Page 193 of Spring Guardians & Songbirds

His hand fell and he stared at me as if he didn’t know me—as if I was a stranger. Perhaps I was.

“Can we not fight already?” Thora asked, gathering herself tight. “It looks scarier now that you’re all grown.”

Commotion drew all of our attention. Heavy footsteps seemed to be approaching us from all directions, the lowering sun extended shadows to cloak them from sight.

“Soldiers?” Mal asked, pulling shadows from sight to reveal any hidden assaulters.

Eren unsheathed a dagger and so did Thora. “No, these are not just any soldiers, Lin. They are Magi healers. The shield must have alerted them when you stepped in it. You both need to go. Now.”

Stunned, my attention snapped to him. “I’m not going anywhere without the two of you.”

He shook his head and pulled his sleeves to reveal two strips of white ink around his wrists. “We are both bound by magic to this land. A coven of white witches sealed us right after the Solstice attack. Old magic, Lin, threaded to their goddesses’ realm through portals. We are chained to the shield. Go, both of you, now. We will think of this later.” He cupped my face and kissed the top of my head. “All that matters is that we have you back.”

No. No. No. I wouldn’t leave them, not again.

“The shield,” Mal called as hundreds of bodies surrounded us. “Snow, all magic is physical.” When confusion drew in all of our faces, he groaned and grabbed my brother’s wrists, pointing to a white rune and then to the shield. “Physical, Snow. And you have loads of that to match.”

“No,” Eren ordered strongly, suddenly resembling our father all too much. “This is old magic. We have tried. We have tried for years. This would open your seal.”

Thora nodded, tears pouring down her face again. “Go.”

I turned to Mal. “The moment that shield cracks, I need you to fade them out of here.” He made to object, but I shook my head. “Promise me that you will take them when I say so.”

He grabbed my arm. “Then I will come back for you.”

“No, I will bolt to you. For any reason, don’t fade back. Promise me, Mal.” When he wouldn’t budge, I yelled, “I won’t owe your brother any more than I already do. Not your life, I won’t. Promise me!”

The second he nodded, I drew all that held my magic back out of the way. Pure euphoria settled in my chest. A sense of being full yet plenty empty drew my pulse louder than normal. A roaring dam gate with too little bank to fill. I felt the static lifting me in the air. Aiming at the shield, I let all the magic pour out of me. A thick bolt of lightning hit the sheer surface of sun magic, the forest loud and bright from it. The ancient magic resisted the attack, feeding from the tether of mana attached to Hemera. But not for long. The humid air trembled, packed with electricity and the sun magic shivered in the air, splintering and fragmenting.

Once I saw the ceiling crack, I peered down at Mal and gave him a nod.

My sister screamed, launching toward me, but Mal was quicker, hauling her onto his arms and grabbing Eren to fade. One moment they were there, and the next they were gone.

Soldiers surrounded me the second I lowered to the ground. Some were frightened and most stunned at what I had done.

Ice blistered the forest ground and then sped to all directions, trapping the men to the spot. I felt dozens of heartbeats hum in the air, my senses separating each and every one of them by the flow of their current. Thirty-nine. Fifty-four. Seventy-eight. Ninety-one. One hundred and ten. Two hundred. Three hundred and two heartbeats.

My limbs trembled, each movement of my hands conducting magic no longer out of my own control. More and less, the two sides of me screamed as black veins marred my hands, showing just how far till I lost all control I was. Red and white stained the dimed auburn of the forest. Three hundred and two more lives that I didn’t mean to claim were taken today.

Once the last heartbeat hummed in the air, I shut my eyes tight. Not seeing didn’t make what I did better, but the beast within fed from violence, and the beast without lost humanity within with each act of wrath.

All three hundred and two heartbeats were silent, and so were the many animals I felt litter by from before, but the gates would not close no matter how much I tried to will them shut.

Feel it where it pours out, concentrate and will it shut. I tried to do what he’d taught me. Over and over again. But my magic was too far opened. The tips of my fingers were beginning to change into a glowing silver, and soon…all my limbs, too.

Chapter twenty-nine

Nix

Kilian

Oryn and I stood side by side on the highest tower in Taren castle, expectant. It was just past sunset and there was still no news of Snow and Mal.

“Your queen will be fine,” the old priest said. Yet it offered no comfort to my distress.

The sun had peeled all the light from behind the grey sky of Olympia when we spotted three figures fading by the terrace.

A dark headed girl screamed bloody death in my brother’s arms—not my dark headed girl. She was shorter than Snow, her ink black hair longer, cascading almost beyond her back and her stare was of a rainforest emerald. “Take us back!” The castle floor blistered with ice, growing and spreading all over and downwards.