“I thought I was going to die there…” His lips trembled with the struggle to speak, and he reached for my hand, tears escaping him. “Now I will die free. Thank you.”
My jaw strained as I fought to keep my emotions in check. “No one is dying today.” Charlotte’s gaze connected with mine, her appreciation bursting from her. Cupping the elderly man’s face, I sent more healing energy into him, giving him back the strength stolen from him. “Eat and make sure to rest so you can get stronger.”
I stood once more, and my fists tightened at my sides once my gaze swept the tables filled with fragile women, elderly, and even a few children. Our people fuzzed over them, trying their best to make them feel at home, safe. To help erase the evil they had witnessed and been forced to experience all these years.
When our people saw I was there, they began to explain to those they helped who I was. A small smile forced its way onto my lips as one by one their eyes slowly began to focus on me, looking up to me like I was their savior.
After thanking Charlotte for helping this man, I moved to the next woman being tended to by Edward.
Her hands gripped her large belly, indicating she feared something would happen to her baby. It actually seemed she might be giving birth any day now. The woman looked dismayed, following the actions of those of helping around her, as though this was a cruel dream, and soon she would realize they were still in the Hollow. Bruises covered her face and arms, her lip split and swollen like she’d been beaten recently.
“May I?” I asked her, calling her attention to me while I gestured to the space beside her on the bench. When she nodded slowly, I sat next to her, gently taking one of her hands in mine, and beginning to heal her. “Is your mate here?”
I wanted to make sure she wasn’t alone, and if he was here somewhere, then they could be reunited.
Lowering her gaze from mine she shook her head. “He’s been gone a moon cycle. The sentries, they—” She paused, tears clogging her throat. “Leno was only trying to protect me…” The words were barely a whisper.
Edward and I exchanged a loaded glance, understanding all too well.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I offered, stroking her hand gently.
Focusing on her healing, I noticed the bruises along her body fade, the skin of her lip knitting back together and the swelling dissipating. Relief sank her shoulders and chest, feeling the comfort my ability provided. Silently asking for permission, I lowered my warm touch to her belly, cupping the other hand that protected her baby the instant she agreed, so she could feel secure with my touch.
The distress that captured her womb reached my essence, letting me know the baby had also suffered. With a reassuring smile, I sent loving, healing magic into it, imagining the golden glow engulfing the baby and keeping it safe. Tears spilled from her eyes when she felt the change in her belly and she finally let it go, pulling me to her and hugging me.
“Thank you,” she sobbed, knowing that whatever had affected her pregnancy was now gone.
Letting me go, she accepted Edward’s help more willingly, finally accepting she was in a good place now, and beginning to eat.
The pain inside me turned to full resentment against the Warlock King, and in that moment, I hated myself because a part of me had actually enjoyed my training with him today. Except, my teacher was the one responsible for this travesty. I could never forget who he truly was. Not even for a day, not for a single second.
He was a monster.
He wasn’t my tutor. He wasn’t my friend. Nor my grandfather. He was a demon who needed to be stopped.
Raithian was going to pay for this, for all of it, even if it was the last thing I ever did.
Lifting my gaze, I smiled at the woman and stood, moving on to the next person who needed my healing. My searching gaze found Evie helping Willow and the kitchen ladies to distribute more food. Our new kin were literally starving.
Imogen walked to my side immediately. “What do you need, my prince?”
“When Asher returns, tell him that as soon as I’m done healing the rescued, I need him to head to the Dragon sanctuary with me. Ask him to bring every kind of weapon he can find, there is much I need to practice…
There will be no rest tonight.”
27
Learning how to use magic was like learning how to walk. How to be. It was an intuitive experience that was centered entirely on how connected you were with your own self. It was something you felt in your soul, in your bones, in your veins.
It was stopping the entire world until the only sound you could hear was the beating of your own heart. It was following the threads of energy that bonded your cells together, knitting muscles and nerves, and literally making you whole.
That was the only way I had to describe it. It was indeed a feeling. Something that coursed through me constantly, eager to answer my call. Eager to be felt and be set free.
Golden energy swayed around me while I hovered in the middle of the room, eyes closed, arms extended to the sides. No, I couldn’t see the magic floating around me in perfect harmony and creating a sphere of power that renewed me with every heartbeat, but I could sense it.
Devenish magic swayed around my body as the soothing waves of an endless ocean, and I floated within its benevolent might. What had once been random splashes, reactions of my magic, was growing into a sea of power that expanded from me more and more each time I opened myself to it. Every moment I welcomed it and recognized it as the force it was, my ally, it grew inside me, it became stronger.
I’d learned to set it free more easily, instinctively, and to sense its intention during the last four days… with Raithian’s help. I trusted my magic now, which was mind-blowing.
A loud gasp, followed by a mumbled curse, echoed through the space, bringing a smirk to my face, and popping the “bubble” in which I floated. My eyes opened in time to see the swaying magic dissipating back into my being, just as my feet touched the ground.
“Forgive me, I did not mean to interrupt,” Kingston mumbled from the entrance of the room when I turned to face him.
“It’s fine. I was just meditating, or recharging?” I paused, trying to remember the actual purpose of a practice Raithian said used to be called bathing in your power.
Maybe it was both since it was meant to enhance our ability and help us become one with it. I never thought I’d be the type of person who enjoyed meditating, but it felt amazing being in the “bubble”.
“Anyway,” I shrugged. “You are not the only one who’s freaked out when seeing me like this.”
“You should be getting ready,” he chided, offering me his signature scowl as he walked to the bed, where the rest of the suit Willow made me lay. The chief’s faithful armor covered his large and muscular body, but it had been flawlessly polished to look brand new.
I made a face. “Honestly, I was hoping Willow would come to help me wrap the top. I have no idea how it works.”
Yeah, I could do unexplainable magic, communicate with Dragons, heal, and even change the very fabric of reality, but apparently, putting on an ancient ceremonial suit was where I drew the line.
“The pants were easy, because… pants,” I explained, walking to his side, “and the skirt looking panels that go on top were too—I think—but I can’t for the life of me figure out the shirt situation.” It wasn’t really a shirt, so that was where the problems began.