Ideas swarm around my mind, each wilder than the next. I need to understand. If I don’t know what’s going on, I’m going to succumb to the depth of the madness that threatens to pull me under.
I push the doors.
The room, bathed in darkness, comes to life before my eyes. A green fire starts to roar on the adjoining wall, allowing my eyes to take in every detail.
I don’t move or breathe for several moments. Then I force myself to walk in.
This chamber has changed too. The heavy, large four-poster bed made of oak is new. Next to it, there’s a round, three-foot-tall table, upon which a vase full of fresh flowers provides the only semblance of decoration, and an armchair. There’s nothing else at all in the room.
It looks like a tomb.
In a way, it is.
I let my eyes slide to the bed last.
She’s on top of the bed, wrapped in layers of silk. Her skin looks pallid. Seeing the wild cascade of waves around her, I tighten my fist. The long locks are half white.
From the tips to the middle, her hair is dark purple, but the rest has returned to a luminous silver-gray. I’ve always known her like this. The color of her hair has been a fascination of mine. She’s beautiful, unique, and delicate beyond measure.
But now that I know what it means, those strands of silver terrify me.
The dark blood violet is the color of the strength of her bloodline. As it has half faded to silver-white, it means she’s lost energy. Lostpower.
I should have expected it—it’s been ten years. But seeing it makes me realize our days are numbered. In ten years, half her energy is gone. In another ten, she may be entirely taken by her own curse.
I try to distract myself, closing my eyes. When I do, I see nothing but her, as she used to be in our school days. Remote, indifferent to all, especially me. Proud. She used to tie her hair in complicated knots that completely hid its color. I loved her hair. It was striking, and looked so soft. I’ve always wanted to touch it.
I want to turn back. Ihaveto turn back. I should never have come here in the first place.
Instead, I take one step, and then another, until I stand right next to her.
Curled up on the bed next to her, there’s a bundle of black fur I mistake for a throw until it breathes, its chest rising and falling. I blink, watching the creature raise its head and set its fiery eyes on me.
A wyrfox. I’ve never seen one this tame—or this close.
The way it looks at me suggests that if I made one wrong move, my fingers would be gone.
I ignore the underlying threat, redirecting my attention where it belongs. As I approach, the fox hisses like an angry cat, and leaps off the bed. The wyr slinks back to the shadows of the night, hopping off the window.
“Vlari.” I didn’t mean to say her name out loud. I haven’t—not in ten years. But I call to her today.
There are plenty of things I want to say.Stay with us. Stay with me. Come back to me.
I kneel next to the bed, a hand hovering over hers. I daren’t touch her. I don’t want to feel how cold she is.
Howdeadshe is.
Vlari has sacrificed her life’s energy to power the wards that have saved our people. Almost half of Tenebris is behind the walls of Whitecroft, safe from our invaders, thanks to her.
And we’re losing her.
I let my hand wrap around hers. My eyes fly to my grasp.
She isn’t cold at all. She’s warm, and her pulse feels strong.
I look to her serene face, taking in her long-lashed closed eyes haloed by gray shadows.
Then, progressively, she disappears, fading away before my very eyes. I don’t understand. I don’t understand anything at all.
