Page 40 of Bright Soul

“There must be a way to defeat her,” he would say at the beginning of each meeting with the most intelligent of us left. It would kick off hours of debate and ideas.

It was Auric et Vess who came up with a mad plan that just might work. He was a Vrassorm man and an old political friend of my father’s. Unfortunately, for it to work, they needed the help of a vicious rival in the Iorsio woman Mencha et Syroni. Complete with Dad, they were the most powerful survivors of the three tribes.

We could escape through the Void and deny Myuna our souls by heading to a different world far from her reach. As a Vess, Auric would bend the Void to allow them through. Dad’s shadows would protect us, while Mencha’s flame would light ourway forward. All tribespeople with magic would follow their lead to magnify their abilities for the long journey.

“Shall we do it, my prince?” Auric asked. Everyone looked to Dad for direction now that the king, queen, first prince, and my cousins were all deceased. The second prince, who would be king if he stood still for a coronation. I stood at his right side at each meeting, trying to hide the fear from my face to look tough and capable.

Dad agreed. We gathered everyone we could and left, stepping into the nothingness between worlds. The magic of the Void marked us as we spent an unknowable amount of time walking and walking and walking without fatigue or rest. Our features and teeth smoothed out to better resemble humans’, the dominant species on the world we approached. I noticed the mark of language and humanity on the membrane of my wing, while the same one appeared on Dad’s back and random places for everyone else.

These subtle changes were beautiful to us, but when we made first contact with humans…they were horrified by our appearances, calling us demons and fracturing the alliances within our peoples.

Most of the Iorsio tribespeople followed Mencha in becoming the monsters they decried us as. She preached that we were stronger, taller, and more powerful than they could ever dream.Why not prove our superiority by enslaving them?She led her followers away in disgust when Dad met and fell in love with a human woman.

Morgana was present when the Hungering Darkness starting making one of my school friends act erratically. I barely remember the actual circumstances of my death, come to think of it, only bits and pieces as moments fracture into frayed strands.

The agony of having Endaeron’s teeth ripping my soul into two messy pieces.

Blood spattering me when Dad killed my assailant.

His panicked face swimming in and out of my sight.

“Stay with me, Brazita,” he’d begged, gathering me in his arms.

We pressed foreheads for a final time, my labored breathing and erratic heartbeat proving that I was already three limbs in the grave.

I still gasped out a request and a consent to something I barely understood as my tattered soul unhooked from my body and my pupils smeared into the dull gold of my still eyes.

17

CRESS

“And that is how I became the powercore of Moongrove Library.”

Braza was seated on the ground by my head as I came to and jolted upright with a twinge in my shoulders. I didn’t know who I was for a minute, confused to see my teenaged dimensional face rendered in black and purple energy looking back at me.

Empathy flooded my eyes in the next moment. “My god, you weren’t even my age when you died,” I said.

She handed me the clothes I’d shed so she could mark my back, and I put them on, letting the fabric absorb my tears. Her life was already fading some, becoming a stream that flowed together separately from my own memories. I knew I would have a difficult time for a while reminding myself that I wasnotBraza and had never lived the life of an orphan turned almost-princess of Soiluire.

I was still Cress, an orphan turned librarian-celestial witch hybrid. I had a whole coven of good friends, all waiting for meto finish up here. Plus an adopted sister, Carly, who I was still worried about.

Braza had a best friend and sister named Ravai…Phaeron’s daughter. He hadn’t breathed a word of her or Keshora, but I’dseenhow much he’d adored them. At one point, he’d doted on Braza the exact same way. Now I saw what she meant, what she feared, and why she had gone to such lengths to set me up to save him.

If we all survived this, then I would have to privately confront my feelings about seeing his former life. I was supposed to be his mate, to replace both Keshora and Morgana, but now I knew them by their accomplishments and Phaeron’s love for them. It gave his slow burn interest in me a completely different view. How did I even compare? How often did I come short in his eyes?

“I have continued to exist for several human lifetimes. It is not so bad,” she answered, taking me out of my whirling thoughts.

“Stuck in one place. Never resting,” I sighed, looking around at her inner chamber with new eyes.Existingseemed unpleasant at best.

“The last Guardian of Moongrove Library was able to take me out of the library’s bounds,” she said with an edge of hope to her tone.

“Then I will, too,” I promised, offering her a hand up. She took it and stood, giving me a winged hug. I realized she was melting into my form, surrounding me in flames of black and purple shadows.

Power surged between us as the tether snapped into place. I threw my head back and screamed out a shadowborn’s howl, exhilarated. The pulse of energy was unmistakable, and I felt for myself how those who could sense dimensional power would catch notice of us immediately.

We emerged from the powercore holding a sword in our dominant hand and Wren’s staff in the other. The light from the tool did not damage our shadows or make them retract, as I’d seen happen with my light and Phaeron’s darkness. We…no,I had to remind myself that I was still in charge.Iwas one coherent whole, part celestial witch, part librarian, and part shadowborn, with light and darkness swirling between my staff and sword at my will.

“Cress, tell me that’s still you, kid,” Madigan said. Arrayed around the chamber was a crew of her, Orthus, Geo, Áine, and most of my coven.

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