Page 13 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

At that moment, Hallie couldn’t recall what he’d worn at Achilles.

A sneaking suspicion told her he’d stolen the clothes from somewhere.

Stoneset, more than likely. The horror might have struck her harder had she not been trapped between two Cerls, Niels bleeding out on the cratered ground, Correa still battling the flames on the other side of the lane.

“Hate us for what ?” Hallie choked.

King Filip snapped his fingers. A light bloomed above them as if the air had caught fire.

It solidified into a ball and floated just beside his head.

“A question I won’t dignify with an answer.

We want you alive, but your guide is not necessary.

We can take you drugged and bound and leave him to die, or you can come willingly, and your reward will be his life. It’s your choice.”

Choice. That was no choice .

Niels had stopped moving now except for the shallow rise and fall of his chest. Unconscious. If she didn’t decide soon, blood loss would decide for her.

Even if they kept their word, it would only be to use Niels against her later. Was that worse or better than dying here, from a wound Hallie had dealt him?

She didn’t know that answer…but she knew hers. She’d lost too many people. She refused to lose one more.

If she agreed to work with them, she could help Niels.

Maybe they would unwittingly teach her how to use her power, or maybe she could trick them into it somehow.

It was the only reason she was valuable in the first place; they would need her capable of using it if they wanted to do anything with her.

But Correa.

She couldn’t become his prisoner again. She could still feel the lightning pain as it coursed through her body.

She chewed on her lip so hard she drew blood.

But she had done something to him at Achilles. She could do so again. If she could convince them to let her go to Myrrai, they might even help her find what she needed. They might even help her with the Passage.

She just needed a story good enough to convince them.

“We’re trying to get to Myrrai.” The words were thick, but she said them with as much confidence as she could. “If you heal my guide and get us there, I will help you.”

Better to stick with calling Niels her guide, not her friend. The less he mattered to her, the less they would try to use him against her…she hoped.

The memory of Kase’s screams as she tried over and over to convince the Lord Elder to pass on his power would live with her forever. She’d made the mistake of letting Correa see how much he meant to her. She wouldn’t make that mistake with Niels.

Filip smiled, banal, oddly plain for a man so beautiful, so hateful. “Is that all?”

She had to word this precisely right. Wetting her chapped lips, she answered, “You have the Essence power?”

“In the moments before my mother died, she passed her Essence down to me.” King Filip cracked his neck as if the conversation strained it in some way.

“A feat the assassins were only able to pull off at all because she was without her vessel. She only had the strength left to pass her power onto me. Fate knows how long the Essence power would have been lost if she hadn’t.

” He looked back at the flames. “My uncle would not approve, but alas, Fate has chosen this moment for me.”

The calm way he spoke about his mother’s death unnerved her. But then, being the king of Cerulene meant he couldn’t show weakness. And to many men, emotion was weakness. What could be hiding underneath the icy yet beautiful facade?

Hallie had lost greatly, and it had sent her halfway across the world to avoid her past. But she’d been on the cusp of adulthood when Jack died. Still horrible, but not the same as a child watching assassins murder her mother.

Not to mention taking on the power of a god in the same moment.

No wonder rumors swirled through the realms about his cruelty and iron fist. Hallie wasn’t sure if she would’ve fared better. Not that it excused his actions, but she could understand how he’d turned into this, if only a little.

“You claim we’re working toward the same goal. If that’s true, prove it. I’ll work with you…if you teach me how to use my power.”

King Filip’s smile had yet to leave his lips. “Excellent.” He gestured to Niels. “Heal him.”

Hallie didn’t understand at first. “What?”

The king repeated his command. “Heal him.” He crouched beside Niels. “Or we could build him a pyre, if you prefer. Your first test could be lighting it.”

Hallie’s heart lurched. She tugged against the woman’s grip, but she held Hallie fast. “I don’t know how. I can’t control it. I could kill him!”

“He’s already dying,” King Filip pointed out. “Whether you stop it or send him off, you’ll still learn something, won’t you?”

The woman pushed her forward. Hallie was prepared for the rush of power that time.

She gritted her teeth against the inferno waiting on the other side of the dam.

It raged within her, begging to be released, angry at being restrained.

Her hold was tenuous, like a stray thread.

One tug, and the entire thing might unravel.

She tried not to think about the man who had done exactly that when she’d touched him.

She walked stiffly and knelt, every movement making her skin burn worse. She clenched her teeth against the pain, but it did little to stem it. The chilled ground bit into her knees, but she barely felt it. Niels was too pale.

“It hurts,” she said, the words coming out in spurts. “I don’t know how to let it out without—"

“You’re focusing too much on the flow,” King Filip said, his voice steady as he hesitantly took her hand and laid it on Niels’ knee. “Find a single strand and grasp it. Hold it tight. Focus only on that strand.”

Sweat stung her eyes. She was so distracted by the power raging within her that she could barely tell she was now covered in Niels’ blood.

She tried to follow King Filip’s directions.

The toll of the last few days weighed heavily on her.

She’d nearly died several times, said goodbye to Kase and her father, killed soldiers, and now she was at the mercy of the Cerl king.

The power writhed in her body, and it took all her willpower to find anything to focus on at all.

In her mind’s eye, it was like a bonfire, blindingly bright.

The undulating flames snarled and snapped, crackled and leapt.

It burned so badly, she nearly begged for the woman to take it away once more.

“Can’t…can’t…” she sputtered.

“Essence powers need to be tamed. If you let them roam freely within you, they will devour you,” the woman said.

Hallie breathed best she could against the crushing weight in her chest. It felt like her lungs were carved from marble. She willed them to accept the oxygen, prying her airways open with sheer force of will.

In, two, three. Out, two, three, four.

The weight only lessened slightly. The air couldn’t blow the fire out.

“Again,” King Filip said. “Focus.”

In, two, three. Out, two, three, four.

A little less pressure.

In, two, three. Out, two, three, four.

The blaze dimmed, yet sharpened, coming into focus in her mind’s eye. It no longer blinded her. Each flame was a strand, and with each breathing cycle she completed, the strands became clearer.

In and out. Pause. In and out.

One flame strand fluttered more softly than the others, pliable, swaying to music only it could hear.

“Good,” King Filip said, his voice lower yet closer. “Don’t lose it. Keep it within your grasp.”

Hallie nodded, afraid to do more than that. “Now what? How do I heal him?”

“Each Essence power is unique, and the Lord Elder held the power for centuries.” The king spoke lazily, almost as if he’d suddenly lost interest in the conversation. “I can only teach you control.”

Without losing her grip on the strand, she opened one eye. Still not sure what she was doing, she coaxed the power into him slowly, focusing on the single flame. The heat flowed from her and into him. His jagged breathing hitched…then smoothed.

With each pulse of her power as it entered Niels, the strain on her mind lessened. The heat abated, dimming to a soft, comforting burn. Not too hot. Just enough to remind her it was there.

She could still feel the power working in Niels. It repaired the ruptured blood vessels from both wounds, replaced the chipped bone shards from the one she’d inflicted, and resealed the skin—almost like she’d rewound time. Except nothing around them changed. Only Niels.

What were the repercussions of a power like that? Could she affect more than just a single person? Stories she’d read about time magic flashed in her mind. Would saving Niels here only cause a worse outcome in the future? Would there be a price to pay for saving him?

Her blood ran cold as the fire extinguished.

She collapsed, spots gathering in her sight. She blinked them away, her hands and arms tingling, almost numb.

Warm fingers encircled her wrist and pressed heat into her. The spots cleared from Hallie’s vision. The prickling sensation in her limbs slowly faded.

“We will work on your control. You focused too hard on the one strand and allowed the rest of your power to leak,” the woman said, her hand still around Hallie’s wrist, heat like fire on a cold winter’s night entering her bloodstream. It stung, but it wasn’t unbearable.

Hallie blinked, trying to stay her shaking hand. “What?”

“I can only give you enough Soul to keep you stable for now,” the woman clarified as she let go of Hallie.

The cold in her body had improved, though she wouldn’t say she was warm.

She hesitantly reached for her power, for the heat, but it had retreated behind a wall again.

“Using your power often in small doses will keep you from overextending yourself due to build-up.”

She didn’t trust this woman, but she had to admit there seemed to be some truth to it. She didn’t feel as terrible as she had after Achilles.