Page 24 of Shaedes of Power (Soul Magic #1)

CHAPTER 24

T he plan was dangerous, but it was simple. One of the most difficult parts, however, was walking into the throne room, explaining said plan to the other High Shaedes, and confessing to having cast the Renaissance Spell—again.

Farris and I arrived at the enormous door hand in hand, the invisible bond between us creating an unmistakable tension that even the green faeries standing guard could feel. Eyebrows raised, they let us pass through the entrance, clearly bewildered by the newest Shaede in the realm with the multicolored hair.

If there were any conversations going on among the High Shaedes standing around the center of the hall, they came abruptly to a halt when we walked in.

“What is that ?” blurted Leyanna, eyeing Farris up and down and moving aside so we could join their little circle.

“Farris?” Glory said, her arms folded. “Opal, did Sandrell’s letter teach you nothing? You are walking a thin line with the Balance. I cannot believe this! We all felt the power ripples last night, but I prayed it was just a random surge of magic.”

“I think he looks good,” said Leyanna, looking impish. “Muscles look good on a faerie. ”

Lennyx deflated a little. “Some of us have other redeeming qualities,” he offered. “We aren’t all soft underneath our robes.” That made Leyanna raise an eyebrow, mildly interested.

Dru stepped forward and produced her knives so quickly that they were nothing but a metallic blur. She was ten or so feet away from us across the circle but closed the gap in less than a tenth of a second. But in the even shorter amount of time that it took for her to take a sharp slice at Farris, he held up a palm and released a spell that blasted Dru backward fifty feet. A regular adversary might have landed hard, sprawled on their back on the floor, but Dru gracefully flipped backward in the air and landed in a defensive position.

“He’s harder to kill this way,” she said matter-of-factly, re-sheathing the knives. “I approve.”

Glory stepped up to Farris next, scowling. “Call a Whitherwisp,” she said sternly.

“That is not fair,” I interceded. “Whitherwisps are very rare, and if I recall during examinations, you were one of the only purple Shaedes that could even do it. He doesn’t even know what one is. You want to test his magic? Fine, but be reasonable.”

Farris circled a finger in the air, focused, his magic ascending. Glory’s eyes went wide, as it was a spell only another purple Shaede could see. He then sat down on the white stone of the throne room floor, cross-legged, eyes closed. The rest of us restlessly stood around, watching him impatiently.

Five or so minutes passed, and then came a rustle from above. Not one, or two, but seven beautiful cream-colored Whitherwisp birds, so skinny and elegant with their curled feathered tails and their golden beaks, came gliding into the room and settled themselves comfortably on Farris’s still body. Three made a cozy nest in his lap, while the others perched on his knee, shoulders, and head. He opened his eyes and stroked the few in his lap.

“How did you do that?” Glory asked resentfully. She summoned the bird on his head to her arm, and it happily came, chirping a whistle-like tune that the others echoed.

Farris’s smile was radiant, but not boastful. “I may have promised them peanuts; they are a Whitherwisp’s guilty pleasure.” He moved his right hand like he was directing a symphony, and the Whitherwisps chattered excitedly before flying back up out of the open ceiling. “That’s going to be a surprise for the kitchens.” He laughed. Glory too chuckled a little despite herself.

“How does someone who didn’t even know what a Whitherwisp was not only summon one but also know its favorite snack?” asked Lennyx, intrigued. He offered a hand to Farris, who took it and was pulled to his feet.

“He has the knowledge of the ancestors, of all the silver Shaedes that came before him,” I explained.

“There was a silver Shaede long ago that kept Whitherwisps as pets. His journals held more about those funky little birds than any person would ever care to know.” Farris was still the same relaxed and kind-spirited person he’d always been, but it was strange hearing him talk about the faerie realm like it was something he had always been a part of. I wasn’t sure I would ever get used to that.

Everyone quieted as they came to terms with Farris’s transformation and thankfully didn’t ask for any details about how it came about. Leyanna, always willing to break a silence, spoke first. “So the Balance sent us a silver hybrid Shaede. Do any of us have any idea why?”

“Farris says he has knowledge of how to kill Ciaran,” I blurted out. It was hard to believe the words even as I said them, and that same disbelief was reflected on the other High Shaedes’ faces.

“Impossible,” said Glory, out of habit. If she didn’t know about something, it likely didn’t exist. But after the Whitherwisps, she didn’t sound quite as sure as her usual over-confident self.

“We have literally nothing else to put our hope in,” said Dru. “I at least want to hear what he has to say.” They all nodded, sadly in agreement of how desperate the situation had become.

Farris’s silver eyes glowed as he accessed secrets from the deep treasure trove that was now his mind. “We will enter the Shadowlands, destroy Ciaran’s army of undead, and kill the Dark Prince. ”

“Going to need more details than that,” said Leyanna, vocalizing what I was sure was on everyone else’s minds.

“Farris will not disclose how he will kill Ciaran but asks for our cooperation to destroy the zombies,” I said, knowing we were asking a lot. “They deserve a final rest, and as long as they are animated, they can be used to attack the realm.”

“I love the concept of this plan,” Dru said sincerely, “but how do we get into the Shadowlands without getting murdered? How do we know how many zombies are left? How do we know where they are or how to re-dead them in a realm where our magic doesn’t even work? And how can we possibly risk all our lives, and ultimately the lives of all the faeries in our realm, without knowing how Farris plans on ending our unkillable enemy?”

I was ready for the questions, but stacked like that, it made our plan sound fraught with impossibilities. “Amira was the only one at the Night Court privy to Ciaran’s plot to magically revive the dead corpses of humans and faeries that he had killed. He’s been doing it for centuries. He has thousands and thousands of bodies at his disposal, and they are all hidden in five glamoured tunnels around the castle grounds. If we can get Edmyn to let us into the Shadowlands, Amira can lead him to the cursed underground passageways. And then Edmyn can use his magic to seal them.”

“And how are you going to get Edmyn to agree to this? He already chose his brother and went running back into hell after him. And then you went off and mated with this,” said Leyanna, gesturing to all of Farris. “No offense.” She forced a polite smile. “I’m just saying that he probably won’t be that eager to help us.”

As if in answer to her question, a shiny black beetle, the size of a lemon, came flitting into the throne room from the sky, carrying a small note. It hovered above my head, making clicking noises, until I reached up and took its burden. It zoomed away quickly, and I addressed the group. “Earlier, I had Farris send a message to Edmyn, asking him for help.” I had left out anything having to do with Farris and kept it urgent and direct—to the point. “This must be his response. ”

My hands shook as I unfolded the paper, less because of its contents and more because I knew it was something Edmyn had touched. I could feel the ghost of his touch on the paper, and it was incredibly difficult not to reimagine the feel of his fingers touching me. Could the others see it on my face? How painfully divided I had become? How badly I ached to have a foot in both realms? The wounds on my soul were forever, but I had made my choices with gladness. I had fallen in love with a human who I didn’t deserve and a traitor, so what did that make me now?

My clumsy attempt to open up the folded paper was successful. In hurried script with flourishes of the dramatic on certain letters, I read Edmyn’s message aloud to the anxious faces before me.

“There is no containing Ciaran. He has become a madman. To think I could confine him was lunacy in itself. I’m sorry I failed you. Open a portal soon; I will be waiting to give you safe passage. After he healed, he disappeared, and he is undoubtedly planning something horrific. Hurry if you dare.”

“Do we dare?” asked Leyanna, her lovely face piqued for chaos. “My vote is violence, even if it means having to watch Edmyn and Farris have all the fun.”

Dru rolled her eyes. “I say we go. We may not know what he is planning, but we’ve never had the opportunity to be on the offensive before. I always like offensive odds better. And I think I trust Farris.” She gave him a little nod and he bowed with respect.

Lennyx weighed in. “Peace is sometimes only found on the other side of war. If we can give the realm Ciaran’s true death, our actions will hold legitimacy. Let’s fucking roll,” he said, sharing a smile with Leyanna.

We all looked at Glory, who still looked almost painfully perplexed at the set of circumstances before her. Nothing about any of this added up in a way that made sense to her, and being stuck with options that held little certainty, zero logical reason, and high levels of fatal risk was her own personal version of hell. There was no reading or studying her way out of this one, but we couldn’t act without her consent. We were about to poke an already very angry bear, and the consequences would fall on us all.

She turned to me, her voice frustrated but strong. “I may not trust him,” she said, pointing at Farris, “but I have learned to trust you, Opal. Friendship is its own kind of magic, and it makes impossible situations bearable and fears assuaged. It turns loneliness into a totally different creature and brings laughter into dark places where misery usually reigns. I won’t follow you into this chaos, but I will enter it by your side.” She wrapped her arms around me, and I squeezed her tightly. I wanted her to feel that I, too, had needed her during our time at the Night Court. She had become a constant, a confidant—a friend. And now we were going back, together.

“I guess it’s time to get Amira,” I said.

“I’ll go,” said Farris. Lennyx offered to accompany him. Suddenly, it was just the four girls and a lot of heavy silence.

“I’ve missed you, my friend,” said Dru softly, taking my hand and walking me away from the others. “So, can you really feel everyone’s magic?”

I nodded. “Once I stopped comparing myself to everyone—to everything I wasn’t, I was able to finally see what I could be. And unlocking the Renaissance Spell helped, of course.”

“What does my shaede feel like?” she asked sheepishly. It was funny how we all really wanted to know our magic like a close friend, but in reality, most of us were ever just working toward taming a stranger.

I smiled brightly. “Your shaede is heavy. It feels protective, exhilarating, and electric—but restless. It enjoys a battle but longs for something on the other side of war.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know,” I said, squeezing her hand. “But I’m sure you will find it.”

She looked pleased enough with that. “Are you nervous to see Edmyn?” she asked, worry creeping across her face.

I shrugged as we stopped some ways out of earshot from anyone else. “Dru, I don’t know what I feel other than determination to get to Ciaran and finish this. Edmyn and I were never really going to be able to make it together anyway, since we are so different…” I trailed off, getting lost in the memory of his face.

“Different can be nice,” Dru said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. He has a past. But we are all out here just hoping that someone someday might overlook our flaws and find us worthy of love, right? Different can change your life.”

She was right about that, for as much as Edmyn showed signs of a physical transformation, my life was forever changed because of him. “I’m not nervous,” I finally said. “Just concerned. He cannot get in the way of whatever Farris has planned. And I can’t be distracted by my feelings for him, not when so much is at stake.”

“What does Farris think?”

“Farris is optimistic. In all things. He is a comfort in that no matter how bad things get, although we both know they can get worse, he never thinks they actually will. It was his superpower even before he was hit with my spell. He knows what Edmyn and I had was unique and significant but must be fueled by knowing that what he and I have is special and significant in its own right. I don’t know, it’s kind of a mess, but if any of it saves the realm? Will it even matter how messed up it is?”

She wrapped her arms around me, her shaede giving off that protective buzz that I had become very well acquainted with over the years, and said, “I hope we live long enough to find out.”