on my tongue from Solarys.

"Wow." I could hardly believe what I was seeing. "This is…It's like we were gone for a hundred years."

"It's not cool, either. More like…" Raziel squinted up through the leaves at the azure blue sky. "More like midsummer."

The last time I'd been here, Zorander and I stood on a barren wasteland facing Solok and the Mistress, the full might of the Caladrius army at their backs. Ember had been alive, I hadn't trusted any of these males, and I'd been as powerless as any human. Now everything was different.

"What's your plan?"

I glanced down at the knife gripped in his hand. "Do you really think that's necessary?"

He shot me a crooked smile but didn't sheath the knife. "You made this place, so you tell me."

"I didn't make this place." I walked to the nearest tree and laid my hands on the rough trunk. "I just…brought the magic back. This is what Old Valarian looked like before the Fae came. Before humans even existed."

"Did you ever stop to think?—"

"Shush," I told him. "Let me listen."

"Shutting up, princess," Raziel said good-naturedly.

Magic flowed through the tree, through this entire forest, like lifeblood, pumping everything full of life and power. Magic flowed in through my palms, my own throbbing power echoing every pulse of this forest. Then I realized…I'd left my iron bands with Tavion. There was nothing—fucking nothing—keeping my power in check.

"Get down," I screamed at Raziel before a wave of magic exploded out of me. Not destructive…but nourishing, somehow, ferns and flowers unfurling around us, the bark on the trees cracking as trunks expanded to near-mythical girths, and roots snaking over the forest floor.

Raziel and I ended up on our backs, staring at that impossibly blue sky through the canopy. "Are you okay?" Raz's breathing was a bit shallow.

I pushed to my elbows and grinned at him over the crushed ferns. "I'm fine. Okay, no channeling magic over here or we'll have trees that touch the clouds. But I have to make the magic understand what I need it to do once we open that portal."

"What do you need it to do?" Raziel rolled over onto his belly.

"I want it to fix the land but leave the people untouched. And the animals," I added, working my fingers down into the black, wet soil. "I want to repair Solarys but not harm anything living there." I closed my eyes, trying to put that idea into words, to somehow convey that to the power humming through every part of this realm.

As if everything—the trees, the plants, the soil—was all connected.

I dug my fingers in deeper until my wrists were encased in cool, damp earth. Help me save this world. Help me return Valarian to what it once was. But bring no harm to the souls who wander these lands.

The ground rumbled softly, enough for Raziel to let out a strangled sound.

We will open the portal. The king poisoned the land on the other side, ruined it with iron, but if you can save Solarys, please, please restore it to what it once was. But there are many Fae there, humans and animals. Innocents who do not deserve to die.

Please spare them. Please.

The forest went still, not so much as a bird chirping, and every hair on my body stood up. Then a faint breeze swept through, tangling my hair around my face, and magic became a wild song in my blood, racing through me then settling like the power had suddenly gone dormant.

I pulled my dirty, blackened hands from the earth.

"Did it…work?" Raz asked. "Because that sounded like an answer to me."

I blew out a breath. "There's only one way to find out." I glanced at the portal. "Get us on the other side and let's get that thing open."

Behind us, I swore the entire forest sighed in expectation.

An hour later,we decided it was time.

Zeph, Torin, and Simon left for Blackcastle to erect a ward around the Keep and guide as many Fae and humans inside as they could convince to seek shelter.

Zorander was moving the army away from here, the rising cloud of brown dust obscuring their movements enough for us to know he'd succeeded in rousting them into action.

Cosimo and Raziel erected a shield of magic that wouldn't, in all actuality, protect us from whatever was about to roar through that portal.

Because when that wall fell…

Please, please keep Tristan safe. Wherever he is, whatever he's doing, keep him safe.I wrapped my prayer around him, that ever-present dread gurgling back up inside me. He had to be back at the Keep by now.

He had to be.

I held onto that thought as I gazed up at the shimmering ward stretching as far as I could see. No, when that thousand-year-old wall collapsed, the crash would devastate everything within range.

"Ready?" Cosimo asked with a slightly crooked grin.

"You've got to be kidding," I muttered, rallying my magic, this strange new mixture like some bastardized marriage between life and death. My old, shadowy magic, black and cold, tangled with this new power that tasted like spring and smelled like a summer day after a long rain.

Somehow—and I might be slightly insane—I had a shred of hope for the future, as if I wasn't about to incinerate all of Solarys.

"At least there are no Reapers this time," Raz said cheerfully. "They were seriously the worst."

"Keep that shield up, Raz. Don't let your magic buckle," Cosimo warned softly.

"Worry about yourself, old man," Raz taunted, his dark eyes flashing. I refrained from rolling my eyes as he and Tavion grinned and bumped fists. "I've never had a problem keeping it up."

"For fuck's sake. Just…" I blew out a shaky breath. "Open the portal."

I stepped closer to the doorway, my power rallying, the scent of freshly struck lightning stinging my nostrils as Cosimo pried the doorway open. The entire wall groaned then rippled like a shimmering wave down the full length, as far as I could see. I flinched, waiting for the deluge to wipe us away, but light flared then a wash of warm, humid air flooded over me.

Caladrius smelled so alive, every breath settling into my lungs like I'd put down roots and they were delving deeper and deeper into the exhausted, barren ground beneath me. Feeding the ground, giving it life.

"Now, Anaria. Do it now." Cosimo's voice came from far away, a brush of sound that was lost in the rushing winds curling around me and the playful breeze that lifted my hair and kissed my cheeks.

Life.

The air was filled with the promise of life.

A future for this realm if only I could somehow harness this power and make the wild magic save this realm like it had saved Caladrius.

I lifted my hands, letting my shadows spill out filled with a galaxy of stars, like I'd reached into the heavens and dragged the constellations down to the mortal realms. I ran my fingers through the balmy wind, leaving a glistening, shining trail of light behind.

"All I want is a better future for us all," I whispered, but the words got lost, or maybe I'd only imagined them, but then…I swore even the wind paused again to listen.

"I want things to be as they were, alive and growing. I am sick of all this death. I am tired of Old Gods and corrupt kings." A certainty settled into me then, a rightness that while even if I didn't fully grasp what was about to happen…

We'd been brought together for a purpose.

Torin and her males were here to join our fight, to free this world from the invisible chains that bound it for an eternity. Since the Old Gods landed here eons ago. And once they were destroyed, and perhaps us as well, this world could truly thrive like it was meant to.

I didn't say any of this aloud.

Only felt that rightness in my bones, yet the magic understood, sweeping past me like a tempest of great and terrible purpose, churning through the emptiness, the dry, brittle cold of this realm like a thundering storm.

Power boomed up and down the ward, sending flocks of startled birds exploding from the trees around us, bending and warping the air in both directions, my ears hollowing out. Everyone braced themselves, faces shielded, crouched against whatever was coming.

Please. Please let this realm survive what's coming.

We fell to our knees when the wall crashed down, the ear-shattering bellow of an ancient fortification finally—finally—breaking apart. Magic that had remained unbroken for a millennium fell, from Meridian Bay all the way to the Taranth Mountains, and then…

"Get down," Raz screamed, wrapping a shield of his magic around us seconds before the shockwave hit.

I reached for Tavion, but all I saw was black when the magic exploded into Solarys.

Darkness and Raziel's weight on top of me, his body shuddering as he held me in place, didn't let me so much as raise my head. Over the roaring I heard shouting—Cosimo, maybe. It was hard to tell over the pressure building in my ears, blood trickling from my nose faster and faster.

I sent my own magic out, by instinct more than anything, letting my shadows twine with Raz's, fortifying his shield, patching holes, and shoring up weak spots as fast as they appeared, not knowing if it was enough. Raz panted against my back as I fed more and more magic straight into him now, uncaring of the marks or us turning into monsters.

Only surviving this.

This was cataclysmic, being this close to the nexus. We should have…

"Stay down," Raz grunted, "Don't you dare move, Anaria." His voice was raspy. Pained.

I stayed down, but I also sent my magic rippling outwards, shoving the storm back, creating a pocket of hot, humid air around us smelling of freshly struck lightning and crushed leaves. I lifted my head enough to see Tavion climb to his knees and vomit, Cosimo rubbing his face, staring at me in either awe or fury, I couldn't quite tell.

"Raz." I tried to wiggle free. "Raz?"

He grunted, then Tavion rolled him off me.

We were inside a bubble—like the one the Oracle had conjured—the magical storm streaming past in a blur of lightning-flecked shadow, faster than anything should be able to move.

"Heal him." Tavion gently rolled Raz onto his belly, baring his teeth at the astrologer. "This was your godsdamned idea. Fucking heal him."

Oh gods. The magic had shredded Raziel's back, his skin covered in long, deep gashes and blistering burns, steam still rising from what remained of his clothes.

"Move." Cosimo shoved up beside Tavion and light poured from his hands, rushing over Raziel's torn skin. Flesh knit together faster than I'd ever seen and burned skin turned smooth. Raz's eyes fluttered open, clear of pain.

I rocked back on my heels as outside the dome of magic a new world was reborn.