Kieran’s reckoning was at hand.
Chapter 29
There was one last thing they needed to do in Bael before they could hunt down Kieran.
“Now that we have locked on to the corruption’s signature, it’s time for me to heal the land.”
“Us,” Lucian corrected, interrupting Helena without apology. “It’s time for us to heal the land. There is no doubting your power, Kiri, but if we have any hope of outrunning this blight, we’ll need to split our forces. Working together now will ensure we all understand the nuances of the task before us.”
Helena considered him, a small smile playing about her mouth. Her eyes darted to Effie, and she cast her voice low, speaking as if no one else could hear her. “I can see now why you say he’s so aggravating.” She let her eyes return to Lucian and travel up his body. “And why you tolerate it.”
Effie blushed as Helena smirked and then broke out into peals of laughter at her Mate’s scowl. For his part, Lucian merely crossed his arms, causing the muscles in his biceps and chest to flex in the most deliciously distracting way.
“Aggravating?”
“Impossibly so.”
A smile ghosted her Guardian’s lips, gone as quickly as it appeared.
“Alright, Guardian,” Helena murmured. “We’ll try it your way.”
Lucian was gracious enough to look as though he was honored by her concession, although Effie didn’t think anyone was fooled into believing he would have allowed matters to go any other way. Even surrounded by other alphas, Lucian had no trouble establishing dominance.
“Are we supposed to be helping you? Because I’d feel remiss if I didn’t point out that besides Helena, you’re the only other person who’s done something like this before.”
Kael’s dimple flashed at Effie’s impertinence. “Ye of little faith.”
Effie quirked a brow. “What? Am I supposed to just magically know how to go about sending the corruption to this Nether place?”
“In a manner of speaking.” Came Lucian’s amused reply.
Lucian and Kael were already moving into place, standing to the side of Helena. Effie trailed behind, trying to figure out what she was missing. When she reached him, Lucian ran his thumb along the crease between her two brows.
“Do you remember how I taught you to access your power?” he asked, his voice tender in her mind.
“By sharing your first experience of it.”
“That is how you will learn the ritual we are about to use.”
Effie couldn’t help but feel a little slow. Lucian had already explained the Guardian’s shared pool of knowledge to her. She’d been on the receiving end of it more than once now, both in her position as a Keeper and also since becoming a Guardian. She should have realized one of them knowing something was essentially the same as all of them knowing it.
His touch was featherlight against her skin, but the memory was just as powerful as before. Colors twirled and shifted behind her eyelids until she was witnessing Lucian perform the ritual. It was more than a little odd to see her body chained to the wall as he moved around speaking the words of power. More so once she was splayed on the floor.
Effie wanted to pull away, not quite ready to face the truth of how far gone she’d been, but unable to stop it.
When it was over, the knowledge was hers, as if she’d performed the spell a hundred times before.
“Do we have everything we need?”
“Helena can manifest every element, the only other thing we require are the words.”
Effie gave a little nod, clearing her mind to help center herself. She was still new when it came to performing magic, and this was a massive undertaking. She didn’t want to be the one to fuck it up.
Helena looked over at them, her brows furrowed. “I’m not used to doing this as a group effort.”
It soothed a part of Effie’s soul to hear such a powerful woman admit that there were still things she didn’t know. It made her feel like less of an imposter. If the Mother’s Vessel was still learning after all this time, then it was only natural Effie would have a learning curve of her own.
“If you focus on strengthening the unbroken strands, we can cast out the tainted ones,” Lucian said.
Helena’s brows puckered further. “I don’t see the land through these strands you speak of. To me it is a myriad of colors.”
“Do these colors allow you to distinguish that which is salvageable from that which is already lost?”
There was a beat of silence as Helena’s eyes sparkled like twin prisms. “Yes,” she murmured, her voice layered.
“Repair what ails. We will weed out that which cannot be salvaged. Then together, we will replace what has been lost.”
Helena looked intrigued. “Ready?”
Lucian’s eyes burned bronze. “Aye, Kiri.”
There was no need to speak incantations or call upon the elements. Helena embodied them all, and she was more tied to the Mother’s five branches than any other living being. As soon as Lucian finished speaking, Helena began to glow with power.
Effie couldn’t begin to imagine what it felt like to her, the force of all those elements rising within her, but for Effie, joining with her power was like being truly alive. As she merged with that limitless potential, for one perfect moment there was no fear. No shame or doubt. Just pure, wondrous ability.
Before, the earth lost its color and transformed into a wasteland comprised almost entirely of oozing, noxious black fibers. This time, however, Effie could also see bright vibrant strands of light. They were flowing out of Helena, sinking their way deep into the ground and reinforcing the strands that were little more than feeble protests against the choking corruption.
Tendrils of darkness shrank away from the purity of Helena’s power and from the life she was reintroducing to the land. Together, the Guardians focused on those tainted filaments, using their power to assert their will.
It was the first time Effie had really tried to modify the essence of a thing. She may be casting the corruption out, but she was also reshaping the very earth itself. Telling it which pieces were allowed to stay and thrive, and which must be eliminated. It was heady, that kind of power. So easily could she rebuild the entire world to her liking. Getting rid of the plants and beasts that annoyed rather than delighted. But every ecosystem required balance. Destroy too much, and nothing would survive.
All of this she knew, and yet the temptation flickered there until the very last of the tainted strands were gone.
When they were done, the citadel was still missing, but so were the ashes and scent of despair that had clung to the land. It would take years before the repairs were finished, but at least the Keepers would have a homeland to return to, if they wished.
A sense of peace washed over Effie. She had helped do this. In her own way, she had managed to help save the place that had become her home.
Lucian threaded his fingers through hers. There was no need for words. She could feel the contentment flowing off of him and cascading over her skin. Effie breathed deep, savoring the feel of Lucian’s happiness, allowing it to reinforce her own growing contentment.
Perhaps it was not the citadel that had made her feel at home, after all.