Page 59 of A Rising Hope (The Freckled Fate #3)

59

FINNLEAH

T he moment the saltwater breeze hit my nose, I knew I only had seconds to save the world.

The Queen’s dead body lay flat near me. The earth trembled, quaking underneath the magic’s pull as if it were going to explode and shatter the entirety of Esnox to piece.

I yanked Heart Piercer out of my chest, wincing at the unpleasant feeling of the blade.

My mind was already chanting the words I learned from the High Ladies.

Perhaps we didn’t have a stone to contain the magic, but I was the next best thing.

There was no point in cutting my skin for my own blood, the dagger was already coated in it. The earth shook once more, though this time the castle exploded with loud flames, and ash and stone rained from the sky.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Gideon’s loud voice roared as I froze with a dagger above the Queen’s heart.

“Worried I’ll be too powerful for you?” I snickered nervously, unsure of whether to laugh or cry as his figure appeared from the clouds of smoke and ash.

He was alive.

He looked like a dead man walking, face almost unrecognizable, body so disheveled I was sure I had seen corpses look better, and yet I couldn’t mistake his mighty voice and his intense glare.

He was alive, and I wanted to run and shout and burst from the relief that flooded me.

But there was no time for that.

The earth shook violently again.

“Put the damn dagger down, Finnleah” he ordered, limping towards me as fast as he could, dragging a chair stump behind him in a place of a foot.

“We will all die, you know that. I have to fix it,” I reasoned. There was no time for arguing and yet a part of me wanted to hear his voice, even if it was only for a split second longer.

“ We won’t. The rest can go for all I care. Put the dagger down.” His chest rumbled another command. He was only a few steps away, his overwhelming presence already calling my name. And gods’ hell and heaven above, I’d fold at another step, another command from him and I’d come crawling to him.

I loved that man, undead, dead or alive.

“See you in the next life,” I anxiously winked before he could reach me. I plunged a dagger into Insanaria’s chest as well as one more into mine as I uttered the words the Dead had taught me.

A call upon the magic.

Magic erupted, levitating my body as beams of light, as bright as the sun, shone from me. Limbs flared, eyes vacant. Air wheezed from my chest.

An unimaginable magnitude of power rippled through every cell in my body, testing its limits as it pushed and tore each piece of me in different directions.

“Fuck,” Gideon’s voice sounded below me like a distant echo.

I could no longer see the sky, only blinding light tormenting me, searing through all my thoughts and feelings, ripping through the walls and fortresses I had built, destroying any memories I cherished.

“What the fuck is happening?” Priya roared near him. “Do something! If she dies, I will fucking spend the rest of my life killing you,” she threatened.

Perhaps I truly underestimated magic, because the pain I felt was soul-wrenching. I felt my body convulsing, but I couldn’t stop. My body, rigid and broken, froze high in the air as the earth quaked below. I couldn’t move a finger, couldn’t blink, couldn’t even think.

But there was no fear, for I knew the future.

There was no anger, for I understood the past.

And at last, there was no regret, as Death appeared near me once again.

“The fuck you will,” Gideon snarled to Death, yanking the Heart Piercer out of the Queen’s chest and jamming it straight into his. “Keep me dead,” he ordered Priya, and she surprisingly didn’t question it, nodding in agreement.

Gideon’s body fell near the Queen, and Priya sunk another dagger into him.

“For once, would you ever fucking listen to me?” Gideon’s figure appeared next to me as he glared at my imploding body. His stern voice was like a thread of hope, a safe haven for my soul to tether to. “Stay away,” he ordered Death, looking at both of us. “Finnleah, you will need to release some of the magic.” I felt his hand brush the hair out of my face as he steadied my trembling body.

But his words made no sense to my depleting consciousness as magic, like a hungry predator, corroded it. All I knew was I wanted to listen to his voice forever, the only solace I could feel as my body twisted in agony, like a star ready to vanish into the void.

“Dammit, Finnleah, release it now!” He grabbed my face with both hands, forcing me to look at him. “You can’t fucking live if your body turns to dust.”

“I . . . ” I tried to form the words to tell him it was okay. “Gi . . . ” I tried to speak, but my words slurred, tongue feeling heavy, immovable. Magic seized full control of my body.

“You might be a goddess, but even gods can die, Finnleah,” he warned, his dark eyes on me. And though the sizzling pain burned through my body, I stared back, swimming in the soothing darkness of his gaze. Only now near him, finally feeling at home. Only in his arms, feeling alive. “I need you to nod, show you understand what I am saying,” he whispered, still not letting go of my shaking body. I forced my spasming muscles to twitch as my neck cramped.

“That’s my beautiful, stubborn girl.” He smirked. “Now it’s time to wake up, my Goddess of Justice,” he whispered, landing a small kiss on my forehead. Whatever magic he used, it shocked my entire body at his embrace. Triumph willed through me, and I incinerated the chains holding me, letting a wave of magic free.

I gasped, as my body fell freely from high up in the sky onto the rocks below.

“Fucking hell,” Priya shouted, trying to catch my falling body. We both tumbled down, hitting the cobbled shore in a clump. She swore, crawling out from underneath my body.

With a heavy breath, she yanked my head up, holding me upright by the collar. “Well, well, well, look who is alive after all.” Priya clicked her tongue, releasing me, only after ensuring air flowed in my lungs. Relieved, though quickly hiding that expression, she plastered herself on the shore next to me. Both of us staring silently at the floating, small white clouds above.

I took another breath.

Alive.

I was alive. My flesh still intact.

And I was alive.

Gideon.

The thought, like a spear, tore through my heart and I rose on my elbows, his broken body just an arm’s reach away, two daggers still in his heart. An initial wave of panic flashed through me.

“Oh, don’t waste your worry on him. Much to my disappointment, I am sure he’ll be back.” Priya grumbled next to me, not even glancing in his direction.

“What happened?” My voice sounded so hoarse, a hint of panic tainting my words. But I crawled to him, jerking the daggers out of him, only now realizing how weak I was, each sluggish movement of my muscles requiring an incredible amount of vigor.

“You stabbed yourself, then your boyfriend stabbed himself. Then I stabbed him, since it seemed everyone was busy stabbing and I didn’t want to be left out,” Priya drawled near me, completely unfazed by the Queen’s dead body next to her.

I kneeled near Gideon, my hands hovering above him, unsure of how to piece together his falling apart body. There wasn’t an inch of his skin that was left untouched. I winced, feeling his wounds: fingers ripped, bones shattered into a million pieces, half of his leg was fucking missing.

“Give him some of your blood, the fucking vampire will be fine.” Priya rolled her eyes at my panicked look as I took in all the damage. “Here.” She passed me a knife from her boot. “You can keep it. Heavens know I am done with all your magic shit after this.”

Unsure, I cut my hand, letting a trickle of blood drip from my hand down to his chest. A few drops immediately brought a slight pink tint to the deadly pale gray color of his skin. Another thought flashed through my mind. I let the blood drop from my hands as I raised them both just a few inches above his body. Golden threads, as if shimmering blood, appeared, stretching from my fingers down to his flesh. My Healer’s magic began to work inch by inch, restoring every single piece of him until his body was made whole. The final fibers of his heart knitted together in a slow pattern until the hole through his heart had disappeared, tender flesh replacing the gaping wound. The golden threads covered his body entirely, like a cocoon, until there wasn’t a scratch on him. Only then did I dare to move my hands.

Priya glanced in my direction, her brow skeptical, before she laid back down again. “Honestly, after today, nothing shocks me anymore.”

I lowered my head to Gideon’s bare chest, listening for the quiet, pulsing thud, breathing out a large sigh of relief as a steady beat sounded against my ear.

I nestled my body near his, listening to his heart as I wove my fingers with his.

“So is the bitch Queen actually dead, or is she going to do the whole ‘surprise, I am not actually dead’ trick like you and your boyfriend like to do?”

I tried to swallow, but my mouth felt so dry. I turned to see Insanaria’s rotten body still laying only a few steps away from me. A flicker of my fingers and flames engulfed her, her ashes scattered to the wild seas around us.

“No, she is very much dead,” I replied, as the Queen’s body disintegrated.

“Good.”

“Good indeed,” I agreed. “The bitch Queen might be dead, but the queen of all bitches is still around.” I nudged Priya with my elbow, not hiding the grin stretched on my face.

Priya scowled, but her lips stretched in an inconspicuous smile.

“Get it, the queen of all bitches?” I nudged her again.

“Oh my gods Freckles, I fucking get it, okay?” she snarled. “Glad to see your dull humor survived your otherworldly experiences.”

“I am glad you are alive, Priya.”

“I might be okay with the fact that you are alive too, Freckles,” Priya begrudgingly agreed.

My entire body ached and maybe it was the welcoming warmth of daylight, or maybe it was pure exhaustion from magic and death, but I found myself drifting slowly to sleep.

A little nap was all I needed; the soothing darkness free of visions calling my name.

But I didn’t get even a minute of peaceful sleep before the ground shook around us once more. Priya was already on her feet, daggers in her hands.

“I thought you said she was dead.” She scanned the horizon, looking for the cause of the thundering noise.

“She is.”

“Then what the fuck is that?” Priya pointed to the large, dark shadows approaching.

I closed my eyes, snuggling up closer to Gideon’s unconscious body. I was too tired. I just wanted a nap. But before I could get even a minute of rest, a loud crackling roar thundered through the sky.

“Freckles . . . ” Priya’s eyes dug into me, burning a hole in the back of my head, and if I didn’t move, I was sure she’d kick me next. So I sat up, rubbing the sides of my head. Another roar sounded closer. And the shadows grew bigger.

“That would be the magic I freed.” I winced, turning to the horizon, feeling the ground tremble as the roar reached us.