Page 23

Chapter 23

Karus

Of all the choices I’d made, this was the one I feared the most.

Not attempting to destroy the Blight seven years ago with Heimlen .

Not following the Blightress into the dark tunnel of her making, not taking back Viridis , not the trials.

This .

It was one thing to risk yourself.

It was entirely another to risk the people you loved.

I stood at that black line I knew well. I knew it in myself, in my own soul so marred with the choices I had made.

The edge of Felgren and the Blight was clear as day.

Here was life.

Here was death.

Here was renewed hope.

Here was endless despair.

In some ways, I understood. The Blightress had been held down, tied to her own bed so that she could not cut the babe from her womb and save her daughter. I would have attempted it, too. Her lover hadn’t listened to her, her sister had abandoned her. Was there any doubt I would have pulled my own heart from my chest?

That was the question I feared to answer.

Could I have become exactly what she was?

“ I’m not leaving you, Karus ,” Rev breathed in my ear behind me, feeling all the turmoil I let fly through our bonded hearts. “ I’ll repeat myself; you are not her.”

Why did I need to hear those words so often?

I turned my back on the hundreds of acres of Blight still left in Felgren and addressed the people I cared for in this forest.

“ What we are about to do will be draining. Cosensian Magic is difficult to use, let alone hold for the period of time we need to do this. Do not let go. Do not hold back your channel of power from this forest. Let it flow down this line. Give it to me, and we will see the end of this Blight upon our home.”

I finished my speech, tying a braid down my back, tucking my white and chestnut strands away from my face. I nodded to Moira , jerking my head toward the thirty Growers she’d been able to gather in the last forty minutes. “ Are they ready?”

She screeched into the wind and thirty heads of varying foliage from the massive fae creatures nodded.

“ Let’s begin,” I called, turning around to face that endless black. Rev tensed behind me. I could feel it in the way he gripped my arm as I held my hands out to hover over that black line. “ Simulair Solum ,” I called. The green orb in my hand instantly burst to a simulation of the same sun that beat down upon our faces in the midmorning light.

The unsettling hiss of the Blight shrinking away sounded around us in a chorus of death as the thick, thorned vines shriveled and fell to ashes. I took one more glance behind me with an encouragement I hoped all of them could feel in my dark gaze.

They spread out behind me in a V shape, both Rev and Lia holding onto my arms. Gripping Revich’s shoulder was Talon , followed by Ilyenna . Pompeii held onto Lia while Renn held onto her, also gripping Philius’s arm. We didn’t know how Philius would be able to conjure power now that he couldn’t use hands to summon it from his fingers, but he insisted he be there as well, and I would not deny him.

I wouldn’t deny any of them, seeking retribution in their own ways for what the Blightress’s influence had brought into their lives.

The Growers walked up to the line, fanning out beside us and planting their limbs into the space where the Blight nearby withered away to death. Already , shoots of green sprouted where they touched the ashen earth.

“ I love you,” I murmured, taking one last glance at Revich just behind me with a small smile.

“ And you’ll love me still at the end of this, so don’t you dare say that like a goodbye, Baron Karus .”

I laughed, my eyes filling with the green I knew appeared because his jaw tightened and he swallowed. Without a word, he cupped my cheek with his free hand, bringing my lips to his for one last kiss before we descended into what would become our future path.

I closed my eyes and let the heat of the power I held radiate over my face. The warmth kissed my skin, flowing through my hands and spilling into my body, fueling my resilience, fueling my assurance to myself that we would all make it to the other side of this Blight , and it would be destroyed from our forest forever.

I focused on the sun I held and sent my love, my promise to Saelyn growing steadily in my womb that I did this for her. I did this for her future here in Felgren . The one she deserved and the one I’d fight for every single day of my life.

When I opened my eyes, I let the power of those behind me flow. Brilliant colors of blue, silver, purple, gold, and green swirled over the ball of light in my hands as it grew in size, engulfing what I could see. Even sparks of orange flame flickered around the corona, and I smirked with the proof that my brother’s magic was still with us.

I took my first step forward into the Blight and heard her voice in my head. “ Do not force my hand, Little Sprout . ”

I shuddered, despite the warmth that flowed through the resounding hiss of the Blight’s death. I spoke to her, taking more steps into the decay. “ It is you who has forced mine. ”

I let it grow, let it build just to the point where I could carry the weight of what I had long, long ago been chosen to bear.

Before I cut her off completely, I let her in on the secret I’d been keeping. “ I could have loved you. Saelyn could have loved you. But now, I will do everything in my power to end you. ”