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His words screamed in my mind as I stared at that blood, at all that deep indigo blood.
I had planned for this for years, but even with the plan and skill before me I could not shake the feeling that I was missing something.
Pulled as we were, all I could see was Elara. All of the fury I had seen from her before blazed through those bright eyes, blazed through the tightness in her jaw, through her magic that I felt absolutely everywhere.
“This is supposed to be a joyous occasion, let’s not ruin it shall we?” Dalyah said as the familiar sound of a blade against the whetting stone cut over everything, I only knew others were there by the gasps as she held the blade above us. The chains were pulled so taut I could not even turn enough to see it. If I was to stop it I would have to pull the entire thing over, use it as a barricade as I burned through the chains.
“It’s time.”
The ground rumbled beneath us at her proclamation, but it wasn’t my magic which had called to it. It was hers. She was a wielder of wôder, of ice. How would the soil of Okivo answer to her? I could not feel the power of vio in her. In fact, now that I was close, with her long silhouette towering over us like an apparition, I couldn’t feel anything.
It was as though she had no magic at all, even though I could feel her everywhere.
“We bond with blood the magic of Okivo–” Dalyah’s voice rumbled over everything as I focused at Elara, at the violent hatred that bled there, at the determination that colored her cheeks.
“I can’t let her do this,” Elara whispered to me, her voice near a snarl as her cheek was smashed into the dried blood. “Not anymore. I have to fight her.”
My entire life had pulled me to this moment, to this death. I had enough time saved that I could try again and again. I could find victory somewhere in the time I had saved.
But everything was wrong. I didn’t know why, but this was not right.
Do not be afraid to fail.
“No, Elara. We can’t. Not now.”
“Not now?” I could have sworn her voice broke, some of that strength and fire that was erupting through her eyes dimming in a pain that I wasn’t sure I understood.
“Trust me. I need you to trust me.” I said it, but I wasn’t sure I trusted myself.
I was sure something else was breaking in me as I looked beyond the princess, to the line of priestesses standing there, and I swore I saw Lily standing amongst them. I swore I saw her watch as I reached the altar. Reached that final goal.
And I failed.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, unsure if it was to Elara or to my sister as the blade pierced through my hand, the sharp edge sliding through skin and sinew, and grinding against bone before it came out the other end and sliced through hers, not just our blood, but our very flesh blending together.
As one.
I had been cut before. I had felt a sword and barbed ends cut through me before. By the Goddess, I had been speared through by a harpoon only a fortnight before. I had never screamed.
This time, I screamed.
The sound ripped from my throat only seconds before Elara’s did, her scream and sob mangled in a defeat that echoed through me as clear and as panged as the bells on the Qits when a boat went down.
I felt it everywhere. But it was so much more, so much worse.
I didn’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t the feeling of fire that spread through my skin as her blood mixed with mine and I felt her inside of me.
Elara’s scream echoed over everything, that mournful bell becoming a song as the bright light that I had seen in the clearing, that had erupted over the carriage, that I had stared at on the surface of the altar, exploded from us. Pure white light whipped through the Temple like a gale, sending everyone back. Screams and shouts of shock and fear rippled through the Temple as the sun consumed the world.
The light faded into a hollow ebony in a second flood of wind, this one pulling back and leaving everything in a pitch as dark as night until it too began to fade, leaving everyone staring in shock at the pair of us lashed to the altar, our hands locked together by the blade that was still between us, a blade that looked like a white snake.
The altar that was now absolutely stained with bright red blood. Elara slumped over it. That wind had not just breathed over her, but cut through her. Ripples of red streaking over skin and clothes like the beasts that I had seen in the high desert of Dám. The red and white stripes of the horses suited them, turning them into the mirages you see on the sands. But to see them there, that bright red the color of blood, my heart clenched as though I was still screaming.
By the Goddess. What had I done?
I didn’t second guess anything. Three snakes were already charging toward me. No, toward her, their hands out to grab her, hurt her. I wasn’t sure which, but it didn’t matter. Seeing them rush her snapped something inside of me and I flung myself between them, one hand still chained and locked to hers, the blade still plunged through our hands. I reached for my blade, remembering too late that they were gone.
No matter, I pulled at my magic, ready to face them, to protect the princess who didn’t rouse from where she sagged over the altar.
