Page 47 of Faerie Fate (Fae Academy for Halflings #7)

Chapter Thirty-Two

I t tore something out of me, the power, reacting to my thoughts without a bit of the push that I used to exert over it.

The effort I sank into it wasn’t necessary. The spell took on a life of its own and stole what I wasn’t ready to give.

The comet poured out of me in a fiery blaze and in the sparks, I saw scales. That wild dragon given form, now that the cage door was open.

Stop! Please .

I squeezed my eyes shut until the glow receded and my next inhale came easier than the last one. But when I forced my eyes open?—

The space was empty, the silence louder than a scream, and my heart galloped. I’d mowed everyone down, literally. Our pixie allies, my own friends, everyone. The horror threatened to split me in two.

Then a small spark popped in my periphery, followed by another, and another.

I glanced sharply to the side and my vision cleared. The pixies were all there, safe and flying like a wave of dozens of fireflies on a summer night.

“Tavi?”

Poppy’s voice shook as she said my name. My body didn’t falter, my legs held firm when I turned in her direction.

Mike, Bronwen, and Poppy were standing. Even Noren was visible across the room. He sniffed the air, his gaze meeting mine with unnerving accuracy; his was the only warmth pushing past the layer of ice in my blood.

All the fae were down. And the wave of magic hadn’t stopped, wasn’t done. It detached itself from its center point and fanned out from me.

I sprinted to the window in time to watch it barrel through the fields like the initial crash of a tsunami. All that power, every last bit of magic I’d sent out, snowballed and grew. Not only putting out the fires…

But restoring the morsana flowers. The flames blinked out and the black ashen ground flaked away in a brisk breeze. Small tender green buds popped out of the earth behind it and their stems uncurled, searching for light.

At the end of each stem was a blue bud.

Surprise flickered through me and the terror slowly receded as I continued to watch. The stems grew thick and fat, filled with vitality, the fields verdant green. The impact of my spell cast out over the hundreds of acres like a shadowy dragon wing.

It was one of the most beautiful pieces of magic I’d ever seen.

I did that.

My gut tilted but not out of fear or nerves this time, but pure joy, strong enough to prick the corners of my eyes with fresh tears.

The fields were restored. EverRose was safe and the first battle at the palace restored to what it should have been—a pixie win.

They were the first to regain their wits and start to check the bodies.

“Dead,” one of them called out in their sweet, high pitch. “The ones over here have passed. The bodies will need to be disposed of soon, though.”

I jerked in alarm. “What do you mean, dead?”

“The fae over here are dead as well,” someone called from the rear of the foyer. “Our enemies are gone!”

Surprise felt obscene in the moment, something I wasn’t entitled to. It was selfish of me to be shocked that the fae were dead. What had I expected? That I’d just knocked them out momentarily?

I turned away from the window, from the new life growing and thriving outside to the destruction left behind from the wild magic. The blossoms might be restored and my friends alive, but the fae were dead.

I’d just wanted them to go away.

The pixies began to cheer and I dropped to my knees. A mass murderer. That was what I’d become. There wasn’t a big difference to my power, apparently, between gone and dead . I hadn’t made the distinction.

Crumpling, my hands lifted to my face as I sucked deep breaths into shriveled lungs.

There was no coming back from this. Whatever I’d done to restore the flowers had killed every fae in the palace and maybe beyond.

Every fae except for me and my friends. What did they think of me now?

How would they look at me when I finally managed to meet their gazes?

Reproach made me sick, and I swallowed back bile before it erupted.

Murderer .

This went beyond changing things. I’d panicked, acted rashly. Mike warned us not to kill anyone and what had I done? Mowed down an entire fucking army.

I sniffed, straightening and swiping my eyes clear. As the blur receded, I focused on Elfhame and the glistening gold object beneath her. The Augundae Imperium . She lifted a hand and the artifact rose from the dead fae clutching it. The commander. He must have been the commander.

She brought the artifact to eye level and scrutinized the markings, her face too far away for me to make out the details of her expression. Was I the only one who caught her looking at it curiously?

But I didn’t take it from her. And when her gaze met mine, neither of us spoke.

The stare down couldn’t have been more than a few seconds but it stretched, the world contracting until only the two of us existed.

She was the first one to break it. The moment the Imperium touched her tiny palm, it shrank, contracting in on itself until it was small enough for her to stuff into the billowing fabric of her gown.

The pixies hadn’t possessed the artifact. I knew that for certain. Wherever it had come from, it wasn’t them. But they had it now.

What had I done?

Elfhame fluttered her wings and in the next second, she cut the distance between us to hover in front of me.

“Whatever you did, thank you.” She spoke in a tone low enough for only me to hear. “That was an impressive piece of magic.”

“I didn’t mean to.” My tongue struggled with every word. “I just wanted to set things right.”

The pixies had to win.

Mike was right, though, and maybe he’d always been right and I should have paid better attention. The rules had changed. We’d meddled far too much for anyone’s comfort level, and a sick pit opened up inside of me.

What the hell would the future look like when we finally made it back home? Or had we changed too much to ever be able to go back?

“Whatever it was, you did set things right.”

It might have been my mistake, but I swore I saw Elfhame brush a hand over her pocket. Over the Imperium .

“We will always be grateful to you, Tavi.”

Elfhame flew up and a swarm of pixies circled around me. One by one, in a wave, they bent their small bodies. Bowing…to me?

Celebratory chaos exploded around me.

A low groan burned my already raw throat. No, this wasn’t right.

“Our savior! The hero of the pixies. The Warrior of EverRose,” one of them said in a high voice. “All hail!”

“Hail the Warrior of EverRose!” The cry rose up from their masses and it took every ounce of willpower not to cover my ears. Not to blot them and their happiness out. But it was undeserved.

I was a killer. I’d proved it once again today. Intentions didn’t matter when the dead littered the ground.

“We’re forever grateful to you, great warrior,” one of them said, clapping its hands.

Another burst into tears. “You are our savior.”

Their jubilation spanned the circle around me as I broke out in a cold sweat. Rather than feeling drained at the massive amount of power I’d used, I felt full. Charged. Ready to release another wave, and another.

Until I stood not in a ring of admirers but one of destruction.

The magic waited underneath my skin. It only needed to be given a direction and the dragon would fly again to obliterate my enemies.

My teeth chattered and I clamped down to stop the violent movement.

“You don’t have to— Please, don’t thank me.” No one heard me. No one stopped to listen.

“Sorry, sorry, excuse me.” Mike pushed through the crowd with Bronwen close behind. The grim lines of his forehead were echoed in the tight lips. “We need to go. Now . Get a flower, Bron.”

Mike grabbed my elbow. When our eyes met, when his held steady, my insides liquefied in the worst possible way. All the loving words and the shared intimacies of the past were balanced on a fine point, ready to tip into either something wonderful…

Or history. Never to exist again.

“The threads of time are thinning. I don’t know how to describe it. Like…expanding, contracting. Things are changing. If we don’t go soon—” He cut off, his throat working.

“I understand,” I assured him. “I’m ready. Your power?”

His expression sharpened. “I’ll be fine.”

I trusted him. If Mike felt the changing of time then he wouldn’t lie about having the juice to get us home.

“Okay.” I shivered. “I just have to do one thing.”

He tightened his hold on my elbow. “Tavi?”

Another warning.

This time, I’d obey.

Brushing my hand reassuringly against Mike’s forearm, I cut through the crowd. Poppy stood in the middle of the carnage, staring at the dead fae around her.

She glanced up at my arrival and her eyes narrowed to slits. “Girl, I knew you were capable of great things. Seems a waste to use your powers for evil this way.” She opened her mouth to say more, then stopped.

Whatever she wanted to say about the magic I’d done, she kept it to herself. Her expression was unreadable.

“You said you weren’t sure I was the one. For the prophecy,” I started haltingly. “I don’t need to know if you’ve changed your mind but thank you for helping me.”

Power swirled inside of me. Filling up every last cavity and crevice until I burned with it. Power like nothing I’d experienced before. I wasn’t sure I liked this new state.

No going back .

“As if I was going to leave my grandson to fend for himself.” She scoffed but there was no real heat in it. “Clearly he is keeping the wrong company.”

“I’d like to do something good before I go. It isn’t going to make up for this but I have to try.”

I walked up to Poppy and pushed up the sleeves of her dress. She went still where I touched her, muscles contracting like she wanted to leave but forced herself to stay. The silver chains glowed around her wrists and pulsed, reacting to my presence.

Without another word, I touched them. A thought sent my power spiraling out. It reacted when it came into contact with the binding spell, but another thought, a sliver of intention, and the old spell caved. It melted like a snowflake in summer.

The chains fell away. The silver dissolved, dusting the air in glitter before disappearing entirely.

Poppy was freed.

Breath left her in a rush. She stared at her wrists, unblemished now, and worked them in opposite circles. “What did you do?”

I wanted to tell her it was nothing, not a big deal and the least I could do for her, but I tamped it down. This was penance. A small measure of it to pay for what I’d done.

I’d be paying for the rest of my life.

Stunned, Poppy grabbed me in a bone-crushing hug, throwing me against her sternum.

“Damn, girl.” She squeezed. Leaving me no option but to return the gesture. “I look forward to seeing you again one day. You aren’t as bad as I thought you were.”

I laughed, incredulous. “Er…thanks?”

“No, no, I need to thank you. I never thought I’d find someone able to break the chains. Kit is going to shit himself when he realizes what’s happened.” Poppy leaned back to scrutinize me. “Maybe you are the one. I don’t like to make mistakes. If I misjudge, I’ll own it.”

“I’d feel a lot better not being the one,” I admitted.

“No one wants to have a destiny thrust on them. Some people are just unlucky.”

The word clanged like manacles in my head.

How did I tell her that she was dead in the future? That Barbara had been executed under her daughter’s husband’s orders?

“You take care of yourself now, girl. Try to stay out of trouble,” Poppy said.

I could only hug her. We wouldn’t see each other again. Ever.