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I had asked myself the same question as I had watched the events unfold. I only had one answer.
“I might have told him the altar was not the end, and to not be afraid to fail,” I admitted quietly, my insides still reeling at the truth of what I had done. “I had meant it to speak to his conquest to kill the queen and to not be afraid to meet his end. It appears that message may not have been interpreted as planned. I simply wanted him to keep his head.”
“You shouldn’t keep yours!” Lyani shouted, punching me again and sending me back into the wall. Ryndle didn’t even try to pull her back that time.
“It’s so nice to know how I am respected in my role, especially amongst my siblings,” I grumbled rubbing my jaw where she had hit me. Lyani had always had a temper, and she had clearly been pushed to the edge of her control judging by the clouds that had now turned to the color of soot.
“Don’t give me that shit. Ryndle should be King you are–”
“Can we not drag me into it,” Ryndle grumbled, cutting her off as he pulled her back again. “Who should wear the crown is not our problem at the moment. Our problem is that Vaelar wasn’t able to complete his task, and two of the three are heading into the Runturin, not to the sister where they were supposed to complete their training before the light is unleashed.”
Lyani’s jaw worked as she glared, the storm clouds thankfully receding enough that I didn’t have to worry for my jaw as much.
“Will they be able to reach their goal on this new path?” she asked through the clench in her jaw and all my stress and worry from before came rushing back.
“I do not know,” I admitted. I was genuinely worried for what would come next. We had worked for centuries to place the pieces exactly where they needed to be, and now everything seemed to be crumbling. There was no path to follow.
“How can you not know? Walk forward and find out, set us on a new path.” Ryndle waved his hand to the side, motioning me into the future as though it was that easy.
It had been, but it wasn’t anymore. I had always had a broader Vynari power than Ryndle, my walking skill the strongest in an age. But not anymore.
“I cannot access my magic. That power is locked from me.” My nerves broke free of my restraint, boiling their way to the surface, but I locked them back down, shoving them down deep as I glanced from Ryndle to Lyani, presenting myself as their Eldest brother and the King I was supposed to be.
“What did you do, Vaelar?” Lyani hissed again and I stepped back, leaning against the smooth stone Temple in preparation of a hit that never came.
“I have done nothing, as I said. You said that the two were blood bound?” Lyani nodded at my question and my soul tangled further.
“I saw it with my own eyes.”
“Then that must be what has happened. When Caspyn’s magic was bound to hers, so was my own.” Again, my siblings looked between themselves in confusion. I did not blame them. I had kept this small thing to myself since I had figured it out nearly ten years ago. Well, ten years for me, it perhaps had only been weeks since I faced Caspyn in that burnt out hovel.
“Stop playing games, Vaelar–” Ryndle was snarling, but I held up my hand before my peacekeeper brother did something he regretted.
“Caspyn’s power of Vynari is not his own, it was stolen when his Sypher magic first erupted. It was the first power, and the first life, that he took.” I swallowed, refusing to look at Lyani as I spoke what came next. “His power is mine, taken from me when I die. When he kills me while I am bound in Dalyah’s clutches.”
I had expected a bigger reaction from that reveal, but neither of them so much as breathed.
“You can’t be serious. His Vynari power is not that strong.” Lyani said after a moment. It was clear that neither of them believed me. Ryndle even looked as though he was about to burst out laughing.
“It is not, because he does not know how to use it. But it is mine, and now, with his magic tied to hers, so is mine. I cannot walk. I cannot lead us. I am a bird flying without wings.”
I hated to admit it. This alone felt like more of a failure than anything else.
“So what does that mean for us?” Lyani’s voice was soft, those rain clouds moving in again. I knew what she had risked for this. I knew what she had given up. I had always told her she would not be able to keep her mate, but it seems she did not expect the pain that would accompany that loss.
I, however, knew that pain well.
I should have prepared my sister more.
I should have protected her.
Now, there was nothing I could do.
Well, almost nothing.
“We need to find the third.” I was firm. Lyani looked as though she wanted to punch me again.
“The third pillar?” Ryndle choked on the words. “Vaelar, we have searched for the third. You have walked through centuries looking for the third. We thought it was the girl, but we all know how that ended.”
