Page 111 of Blood of the Stars

Without any place to push it, without any purpose to guide it, she hunched over Sylmar and flung it out wildly behind her, unsure if it was her power or Durriken’s fire that burned into her back. Bright light flashed, blinding her, but even after the heat and the dragon’s roar were gone, the light shone.

She and Sylmar turned.

A shield of light burned between them and Durriken, a wall like glass. It shimmered and faded but didn’t completely disappear. Beneath it, a field of daisies grew, blossoms popping up in a wave around their feet and Durriken’s tail.

Aeliana watched both the light and the flowers, sensing the way they ebbed and flowed with her breaths, like they were tied to her, like they were a part of her.

For the first time, the energy within her abated, its end within sight. And for the first time, Aeliana worried what it would feel like to not have it. She reached out, tugging back against the flow, struggling to rein it in. But its pull was too hard, the control she’d thought she’d had absent.

She could only guide the energy out, so she did, pushing it into the shield until it was bright once more, sending it through the flowers until they grew, twisting unnaturally like vines, taking over the rubble and remains, even crawling up over Durriken’s paws.

In a panic he pulled, making the vines snap, but more grew until he tripped and came down with a thud that shook the ground. Sylmar bolted forward, straight through the glassy light, placing a hand on Durriken’s foreleg. Before Durriken could attack or even assess his enemy, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed in a heap against the earth, rattling the few remaining windows of the neighboring homes.

The shield collapsed, and Aeliana sucked in a shuddering breath, rushing to check the beast, unsure where she would even hear a heartbeat.

“Did you kill him?” She ran to the beast’s belly, watching for the rise and fall of his chest. When it came, faintly, she sighed out her relief.

“I’m not sure I could if I wanted to.” Sylmar came around from the creature’s other side, face pale as he warily eyed Aeliana. “Kendalyhn can sift his soul. See if it gives us answers.”

Aeliana swallowed hard, afraid to ask what Sylmar might do once he had his answers.

“Is Arvid gone?” she asked.

Sylmar nodded, his gaze still on the clusters of daisies. “Ran off during the chaos. Hard to say if he’ll stick around for vengeance or run back to Mayvus.”

“He’ll go back to Mayvus.” Her voice came out hollow. “Told me I’d be under her power soon.”

Sylmar was instantly alert. “Did he see you do magic?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so, but he probably saw the cord of my starlock.” She reached for the leather around her neck.

Sylmar’s eyes closed, his face a mask of concentration. “When were you going to tell me you can do a shield?”

The accusation in his voice left her startled.

“I can’t—I haven’t been able to before. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Sylmar still stared at her. “You shouldn’t progress that fast. Your skills should have tapered off when we weaned you, giving you just the one strength on your spoke. The others can be built up, but it takes time and effort.”

With Aeliana’s energy drained, the loss of what had filled her for so many years made her snap. “You make me practice every night. I have been putting forth time and effort.”

Sylmar remained unperturbed. “And you stopped the blood magic?”

She glared up at him, then turned on her heel, stomping through the rubble toward the eastern gate. How dare he accuse her of continuing the blood magic. She hadn’t wanted to do any magic, and now they’d convinced her to try, and she was suddenly suspect for doing well at it?

“I’ve seen the marks on your skin. They’re not all old,” he called after her.

Her anger rose. She didn’t know where the fresh cuts came from. She’d started wondering if she did it in her sleep. But that didn’t mean she was doing blood magic.

“It’s a temptation that never really goes away,” he continued. “There’s no shame in acknowledging that weakness. But if you’ve stopped the blood magic like you say, then you’ve been holding out on us.”

She stumbled with his words, refusing to be baited, but they still rang in her ears like a memory stuck repeating. As the sting of the accusation faded, it was replaced with a hollow pang. Sylmar hadn’t just accused her of doing something evil; he’d suggested they’d all come to trust her, to see her as one of them. And now they couldn’t.

Lukai waited for her on the other side of the gate, his face relaxing into a slightly less concerned frown when she came in sight. “Is Sylmar?—?”

“He’s fine.” She cut Lukai off, continuing her march past him without another word. Beyond the tree line, Velden, Iris, Kendalyhn, and Cyrus anxiously watched the gate. Aeliana singled out Kendalyhn. “Sylmar wants you to invade the dragon’s soul.”

Kendalyhn’s eyes narrowed. “Sympathizing with the enemy?”

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