“Rumple?” I cried out. “How?”
Aura showed me a picture in my mind of the lake parting at Meri’s command, and Rhea retrieving Rumple from the bottom. The actions played as though they were my memories, and I watched as she had taken over the minds of those hundreds of people standing in front of the portrait. She’d brought them to the lake, where Meri was helping them cross to safety.
Tears flowed freely down my face as love and magic surrounded me, but I could feel the pressure building. I was struggling to hold it all.
Then Rhea placed Rumple in my hand, and I could feel the power of the dwarf, and his earth magic that had been touched with Rhea’s charms.
I nodded, and this time, I pictured all of the golden light inside of me, the magic my sisters had been feeding me. I pushed it out and through my hands, back into the ley line.
Like oil and water, the two kinds of magic fought against each other, light and dark. But it was my sisters’ magic. I could see it chasing the dark strands deep into the earth, bringing it forth, upward like hounds chasing a rabbit.
“Oh, I can see it coming!” I cried out as another earthquake shook the ruins. The dais cracked as their magic burned through, rushing after the poison taint. It was racing for the surface to escape.
The dais cracked down the middle, and a great black liquid reached for the sky, but I didn’t let it go. I caught it and pulled it to me. Like a fish on a line, it fought, but I wouldn’t concede.
“You belong to me!” I yelled, and I could almost hear the magic laugh. “I’m the daughter of Allemar, the descendant of the one who cursed you.”
The magic halted and stopped fighting, as if listening. “I remove the curse, by taking it into myself!”
Percy tensed. “Honor, you don’t know what that will do.”
“Trust me,” I whispered.
The magic hung in the air, a moving cloud debating my offer, then like a hive of bees swarming, it dove straight for my heart.
I screamed as coldness ripped through my very being, and I absorbed the dark magic. Ice, fire, pain. I was drowning and overwhelmed. I fell backwards into Percy’s arms, my body going cold, shivering.
“We can’t stop,” I gasped, and folded myself inward, grasping my chest. My body battled against me. “We’re strong enough . . . Can’t stop . . .”
Percy lifted my chin. “There’s only one magic that is stronger,” he whispered, looking deep into my eyes. “A magic so strong it burns for eternity. And that’s love.” He pressed his lips to mine and pushed his magic through me.
Pleasure replaced pain. I was no longer drowning, but flying. The fire of our love chased and burned out the darkness until we were surrounded by a blinding light.
A great burst of magic erupted like fireworks out of the ley line, and scattered across the ruins. We broke our kiss to see the surge hit the veil of magic protecting the realm, and it shattered. Gold, silver and diamonds rained down on us, creating a tinkling sound as it hit the marble dais.
Bright blue skies shone down on us and I tried to stand, but the world spun. Crumpling against the cold stone, my vision swam, and sleep claimed me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Three weeks later.
“Do you think Lorelai foresaw this?” I asked, standing in the throne room. I watched my sisters and their husbands talk, flirt, and even tease each other mercilessly, instead of conducting council business.
A round table sat in the center of the throne room at the palace, and it didn’t seem like any actual work was getting accomplished. There were supposed to be land deeds signed, and new titles to be bestowed upon the nobles and lords. There were new border lines being drawn up between the various fae races.
Eden glamoured herself into Dorian and tried to sign papers on his behalf, while Dorian chased around their toddler, a little blonde-haired girl named Elsie. She was running after Violet, Rosalie’s daughter, and Violet had shifted into her wolf pup form. Maeve and Aspen tried to sneak out of the room, but Rosalie pulled Aspen back by the back of his cloak and pointed to a chair. “Sit.” Then she waved her hands at the raven sitting in the window. “Maeve, get down here!”
Aspen groaned and shuffled back to his seat, while Maeve, in a flash of feathers and magic, shifted back into her grumpy self, and plopped next to her husband. Then Rosalie deposited her youngest child into Maeve’s arms.
Maeve held the swaddled baby and looked up in absolute terror. “I don’t do babies.”
Kash was busy arguing with Rumple—who continued to call him names, like Nancy, sissy hands, and longface—and Rhea was busy reading a book and taking notes, obsessed with how we’d fixed the ley line. Apparently, when I’d healed the sacred hollow, it redirected the ley lines.
“I swear I saw a glimpse of another realm,” Rhea muttered, her fingers covered in ink as she made more notes.
Liam stood next to Aura, his hand touching her shoulder; a magical shield that protected the empath from the barrage of thoughts in the room. Devin, the acting king of Rya, seemed overwhelmed. Aura was the queen of the fae. Since Liam didn't want to accept the throne, it fell to Devin, but the two were still brothers-in-arms, and in heart.
Brennan reclined in his chair, plopping his boots on the maps.
Meri swatted him in the back of the head. “Off!” And Brennan reluctantly pulled his feet down.
“Do I think Lorelai foresaw this?” Lorn repeated, then thought for a moment before he answered my question. “I’m sure she did.” He looked out the window while he continued to speak. “I hope they get some work accomplished.”
“Yeah, but I don’t see that happening today. It has been years since everyone has been together. Lorelai would have wanted them to have this,” I said.
“On the other hand, she would be chastising them for wasting time.”
“True.” I smiled at the thought. “But there’s no hurry in choosing a new ruler of Sion.”
“I think there are four very nervous daughters waiting outside to see if any of them are worthy.” A sadness washed over me. Of the eleven sisters, only the youngest four survived: Lisbelle, Willa, Mira, and Clara.
Lorn turned to me, studying me with his silver eyes. “Are you going to put your name in? You are technically the oldest daughter.”
“I’m also the illegitimate child of Allemar, the bastard firstborn,” I said. “And no. I’m not made for a throne room. I’ve spent my life traveling the ley lines. I feel like I’m more at home on the road under the stars than stuck between four walls.”
Lorn was staring down at the dais, his face forlorn. I reached out and placed my hand on his arm and leaned my head against his shoulder.
“I still can’t believe she’s gone,” he said, his voice breaking.
“I know,” I whispered.
“She knew. She foresaw all of this. Planned it out, down to the last detail. That’s why she never said she loved me back, because she knew our love would be eternal.”
The door opened, and Lisbelle came in dressed in pale white, no longer wearing her assigned indigo color. Her blonde hair was brushed out and kept in a simple knot by the nape of her neck. I didn’t realize how young she’d looked in those frilly dresses. She was older than I thought, and she looked so sophisticated.