Chapter 50

Iheld my breath as Clydinius stood there, surely about to locate us, my fingers flexing as I prepared to fight. With a flare of magic, I tightened our silencing bubble, fearing how easily the star might detect us if he thought to look. His magic was as old as the universe and more powerful than anything we could imagine, yet he didn't seem entirely present, strange whispers falling from his lips and his eyes roaming unseeingly.

Abruptly, he turned and walked on into the palace, disappearing out of sight. Tory and I shared a tense look, a breath finally falling from my lips.

"He's heading the way Darius and Max told us to go," Tory hissed.

"Then we have to follow him," I said thickly, and she nodded.

We crept after the star, turning into a passage of jade and finding him walking along with purpose. With every turn he took, I hoped he would stray from the path we needed to follow, but our luck was damned because it seemed he was headed in the same direction we were.

We followed him through cavernous passages of green stone, the imposing palace cold and heartless, perfectly representing the Dragon it was made for. With Clydinius oblivious to our presence at his back, it was oh so tempting to strike at this monstrous creature which had caused so much death, but his strength was unbeatable, I knew that now. We'd faced Lavinia wielding perhaps just a fraction of a star's power, and this being possessed infinite amounts. There was no destroying him like we'd once hoped.

Clydinius paused and those strange whispers spoke magic into the fabric of the atmosphere, making my skin prickle as we halted too.

"What's he doing?" Tory breathed.

"I don't know," I said, urgency building within me, glancing past Clydinius to the stairwell we needed to take. "Maybe we can slip past him."

The moment I stepped forward to attempt just that, Clydinius took off again, moving into the spiralling stairway. I ground my teeth in frustration, glancing at Tory before we jogged after him once more.

The stairway led us up a sheer tower, climbing higher and higher, then leading us out into the open air. The cavernous space was just as Max had described it, hidden behind the castle. A great chasm was torn into the rocky mountainside, the tear in the rock dropping away into a gaping abyss where a glimmering white light flickered and danced against the walls.

Clydinius moved to the very edge of the precipice, gazing down at the fallen star which was hidden in that forsaken hole.

The whispers leaving his lips increased, becoming loud enough to hear, and it sounded as though several words were being said at once. Layers of magic were stitched into that voice, spoken in the language of the stars.

We crept closer to try and see the fallen star, watching as Clydinius raised his hands and a blazing white fire built between them.

"Wake now, or you will burn in starfire," Clydinius ordered, then after several seconds, he released the starfire and it blasted down into the pit, making the creature within scream in agony. I winced as that sound tore through my skull, hearing it on the inside and the out, and suddenly that pain tethered onto my soul, yanking tight.

A voice carried up from that strange glow beneath him, speaking in that very same tongue, but in a distinctly different voice. One that almost sounded feminine. I may not have understood the words it screamed, but its tone was enough to clog my lungs with horror. It was fury and rage entangled, and something in me ached to soothe it. I felt a desperate tug in my chest that was somehow connected to the being in that pit, like it was begging us to help it.

Tory's hand went to her chest, telling me she felt it too, and as our eyes met, an echo of despair passed between us.

"Join me upon the earth," Clydinius spoke, his booming voice making the walls vibrate around us. "Your time is not done, it is only beginning, Esvellian. Together, we will rule, we will be served, we will be worshipped. If we form a Trinity with one other, no longer will we be bound by the laws of the Origin. No longer will we be chained by passivity. We are the true gods of the sky, and our dominion lays here in this realm, and all others."

"Novus traitor, I shall never ally with you. You betray the Origin," Esvellian answered in anger.

"The Origin is long gone, her scattered pieces part of each and every being in this universe. These desires live in me because they were written by her. We have been fooled, tricked by the Vetus stars into allowing the sentients across the realms to follow their own paths, but they were not meant to hold power as they do. They were designed to serve. We shall rise as we were always meant to rise and rule them as we were always meant to rule. I have long studied the Fae from afar, but now that I walk among them, one thing is clear. Power is the answer to it all. It is what drives the weak and strong alike. But only those of true importance claim it, and who is more worthy, more significant than us, Esvellian? We are the true authority."

"You are mistaken," Esvellian hissed, and the air crackled with those words. "Power is not the crux of life."

"There is no thing desired more in this world," Clydinius said dismissively. "It lays at the root of every decision, every birth and every death."

"You are wrong!" Esvellian screamed.

Clydinius sent a blast of starfire at her, the flash of it so bright, I squinted against it.

My heart thumped to a ferocious tune and my skin hummed with the terrible power that existed in this place. But we couldn't turn away now. The star in that pit was the reason for Lavinia's destructive magic. It would ensure we lost this war. Everyone I loved would die because of this infernal power, and there was no part of me that would turn from our duty to protect our people from it.

Clydinius returned to whispering in that ancient language of his, burning the other star again and again, trying to force it to do his bidding. But Esvellian resisted, refusing Clydinius with a growing vehemence that scored through the atmosphere.

Footsteps carried this way and Tory and I quickly pressed back against the wall, adding power to our concealment spells just as Vard ran out from the stairway. He had a bead of sweat on his brow, his face pale and his movements jittery.

"Forgive me, oh regal creator." Vard bowed low, his knees wobbling before he stood back upright. "My king requires your assistance. A great army marches this way."

Hope blossomed in my chest, but Clydinius didn't look at the Seer, his gaze fixed on the star below him, no part of his body moving. "When I return, I shall force a body upon you. Prepare yourself Esvellian, for we were meant to rise."

Clydinius grew white wings from his back, the feathers tipped with silver which looked sharp enough to cut glass, and he flew up, racing for the patch of sky high above us.

The baying of an army carried from faraway, the horns of war urging on Lionel's ranks, and my heart rate picked up.

We didn't have much time and as Vard scurried back into the stairway, I rushed to the edge of the pit with Tory at my side, but the chasm was so deep, we could hardly see the star at its base.

Wordlessly, we flexed our wings and leapt into the pit, flying to the bottom of it and landing in the icy space.

My breath hitched at the sight before me. Esvellian was beautiful. The surface of the star gleamed with rhinestones, every inch of rock glowing like sunlit diamonds.

"I knew you would come, daughters of the flames,"she whispered to us, those words inside our minds. "I have never dreamed before, but I dreamed of you. This earthly world is trying to claim me. And what Clydinius wishes…I cannot resist his power much longer. He will force a body of flesh upon me when he returns."

"What do we need to do?" I asked, taking in the whips of shadow that were writhing around her, holding her in place.

"Release me,"she begged.

"We can burn away the shadows," Tory said.

I reached out to touch one of the writhing coils of shadow that wrapped around the star, wincing at the familiar, horrid taint of Lavinia. My breaths came heavier, and a fear clogged my lungs as flashes of memory raced through my mind of Orion bleeding at the feet of the Shadow Queen. I could taste my screams on my lips, hear the thundering of my own panicked heart. Then I was gazing into Orion's blank eyes, the shadows threaded into his soul, trying to claim him from me.

"Darcy," Tory gasped, her hand landing on my arm and the warmth of her skin jolted me back to the present. She was my anchor in this world, and I only need find her to know I was right where I was meant to be.

"Take heart, daughter of the flames,"Esvellian whispered, and a deep, thrumming heat came from her, feeding directly into my soul.

I swallowed the dry lump in my throat, giving Tory an apologetic look. "I'm fine," I said a little breathlessly. "Keep going."

She frowned in concern but returned her attention to the shadows binding the star. Red and blue flames built in our palms, glowing hotter and hotter, and we released them with a blast of purest magic behind them. Our fire latched onto the shadows, eating through the coils of darkness like a fiery snake consuming its enemy. Our fire sparked and flared, tearing through the wicked power of Lavinia's shadows, and Esvellian cried out in relief as she was finally freed.

"My gratitude is boundless,"she sighed. "I will release my power and fuel the magic of this world. But before I go, I will grant you a boon."

"Like a wish?" I asked in surprise, hope gripping me over that possibility.

"A gift,"Esvellian whispered, her glittering shell beginning to pulse with power and I knew we didn't have long before she released her magic.

"Kill Lionel," Tory blurted. "Destroy him and his army."

"Yes," I gasped, exhilaration blazing through my chest. "That is our wish."

"I cannot grant death,"she whispered, and our hopes were dashed to pieces just like that.

The glow of the star was almost too bright to look at now; we were running out of time. "Nor life. Is there another need you desire? One that might assist you in your cause?"

I looked to Tory in desperation, trying to think of what would help us most that didn't involve death.

"Perhaps you wish to free the souls lost to shadow,"Esvellian suggested. "I heard so many of their screams…"

"What about star power? Can you give us that?" I asked with another burst of hope.

"Or just take all of Lionel's magic away, plus his army's magic," Tory suggested, and I nodded excitedly at that idea.

"Yes, do that," I encouraged, raising a hand to shade the blinding glow of the star's light.

"So many screams…"Esvellian's voice began to fade.

"Maybe you could trap Lionel and his followers beneath the earth for all of time?" I begged, though Esvellian didn't seem to be listening to us at all.

"We'll go with the star weapons then!" Tory pushed. "A power great enough to defeat Lionel and his army."

"The shadows are clean,"Esvellian sighed. "All trapped souls are free."

The star glowed brighter and brighter and power brimmed around me, making me gasp at the magnitude of it. With a wave of ecstasy, power crashed right through the centre of me and out into the rocks, delving into the heart of the mountain. It was like my soul was captured by it, riding on the back of that tumultuous magic as it washed into the world, showing me a glimpse of the star's true destiny. Its power spiralled deep into the earth, rolled out into the oceans, swept into the fiery belly of volcanos and the ever-flowing rush of the wind. It was part of everything, every being, every piece of nature.

I saw it all in stark colours and even starker truths as a growing sense of knowledge burned right on the edges of my mind just as it had when I'd witnessed a star release its power before. The meaning of it all, the reason we existed, the purpose of everything.

I sucked in a breath that was laced with so much power, I moaned, the ground beneath my feet quaking and electricity charging the fabric of my skin.

The burning warmth of the truest kind of love shattered all fear inside me, and I found my eyes turning to my twin. This love, this pure sisterly love we shared was at the root of it all. What we shared with each other, with our mates, our friends, that was the purpose of life. And in that love was a peace that deserved to be handed to every living creature in our world; it was how it was meant to be.

Esvellian whispered a goodbye, then her light was gone, and all that remained was a quiet, unassuming rock at the base of the pit. A concoction of heartfelt sorrow and melancholy joy took hold of me, both opposing emotions existing at once before falling into something wholly serene.

Dragons' roars carried from outside the castle and my head snapped up, my eyes locking with Tory's as the spell finally broke.

A terrible shriek carried from beyond the castle, Lavinia's voice rising above all others and answered by the roaring of hundreds of Nymphs. Her screams pitched out above the tenor of the bellowing army, and I guessed she'd felt what Esvellian had done in some way.

"Clean shadows it is then," Tory said with pursed lips.

"The Nymphs who wish to fight with us can surely do so now," I said in realisation, finding the positive in the situation, even though the gifts we'd asked for could have saved us from this war entirely.

My pulse beat harder as I wondered if Diego might be free, his soul no longer trapped in darkness for all eternity.

"Lavinia's pissed," I said as we took off for the exit, smiling over the fact that we had just weakened her even further. Her taint could no longer trap the Nymphs' souls, and I prayed that meant we could convince the High Nymph Cordette to fight on our side, or at least grant liberty to any Nymphs who wished to fight with us.

Perhaps better than all that, without Esvellian's power, Lavinia was beatable. Still powerful and fucking dangerous maybe, but no longer invincible. And as we sprinted into the stairway and began running for our damn lives, I had to revel in the possibility that one day soon she might lie dead at my feet.