AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Or it’s another lie,I couldn’t help but think, bitterness and anger eating me up.
“My sister started showing the signs of it nearly a month ago. She took a turn for the worse. That’s why I had to leave, Marion.Why I was called back so urgently. Why I’ve been gone. This dark magic…it’s almost consumed her. And once it does, there’s no way to go back. There’s no cure for this. Only death would be a relief. She would spend the rest of her days like a ghost. She wouldn’t be able to speak, food would taste like ash in her mouth, she would no longer feel the warmth of moonlight, and love would wither away in her chest.”
What he spoke of…could something horrible like that exist?
But then I remembered the Shade we’d encountered, very near to where Lorik was now. Lorik had told me the Shade hadwantedto die. He’d said it was a mercy.
“I cannot see my sister go through that,” Lorik confessed. “I would do anything to help her. To help all the Kelvarians who are afflicted with this cruel spell. Even if it means you hate me for it, Marion. Because this is bigger thanus, even if I wish, out of all the people in this world, that you weren’t the one who has exactly what I need.”
I didn’t know why I believed him.
But I did. I believed that he was telling me the truth about whatever was happening in the Below. Maybe that made me the biggest fool in the entire universe. Maybe that was why I didn’t trust anyone…because maybe I trusted too easily at first and never learned my lesson.
I heard the sad truth in Lorik’s voice. I saw it in his glowing eyes and in the pinching frown on his face, his features strange yet familiar to me.
I’d had the shadevine hive for years, had tended to it for years. The loss of it would feel like a dagger to my own chest…but how could I be that selfish?
“Wait here,” I said, my voice hollow. “Not that Peek would let you cross.”
Then I did what I knew was right, even if it hurt. With ice in my heart, I approached the night garden, walking beneath thetrellised entrance with slow steps. Only some of the glowflies were out in this storm—the majority of them were hunkered in their warm hives.
I approached the shadevine hive, trying to keep my tears from spilling down my cheeks. I hated what I had to do, but I’d always known…I would always sacrifice my glowflies for Allavari lives. Or apparently Kelvarian lives too.
Without a second thought, my cold hand shot into the hive, securing my fist around the warm heart—spongy in texture, the home of the queen—which seemed to beat under my palm with its magic. I could feel the glowflies wiggling against my hand, confused and agitated.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Then I plucked out the heart. The queen was inside, and I watched her crawl out as the storm picked up. She stung me on the back of my hand, the prick worse than a dagger—making me hiss in pain and bite my lip to keep from crying out—and then she disappeared…flying off into the night.
Gone. Just like that.
The rest of the glowflies buzzed around me, a halo of blue light like Lorik’s eyes. None of them stung me, however—only their queen had. I watched as they flew in dizzying circles, desperate in their confusion.
Lorik was watching me with sad eyes when I returned to him. The heart in my hand felt spongy. It felt soft and warm—a living, magical thing that I had stolen. Was this freely given whenIhad taken it?
“Here,” I said, keeping my voice even, despite the tears that rolled down my face. Grief built in my chest. For my glowflies, for Lorik’s betrayal, and for the strange sense of loss and heartbreak I felt.
Peek’s barrier kept him from reaching forward, so I stretched out the hive heart to him. He took it, his fingertips brushing mine. I snatched my hand back when he made to reach for it.
“Take it,” I told him.
“Marion—“
“But I never want to see you again,” I said, cutting him off. “Good luck.”
And goodbye,I thought silently.
Then I turned…and I didn’t look back.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
“Take two drops in some tea every evening, all right?” I told the elderly Allavari woman. I stoppered the vial, making sure the seal was tight. “It’ll help with your mobility.”
“Does it matter which tea?” she wondered, a concerned look on her face as I helped her stand from the bench. The soothing light of the guild hall’s front room was golden, meant to replicate fire light. Itwascalming, but I remembered Eymaris as always being a worrier. She hadn’t changed in nearly ten years. “Because I cannot stomach that tea blend the shops stock. Tastes like flowers! Who wants to drink flowers?”
I bit back my sigh and gave her a soft smile instead, ushering her to the door since I needed to get back to my cottage.
“Any tea will do,” I assured her, opening the door, watching her clutch the black bottle of concentrated lovery leaf oil and night nettle, my own special blend, like her life depended on it. “Try the skyberry one. They have it at Griffel’s shop.”
