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Chapter Sixty: Rhea

It only takes the hint of jasmine and a tickling sensation against my bare arm to know that I’m back in the Middle.

“It has been a while,” I say, opening my eyes and pushing myself up to sit.

“Don’t tell me that you have missed this place,” Selene teases, her sweet laugh warming me.

My hands drag down the same silky black and white dress that I wore the last time I was here. “I’m glad to be here under happier conditions. And I suppose I am happy to speak with you again.” She laughs, causing glittering specks of stardust to whirl past me. “Why has it been so long?”

“It’s harder to reach you when you wear the pendant.” There’s an edge to her voice, and I swear I can almost see the scowl on her lips in my mind’s eye.

“Did you know? What I did the night we escaped? What those shadows were capable of?”

But she does; of course she does.

She answers after a weighted sigh. “Yes, and I agree with what your prince said; the shadows are not inherently bad. That side of your magic is as much a part of you as your healing half is, and you shouldn’t deny yourself that power out of fear.”

“I thought it would be wise to wait until I had a handle on the magic that won’t kill anyone before I start dabbling with the magic that can .”

Selene hums in contemplation. “Rhea, the magic you have is the kind of power that is coveted. The kind that others will ki—” Choking sounds fill the air, and I tense as I realize that Selene has said too much. She sucks in a breath in time with one of my own, her gasp traveling on a phantom wind and right past my ears. The hairs on the back of my neck rise as the feeling of another’s presence makes my shoulders pull towards my ears.

“You are aware of the deal that you made, yet you continuously test fate with your words,” a male says, his voice deep and powerful as it ricochets across the Middle.

I duck my head, my eyes growing wide. “Who are you?”

“Young one, you needn’t worry about who I am. It is not relevant to your journey now,” he says around a velvety laugh.

“Seems pretty relevant,” I grumble back.

The male chuckles again, and I feel it caress my shoulders and weave into my hair. “Yes, I can see I have chosen well. Though I make no mistakes when it comes to matters such as these.”

Gods above, what is he talking about?

“She would like you,” he says, a deep longing ringing in the timbre of his voice. “Time is a treasure that cannot be bought, bartered, or stolen, Your Highness. You must remind yourself of this often.”

“Can anyone in this godsforsaken place please speak plainly ?” I blurt out, running my hands through my hair.

His laugh rattles the stars. “This space is anything but forsaken of gods.”

“What does that mean ?” But his presence is already retreating, his power lifting off of me as if it were never there at all.

“Rhea,” Selene says hesitantly, her soft voice soothing, “you still have much to learn about yourself and your magic. You’ve made great progress, but you cannot stop now. Though the tides have receded, the swell is gathering again in the distance, and it is coming back in full force.”

Her words feel like an omen, and they send a rush of worry down my spine as I purse my lips together. “I need more practice with my light magic—just a little more. Then, I promise, I will let Nox teach me how to use the shadows.” It is the best I can offer. I refuse to put anyone’s life at risk if I lose control again.

“Very well,” she concedes. Silence, ancient and boundless, fills the space as I cradle my hands in my lap. “Have you thought about having your own Flame Ceremony?”

I’m confused by the question and tilt my head to the side as I think about the answer. “Not really. I don’t need to see the size of a flame to know that my magic is nearly as strong as Nox’s.”

“It’s stronger, and he suspects it.”

I snort as I shake my head. “No, the things he can do far exceed my own abilities.”

“Because he’s had a lifetime to train with it, whereas you’ve merely had a few months.”

“Does it matter?” I ask as stardust glitters past me. “Truly, does it matter that I see this measurement of my magic, knowing how foreign it still feels to me?”

“Knowledge is a tool, and one that only helps you make the best decisions you possibly can. Hiding from truths, whatever they are, does not help you. It only hinders.”

I consider her words, chewing on my lower lip. Selene is limited by what she can say and how she can phrase things, the other presence confirming so. If she believes the results of a Flame Ceremony to be something pertinent for me to know, I have to acknowledge that it would be foolish to disregard that.

There’s another swirl of splintered stars that dance in front of me, as if in agreement. Then she asks, “Do you want to hear the rest of the story I started the last time you were here? Of the magical woman and the prince?”

I look above me to where a glimmering galaxy in shades of purple glows. “Alright.”

“The magical woman had a lovely life as a child. One filled with joy and happiness with a family who loved her dearly, and yet, though she had everything she could ever want at her disposal, she ached for something more . Her parents tried to quell this thirst by giving her every distraction they could think of. Books upon books to read. Training with her magic and with weapons she would never have to wield in battle. She learned how to dance and studied all the variations of the flowers that grew in her home. She made friends wherever she went. But that yearning for more remained.

“As a teenager, she began to push at her boundaries, sneaking into realms that she knew were forbidden. Her curiosity was too strong to ignore, however, and she ventured farther and farther into one of those new realms until, one day, the forest she traveled through gave way to a beautiful city.”

The ends of my hair begin to lift while goosebumps break out over my skin. All around me, the stars begin to flicker. “Are you sending me back?” I ask.

“No. His magic is calling you back.”

I blink in surprise. “Nox’s magic knows that I’m here?”

“Rhea, do you not ponder why your magic reacts with his the way that it does? How it seems to always know where he is?”

“You know that I have.”

“Then you have your answer. Your magic is also strong enough to bring you here whenever you want, but only once you’ve embraced both halves.”

I close my eyes as the sensation of plummeting begins to churn my stomach, my chest rising and falling in quick succession. I start to feel heavier, the weightlessness of the Middle fading away with each passing second.

Selene shouts, her voice echoing as if coming up from a deep well, “Rhea, promise me something before you go.”

“What is it?” My body shakes as I fall and fall. Though I know I’m close to waking, my ears strain through my descent back to Olymazi to hear her final plea.

“Promise me that you will always remember that you are never alone. ”

It is hardly a whisper in the tumultuous wind as I vow, “I promise.”

And then, there is only darkness.

I wake to find myself half thrown over Nox’s body, one knee digging into his side and my hair splayed over the both of us. Carefully untangling myself from him, I reach for my journal, and I begin writing, feeling called to preserve the memory of this visit to the Middle. When I’ve poured my words out onto its cream-colored pages, I set the journal down and turn back towards Nox. It is not like him to wake up after me, but after last night, I am happy that he is resting.

My eyes trace over him like one would delineate a rare flower, each defining line and soft contour of his body as fascinating the hundredth time I’ve seen it as it was the very first. Maybe even more so because I’ve thoroughly explored him now and know the secrets his skin keeps. Like the short scar in a smooth line on his right hip. Or the small mole that dots his left shoulder. When I close my eyes, I see a map of Nox that only I understand.

“Am I that devastatingly handsome that you must stare at me as I sleep?”

My cheeks lift as I tickle his chest. “When did you wake up?”

He stretches his arms overhead before turning on his side to face me, his hair a messy collection of waves that fan out in all directions. “While you were writing. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

My magic is a warm hum along my bones. I can feel the edges of Nox’s magic too, the pulsing of his signature tugging on my own. His fingers reach out to trace over my face, tucking my hair behind my ear as he does.

“Sometimes, it hurts to look at you.” He says it like a secret, one pulled from the very middle of his heart and laid bare and bloody before me. “You’re here, and you’re mine , and there are moments when I realize that and can’t draw in a full breath.”

“Nox,” I whisper, covering his hand still lingering on my face with my own. He lifts onto one elbow, kissing my shoulder and then my collarbone, before he climbs over me and the warmth of his body blankets my own.

“Let’s spend all day in bed together,” he all but begs, his lips skimming over my chest.

My fingers rustle through his hair, nerve endings burning brightly as heat coils low and tight in my stomach. “What about the council? We can’t just avoid them for a day. And your duties…”

His warm mouth moves lower, making my thighs strain to rub together. Dark gray eyes glowing with starlight find mine as he lifts his head from my body. “I’m a prince, am I not? Surely the title comes with some agency over how I spend my time.”

“Does it?”

He smiles, trailing more kisses down my skin until his hands are gripping onto my thighs and spreading them wide. “If I want to spend all day between your perfect thighs, then I will.”

My brow arches as I curl my fingers into the sheets. “Could you last all day?”

A low noise rumbles over me, my skin pebbling as he speaks his answer over my core. “Let’s find out.”

After my shower, I sit cross-legged on Nox’s bed and thumb through the pages of the book Elora told me to read. While at first it seemed like something much more suited to Nox’s taste, I had admitted to Elora that I was enjoying the stories of what life was like before the war. I’m reading a passage that speaks of Queen Lucia when Nox settles in next to me with a book he plucked from the shelf adjacent to the bed.

“Why was there no queen of Void Magic crowned after the war?” I ask, drawing his curious gaze. Lifting up Elora’s recommended read, Nox glances at the title before understanding settles on his face.

“It’s not known. She had small children, but none of them had the signature blue flame during their Flame Ceremonies when they came of age after her death. My ancestors took over knowing that, the moment a blue flame was shown, they would need to relinquish the throne, but the gods seem to be taking their time choosing the next queen.”

“Is it the gods that choose?”

He tilts his head, a small stream of sunlight illuminating his cheek as he does. “They do. The queens of Void Magic come from a single family line, one that may date back to the formation of Olymazi itself. Their rule is announced if their blood sparks a blue flame at their Flame Ceremony.”

“Would you want me to do a Flame Ceremony?”

If Nox is surprised by my question, he doesn’t show it. “Only if you want to.”

I tell him of my latest visit to the Middle and what Selene thinks I should do. In true Nox fashion, he leaves the choice up to me, but there is a certain excitement that dances in his gaze as we talk. Eventually, our conversation moves on to practicing with my magic.

Facing me on the bed now, he hands me an egg-shaped black stone, the surface of it nearly shiny enough to show my reflection. Dragon stone . Holding it flat in one hand, I call the white light to my fingertips.

“Focus on where you want the magic to go,” Nox instructs gently.

My shoulders rise and fall sharply with my next breath, but I do as Nox says. I imagine the white light filling the dark stone until it glows gray, and my magic leaps from my fingertips and follows suit, settling into the center of the onyx rock. My jaw relaxes at the small release of power, the rest fading from my hand before I hold the stone up and wiggle it in front of his face.

“Another one for the collection,” I tease, laying it on my bedside table where a gathering of dragon stone pieces that I’ve practiced with now sit.

“Well done, Sunshine.” He leans over and slides both hands around my neck until he reaches the back. “Now show me your shields without the pendant on.” He waits until I nod, then unhooks the necklace and removes it, setting it aside on the bed. I feel the surge within me, warmth quickly traveling up my spine and reaching the base of my throat before I’m able to hold it off. “Good. Breathe through it. Let your intention guide your power back into a relaxed state.”

My ears are buzzing by the time I feel that I have full control over my magic. “Why is it so much harder to control now than when I was in the tower?” I had been improving, even with keeping the shadow half untouched, but it felt as if my power was also adapting. The more I used it, the more it seemed to give me to use.

Nox tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, his hand then falling to my knee. “From what you told me, you didn’t ever use it in the tower consistently like you are now. I think your magic became used to being repressed, so it’s requiring more effort to balance now that you’re drawing on it more. When I was first learning and exploring my magic, it took many months to control it at will. You’ve only been trying for the equivalent of half a summer.”

I nod my head, sure that he is right. I had promised Selene I would train with all of my magic soon, and I will. I just need more time. We continue practicing, Nox helping me build physical shields and then trying to break them with his own magic—a feat that ends up making me laugh as our magic seems to only want to twine together when they are near each other in this way.

When he feels as if we’ve done enough, Nox clasps the necklace back on me and pulls me to sit between his legs while we read from Elora’s book together.