Page 87 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

He didn’t slow down his pace as he looked over his shoulder with a quirked eyebrow. "It’s time to work on using your shadows."

Lea stopped dead in her tracks, her heart thumping in her throat. "Are you sure that’s a good idea?" She hadjustdecided to believe in herself, but doing it right now felt like too much. "Maybe we should wait until Gray's here so he can help me."

Erik sighed and hung his head dramatically before turning and closing the distance between them. He placed a hand on her shoulder and lowered his eyes to her level. "I don’t know why you’re so scared to use your shadows, Sunshine. But Idoknow that you will need to use them. Like I mentioned in the woods, night magic is really only useful during combat on moving targets. That’s where the king's men come in."

"Can’t we practice first on like, I don’t know, sticks again?" Anxiety caused a cold sweat to break out on Lea’s skin. Her night magic still felt wrong. Partly because the more she used it, the more her primary magic seemed to seep into her chest, and partly because of the somethingotherthat was mixed in with her shadows. It felt foreign and difficult to control, and itterrifiedher. "I’ll do it. I know I need to practice, but not on people. Not yet."

"No." Erik crossed his arms. "Using your shadows in that way is the exact same as using your day magic. You can do that already. I have no doubt about it. We likely only have a week or two left here, assuming Eudora comes to find you soon. It’s better to train here where we’re safe and in a controlled environment."

Lea knew he was right, but she couldn’t help but feel unsure.

"Are you afraid of hurting someone? Is that it?" Erik scrunched his forehead up as if desperately trying to understand her hesitation. "Because you’re far less likely to accidentally injure someone with your shadows, you know. You’d have to be a lot more intentional about that."

"Yes, I’m afraid to hurt people! But it’s not that," Lea replied. "It’s more like… like the shadows might consume me whole. I’d feel better if Gray was here. The power feels bigger than me. And I’m worried that if I dig too deep into it, I might be trapped in the darkness forever."

"Good thing you can create light with your fingertips," Erik joked, wiggling his fingers, but he stopped when Lea’s face fell. "You’re really worried about your shadows consuming you?" he asked, his voice brimming with concern.

"I don’t know why, but it feels like they’re connected to my primary magic. They feel so much stronger and deeply tied into who I am than my day magic does. This power inside me—" Lea placed a hand against her sternum. "It feels dangerous. Like, it shouldn’t belong to only one person."

"That’s all the more reason to practice controlling it." Erik nodded at her seriously.

"I know you’re right. But it still scares me," Lea admitted, pushing the tears away that threatened to wet her eyes. She wasn’t sure why she felt this bone deep terror about using her night magic, but she’d never been more afraid of anything.

"I’m scared all the time, Sunshine. But we still have a war to fight, and I plan on helping you survive it. I’ll be there with you the whole time. If it gets out of control, I promise I’ll stop you."

"Okay." Butterflies beat their wings wildly in Lea’s stomach. She still didn’t feel like she had fully searched the depths of her power. But Erikwasright. She’d be more of a liability during battle if she wasn’t able to control her magic. She trusted Erik. Not only because Gray trusted him so completely, but because he’d proven himself to be a kind, thoughtful, and selfless friend. Noah’s speech earlier, as well as the fact that Gray and Erik believed in her so completely bolstered her hope that maybe they were right.

"You promise you’ve got my back?" Lea rolled her shoulders, feigning confidence.

"Always." Erik placed a hand over his heart, sincerity shining in his eyes.

Lea took a deep breath and resumed walking, grateful that Erik had listened to her concerns instead of telling her she was overreacting.

"But, I am a little offended you even had to ask me that," he grumbled as he continued on toward Lea’s worst nightmare.

Chapter 59

Gray

Thelastseveraldaysof riding had been remarkably uneventful. Even so, Gray was exhausted. They’d started at the westernmost edge of the border and had inspected every inch of the magical wards protecting the kingdom from the Lonely Death. As they had ridden, he’d added his own magic to King Tanad’s; intertwining and weaving threads of his darkness to the already existing barrier, fortifying it and making it significantly stronger.

It was a bit alarming how strong the boundary already appeared. How had the Lonely Death crept through it to begin with? It should have prevented not only the disease from passing through, but also anyone attempting to cross the border without King Tanad’s explicit permission. Still, a village had fallen since he’d constructed the wards. How had that been possible?

The evidence of his father's greed was in the ghost towns that King Tanad had taken Gray through as they passed. The once prosperous villages had been reduced to bones and skulls on a map. The first two had made Gray feel physically ill. The smell was horrific. Not the bodies of the victims of the Lonely Death. No, those had been burned by Tanad’s men to prevent infection. But it had taken weeks for anyone to learn that those villages had fallen. The animals had starved, and now flies and other bugs buzzed around the carcasses of horses and cattle.

Gray wished that he had day magic, just so he could burn the evidence of Brennus's malicious thievery of magic to the ground. These villages stood as stark reminders of his failure thus far. They were getting closer to the answers they needed to break the curse he’d set upon their family, but still, they needed more time to train. He knew the rebels had been working on their part back in Bearswillow, and Gray completely trusted that Vincent was taking their training seriously. But against his father’s magic, they stood no chance, not now. Not until he spoke to Eudora.

The night grew a little darker as he thought about her, his shadows pulsing and writhing along the stark border that divided the forest and the desert, Desia and Calir, in quiet anger.

"Is there a problem?" Tanad asked, sliding off his horse and grabbing his water skin. He didn’t wait for an answer as he walked to a crystal clear spring bubbling out of the golden sand.

The pool of water was massive, big enough to swim in, had they wanted, and Gray wished that he was here instead with Lea. He would strip her down to nothing, allow the cool water dripping off her breasts to quench his thirst. The thought made him grow hard, and he shifted, hopping off Obsidian to fill his own flask. "No, I’m sorry. Just thinking." Gray shook his head.

"And what, may I ask, were you thinking about that made your shadows react in such a way?" Tanad tilted his head curiously, taking a large swig of spring water.

Gray thought about his answer for a second. He hated that witch. She’d known exactly what she was doing when she’d granted his wish to make it impossible for his father or brother to kill someone else within his family. Just as she knew what was at stake here, what hung in the balance as she kept them waiting. But for some reason she was dear to Tanad and had resided in his palace for at least as long as Gray had known him. He didn’t wish to offend his host, but he also worried that she would make breaking the curse far more difficult than it needed to be. And even further, he worried about what she would ask of him in return for her help this time.

Gray decided to be honest. After all, King Tanad was his friend, and they shared the same goal. Maybe it would help him if Tanad would speak to her on his behalf.

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