“You swore you wouldn’t steal any more magic,” Driscoll shouted, still clutched in the grip of a tree. He struggled against it.
My stepmother studied her nails like she was bored. “I believe I said I wouldn’t steal any of her people’s magic. Correct me if I’m mistaken, but these are not her people.”
Penn watched as his magic flowed into the vial in my hand. He didn’t fight it, didn’t do anything except lean over and press his lips to mine.
The kiss, like a force of the purest magic, jolted something in me, a power I didn’t recognize. Like it was lighting my path out of the darkness.
Fight the dark with light.
My father’s words right before he died echoed in my head.
A determination settled in me. That vial. Everyone’s magic was trapped inside, and opening it would be the key to truly saving my court. My people. I felt Penn’s lips against mine, felt that force of light flowing through me, and I summoned everybit of strength I possessed, then watched as my fingers twitched, just the smallest amount, to open the vial of magic.
The top popped off, and smoke poured out of it, filling the room with all the colors of the rainbow. I didn’t need to break the magic, I just needed to set it free.
“How is this happening?” Jillian asked.
All the thieves raised their weapons, suspicion on their faces. Penn just held me in his arms, stroking my cheek.
“No.” My stepmother scrambled toward the vial, but it was too late.
Penn’s magic zapped back into him, and he jumped over my body and barreled into my stepmother as the other thieves gained their magic back, fighting against the sudden onslaught of tree branches and roots, flying leaves, slithering vines, and falling moss. My stepmother frantically flung out her hands, commanding her earth magic, but it was weakening as the vial emptied. The thieves were easily fighting back—and the trees, the leaves, everything was gaining its color again.
“What’s happening?” My stepmother looked around wildly. “What did you do?” she snarled at me while I still lay unconscious on the ground.
“She saved us,” Penn said, and then he drove his sword straight through my stepmother’s stomach. She gasped, slowly looking down as if she couldn’t believe it. Blood bloomed between her fingers, and she choked out a surprised sob. Her gaze wandered around the room, and she watched as the magic she’d kept trapped for so long slowly returned.
“I don’t understand,” she said between grunts.
Then she fell to her knees, her hands now completely painted by the blood.
She let out a harsh laugh. “You . . . didn’t win. They’re coming . . . for you.”
She collapsed to the ground, then, body still, resting in a pool of crimson.
I mourned for her, just like I’d mourned for my father.
She hadn’t deserved what happened to her. Hadn’t deserved my betrayal, hadn’t deserved my father’s. She made her choice in the end, cemented her fate, but this wasn’t the victory I thought it would be. It was just a sad end to a sad woman’s life.
I wanted to stay and watch, but I could feel myself fading, feel it getting harder to focus. They were going to be okay. My work here was done. I’d saved Elwen, and in doing so, I’d doomed myself.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Iheard his voice.
Come back.
Don’t leave me.
Fight.
I love you.
I wanted to stay in the dark, to burrow in and never leave, but that voice, that light, it drew me to it. I retreated back into the comfort of darkness over and over, yet the voice wouldn’t stop.
Come back.
Don’t leave me.
