Nathaniel takes an angry step toward his sister. “For ending our mother’s pain? Or for keeping me alive?” he asks, his voice dangerously quiet. “Which ‘hurt’ are you talking about?”
The blood drains from Christiana’s face. “For our mother… I would never wish harm on you.”
Nathaniel shakes his head, a slow, angry movement. He raises his voice to address the humans. “Aura Lucidia saved my life! She saved me when her people tried to burn me to death. She protected me from the wolves. She stepped between me and hunters’ arrows. She took the lash of Cyrian’s whip that would have killed me. She turned her back on her own people and came here. And why?” He roars at them, his anger a violent storm. “Because I asked her to.”
His teeth are gritted. “She did it for me. And this is how you repay her.”
He turns back to his sister, his voice barely controlled. “Aura has the power to defeat Cyrian. We need her.” He shakes his head, slow, full of rage. “But I won’t ask her to fight for us now.”
He points to Mathilda. “You will ease Aura’s pain so I can unbind her.”
Mathilda’s wild hair swishes around her face, her luminescent eyes wide. “I told you, Nathaniel. I can’t. I’ve already drained the environment—”
“Then take the energy you need from my heart,” he says.
Mathilda gasps, jolting back so fast that she nearly loses her balance. “Never!”
My head snaps up at the same time. “No!”
As our shouts echo, Hagan steps forward with a quiet statement. “Take from my heart.”
A hush falls over the humans.
Christiana stares at Hagan, her lips parted in surprise. She steps toward him as if she’s going to stop him, but before she can say anything, Hagan points to Geordie.
“That man said that when we arrived, Aura was holding on to me.” His arm slowly lowers as he meets my eyes. “I remember tipping off the bird, but something stopped me from falling. You tore your arm to keep me alive. Didn’t you?”
When I don’t respond, he strides toward me, only stopping when Nathaniel steps in his path.
“That’s close enough,” Nathaniel says.
The tension rises as the two men face each other.
“I’m the reason she’s hurt. Let me help her,” Hagan replies, appearing to choose his words carefully. “Take my life energy. Then I can die—”
“No,” I shout. “You will not!”
Hagan blinks at me. He’s a massive man who matches Nathaniel in strength, yet my shout seems to have stunned him. Nathaniel, too, turns to me, but unlike the others, he doesn’t appear surprised. A resigned expression settles onto his face.
“I didn’t save your life to watch you throw it away, Hagan Sever,” I snarl.
I turn my glare on Mathilda. “As for the witch, she will not come anywhere near me with her dark magic.”
Nathaniel turns to kneel in front of me again, a challenging glint entering his eyes as his big body casts me into shadow. “Then will you let me unbind you?”
My gaze flickers to Mathilda. Then Hagan.
Christiana folds her arms, as if she’s suddenly cold.
Icy anger rushes through me. “I’ll do it myself.”
I pull at my power, a harsh tug, tearing at what remains of my starlight now that it’s nearing the middle of the day. It’s a painful wrench, like clawing at the bottom of an empty well, as if I’m trying to steal a drop of water from dusty earth.
My power flashes. The briefest burst. I’m quickly exhausted. A sickly burning scent fills the air as the rope catches on fire. I lean forward over my knees as my hands separate behind my back. The chain clanks against the pole as the rope falls away, but I don’t move any farther.
The humans take quick steps away from me, flickers of fear on their faces, but Nathaniel and Hagan are quiet. I remain leaning forward, my right arm lying at an awkward angle across my back, my face raised to see them. Any further movement will invite more pain.
Nathaniel speaks quietly to Hagan. “Help me, please.”
Hagan gives him a nod and kneels on my other side before Nathaniel runs his hand down my injured right arm. “Easy now, Aura. We’ll keep your arm where it is.”
Hagan gently presses my limb, keeping it in its current position against my back so that Nathaniel can lift me without hurting me. Nathaniel presses my chest against his as he slowly rises and finally shifts his arms so that he can hold me without Hagan’s help.
“I can take it from here,” he says to Hagan.
Hagan gives a silent nod before he steps away.
Without another word, Nathaniel strides away from the humans. Across his shoulder, I can see Hagan remain where he is, his expression unreadable, while Christiana and Mathilda hurry after us.
“Wait, Nathaniel,” Christiana calls, unwrapping her arms from her chest to follow us. “Where are you going?”
“To my hut.”
“You can’t! The glitter bulbs will kill you.”
“Then you’d better not follow me,” he says.
“Nathaniel!” she screams, digging in her heels as if she can somehow plant him to the spot. “Stop!”
When Nathaniel continues walking, she spins to Mathilda, crying, “You have to stop him.”
Mathilda shakes her head, wide-eyed fear filling her expression. “There’s nothing I can do. I can’t access any more power inside Null. We brought this on ourselves.”
The other humans run up behind them, watching us go. They’re all shouting for Nathaniel to stop now. They won’t only be afraid for him. If he sets off the bulbs, the explosions will cut through the entire camp.
Nathaniel continues walking, his steady footsteps carrying me away from them. He presses his cheek to the top of my head while I listen to his deep inhalations.
“Nathaniel!” Christiana screams again. “You have to forgive me.”
“I don’t have to do a fucking thing for you,” he murmurs. “Not for any of you. Not anymore.”
He doesn’t turn back, even when Christiana buries her head in her hands, and Mathilda wraps her arm around Christiana’s shoulders.
I’ve never heard Nathaniel speak like that. He’s always held tightly to his convictions, his path. He’s always operated according to an unbending code of love and loyalty. I sense bitter anger in him now, the kind that could fester.
I want to reach for him, but I can’t move.
He continues to stride toward the glittering bulbs, their deadly glass surfaces winking. I can only just see them out of the corner of my eye and only if I crane my neck. I quickly return my head to his chest, afraid of upsetting his balance.
I protected him from the glitter field once, but I don’t know why the bulbs are here, how they got here, or whether the protection I experienced before will keep us safe now.
The barrier of dark magic that Mathilda placed around the hut shrieks as Nathaniel barrels through it. Directly in front of me, golden light glows across his chest, shining brightly through the rips in his shirt as he plows through the dark light as if it’s nothing more than mist.
Again, I want to reach out and touch him, but I have no control. My breaths bounce against his chest. My heart pounds so hard, I can hardly hear his footsteps.