My mind was dull, my vision rippling at the edges.
“More,” Echnid instructed, his mist gathering closer.
I did as he said.
Until the Rapture Chamber was flooded with light. Until the bird was flapping its small wings uncontrollably, its twittering growing higher pitched.
Until, in a final burst of gold, the night went silent.
And a thud echoed as it fell to the floor of the cage.
My magic snapped back into me, the force ricocheting through my body. And as I watched the bird, horror dawned.
I’d…I’d killed it. My palms grew damp, throat constricting.
No, no, no. It had been too much, too strong. My myth magic hadkilledit.
“Must not have been a good source,” was all Echnid said.
Haziness washed over me. The entire chamber turned dull again, and as I scratched at the Curse mark on my wrist, the guilt dissipated.
We sat back at the table, the lack of chirping a deafening silence, and Echnid continued to tell me of his plans. As if nothing unusual had occurred.
And the meetings went on.
“How will you do it?” I finally asked him one night. “Dismiss the other gods?”
“I am working on that piece, my seraph,” he said, grimacing over the words. “I think I have something that will protect us in the meantime.” His gaze flicked across me. “How is your training?”
“Good.” While the nights with Echnid had become a blur, the time I spent atop the mountains exercising my magic was always clarifying. “I’m much more controlled than I was a few weeks ago.”
“Excellent. Now, it is late. Valyrie will escort you back.” He rose from his seat and extended a hand toward the door. I hadn’t noticed the Starsearcher Angel’s entrance.
“Where’s Damien?” I asked, but I rose, not truly caring about the answer. If Echnid said Valyrie would lead me to my suite, that was okay with me.
“Damien had some work to complete tonight, so I offered,” Valyrie said. The Starsearcher gestured to the hall, sprinkles of silver dripping from her fingertips with the movement. “This way, Ophelia.”
I cast one confirming glance at Echnid, and he nodded.
Valyrie’s voice was commanding yet gentle. It was easy to see how the warriors in her races could have been bent to her ruthless will so easily. She walked barefoot through the moonlit marble halls of the palace, starlight seeming to follow in her wake. From her hair, her steps.
“Is that your magic?” I asked as silver faded into the floor.
“It is, but not the Angellight you possess,” she answered, not pausing her graceful gait.
I hurried to catch up, my wings heavy against my back. Spirits, my whole body was heavy after days of training and rough sleep.
“What magic do you have beyond Angellight?” I asked. “Is it the Fates?”
“You are very clever, Ophelia,” she said. “Because of my connection to the Fates and Moirenna, I often have an excess of power. Its physical form tends to manifest as this.” She waved a hand, the silver sprinkles drifting to the floor like fresh snow.
“Will my magic be like that?”
Pulling up the seraph power I’d gotten from the Starsearcher, I sent a beam of star-flecked light ahead of us. It bounced across the marble columns lining the second-floor corridor, harsher than hers.
Valyrie encouraged, “Envision it softer, like the moonlight on our skin. Cool and an essence of the universe rather than a force.”
I did as she said, picturing my light morphing into her celestial one, reshaping it as we walked. I spun galaxies in my mind, stars racing through the skies for eons and meteors crashing. Bridges opening among the realms, carving paths between worlds.
