Page 34

Chapter 34

Saelyn

Clothed in a black gown with sheer black panels that ran high up along her neck, I caught the eye of the woman who had started all of this. Her blood red lips curved into a smile and her eyes, somehow catching multiple colors at once, glinted, offering me a glimpse into her great well of power.

I saw it there, surrounding her in a colorless void. The dark abyss of hatred and wrath swirled around her pale skin and blindingly white hair that ran in long, lush trails down her back. Even through the din of screaming and pain around me, I heard her speak.

“ Hello , Little One . ”

“ Get her out of here, Thevin ! To the stairs! Now !” I heard my mother’s shout just before she erected a great ball of green light, pulling long swaths of power from it that wrapped around two of the Blight beasts, pinning them to the floor where Lady Lanna swept in to slice off their heads.

Without a word, Thevin pulled me to the staircase. I looked back to watch the Blightress lift the Viceroy from the floor and shred through his chest with sharp black nails, his blood sputtering over her lips, matching them in color.

“ Saelyn !” Thevin cried in my ear. “ Move !”

“ Wait !” I yelled back. “ I can fix this!”

His face furrowed as he all but dragged me across the floor. “ We need to leave, now! Get to your mother’s portals on the staircase!”

“ Stop !” I begged as he bent and lifted me over his shoulder. He didn’t heed my shouts as he began our descent down the staircase that wound around the outside of the Spire . I pleaded with him to let me down before we hit a wall of black, the inky vines crawling up the side of the Spire , thick with thorns. He cursed and lowered me finally as we witnessed even more Blight beasts bounding up the sides of the stone along the vines. My mother’s waiting portals flickered just a few feet away, but still beyond the horrors the Blightress had brought to annihilate everyone in that dining hall. With each jump, the dark creatures’ lumen-like bodies would bind with the vines, allowing the monsters to gain footing up the vertical surface.

Thevin cursed, slashing at the growth woven over the stairs with a dagger I’d never seen before.

I grabbed his shoulders, calling, “ I can warn them!”

His response was on his lips, but too late as I spoke under my breath, “ Revertayden en tepiore. ”

In a flash of white, Thevin squeezed my waist. “ You’re welcome. I’ve enjoyed it, too.”

I stumbled and blinked, my breath coming in rapid bouts. My skin was no longer marred with the spray of blood, my hair still pinned tidily on top of my head. The Song of Remembrance was ending, and I had just seconds to get this timing right and undo the course of events that would arrive soon.

“ Sae ?” Thevin placed his hand at my neck. “ What is it?”

“ The Blightress ,” I started, my eyes darting to the edge of the room where the boom would come at any second. “ She’s here!” I pointed and Thevin’s head darted in the direction they’d come.

“ The Blightress ? She wouldn’t come here. She wouldn’t risk?—”

The song ended and the room erupted again and for the first time in applause. “ Everyone out!” I shouted. “ Get away from those windows!”

BOOM .

I wondered for a split second what the boom actually was before I saw it. A portal had opened in the sky just as the black vines of what Thevin had called the Blight crawled over the ledge of the balconies, oozing their thick massive trunks over the white stone, trickling into the room smooth as water.

Thevin pulled me instantly, once again repeating that we needed to get out. I hadn’t been quick enough. I hadn’t done enough to give them time to stop this.

Her voice resounded in my thoughts as I was pulled away through the panicking crowd. “ I thought that might be you, Little One . How is it that you can reverse time? ”

I shuddered, refusing to respond. “ Revertayden en tepiore! ”

“ You’re welcome. I’ve enjoyed it, too.”

I flew from Thevin’s grip on my waist, running wildly through the crowd, the last line of the song on the slight breeze that drifted through the room somehow smelling like iron and salt.

“ We cannot reverse what’s come at great cost, but we can take the time to remember them. ”

I found my mother at the edge of the room, weeping silently, the tracks of tears down her face a mirror to the ones I would shed in less than a minute if I couldn’t stop this.

I grabbed her shoulders. “ The Blightress —she’s here. She’s coming from there.” I pointed to the south-facing windows and it took all but a moment for my mother to take action. The room erupted for a third time in applause, and my mother ran through the crowd, erecting a wall of green that spanned from her outstretched hands, encasing the domed, round room in a shield of her light.

The boom sounded as I’d heard twice before, its thundering rattle not nearly as loud behind my mother’s protection.

Thevin found me, pulling me to him as we watched the Blightress step out of her portal onto the very edge of the stone balcony, nearly touching the Baron’s wall of shimmering emerald.

The screams still poured through the room as the crowd backed away to the northern balconies. The Blight slithered up the sides of my mother’s shield, unable to penetrate her power. The Blight beasts followed in vicious growls, muffled through the green haze. My mother watched them carefully, then shot her hand through the air, impaling each one with a spike of solid green power.

The Blightress’s gaze caught mine through all of it, and once again she spoke in my head. “ This little power of yours is quite the irritation, Saelyn of Felgren . ”

I gulped a breath, refusing to break her stare and responding in my mind. “ You —you can remember? ”

A brilliant smile lifted her crimson lips. “ I’ve remembered every time you’ve done this, Little One . All the way back to three years ago, when you discovered this unique part of you. I can show you more, if you’d like. All you have to do is reach out your hand to me, and I’ll show you the extent of the power you wield. ”

She opened her hand to me and my mother whipped around, fear gripping her face. “ No !” she screamed, turning back to the Blightress .

“ Where is my father? ” I begged. “ Please , I want my father back. ”

The ancient woman’s eyes darted to my mother and she spoke in a harrowing voice that resounded through the shielded room. “ Oh , Little Sprout ,” she started with amusement. “ You have not told her the truth?”

Her cold laughter filled my body down to my bones, and I feared I’d never be warm again. Thevin pressed me even closer to his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around me, ready to bolt at any second.

The voice I’d never forget sounded once more as the Blight released from the shield, pulling back into the dark abyss of the portal behind the Blightress . With another of her saccharine smiles, she nodded to me, calling, “ Until we meet again, Little One .”

In flash of dark power, she was gone.