Page 33 of Dragon Awakened

"I don't know how." I open my eyes to find Rhiannon staring back at me with nothing but kindness.

"Neither do I, child. Only those who have borne the bracer or another artifact of its power could hope to."

It's a strange reminder--Rhiannon seems so much older and wiser than me, but I'm the expert when it comes to my own magic.

No one else can do this but me.

Closing my eyes again, I look inward. My mates' presence fuels me, lending me the strength of three elemental dragon princes.

And I need to find the fourth.

Every other time I've managed to create a portal, I've been running for my life. I don't have that urgency now, but there's an empty, aching piece missing from my heart. I've been trying to ignore it for so long, but in this moment, I give it the space to make itself felt.

The air around me begins to shiver.

I reach backward with my spirit and feel my mates' presence, shoring me up. Their support pours into me.

"Yes," Rhiannon breathes. Her hand grips mine more tightly, and the heat of my bracer burns through me. Shimmering tingles dance up my arm, and I open my eyes to watch the slow swirl of Rhiannon's magic sweeping mine up in a cloud of black and purple smoke.

Only it's not just purple and black. Brilliant turquoise and crimson and silver lights flicker within the darkness, and again I feel the pang of the magic I can't yet access.

But what I have is enough.

Grunting with the effort, Rhiannon helps coax my magic up and out of my body. I let her guide me, trusting her and her abilities.

Slowly, the beginnings of a portal form above our joined hands.

It's a swirling, violet vortex, crackling with harsh, unrestrained and untethered magic. Its yawning entrance has no beginning and no end, and the shattered air around it wavers violently.

"Sister Grace," Rhiannon says, strained. She holds out her mother's locket.

Sister Grace hesitates for a moment. I look to her, and our gazes lock. The sheer exertion of keeping the unstable portal open tears at me. I need to root it--either in a destination or in Grace's magic.

If she refuses, I don't know if I have the strength to focus the portal and draw myself and my mates through it to the Air Kingdom. Worse, I don't know if I will have enough magic left to bring us back.

There's a sharp pain in my chest as I remember the empty, sputtering feeling of hitting the limits of my magic, back at the Citadel. I can't risk letting that happen again. Not when my mates' lives--and possibly the future of all dragonkind—are on the line.

"Please," I beg.

Sister Grace's chest expands as she breathes in deeply. She flicks her gaze just past me, toward Jianyu, and a new conviction steels her.

She holds out her hand, and Amy passes her a bundle of dried herbs. With a quiet incantation, Grace waves her open palm over the top of the bundle, and it slowly begins to smoke.

She continues chanting in a language I don't recognize, and which I can barely hear over the growing roar of the untethered magic. The smoke from the herbs has a dark, sweet scent that swirls around us, permeating the crackling, unstable portal that yawns above our heads. The air ripples with energy, and Rhiannon's mother's locket pulls at its chain, jerking toward the open portal.

"Now," Grace breathes.

And I don't know what to do. I try to release the portal, but it clings to me.

Rhiannon directs me, "Let it go."

I shake my head. "How--?"

"Embrace the Shadow Dragon within you," Rhiannon grits out, effort making a sheen of sweat appear on her brow as she helps me to maintain the spell. "Trust her to let her magic out into the world."

And I've always embraced my dragon. I've begged her over and over to Emerge.

But there's something about the idea of releasing her Shadow Magic. It doesn't matter that I've done it before. It's never been named so plainly. My breath catches, and my magic stutters as ripples of doubt cascade through me. Instead of letting go, I pull inward.

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