Page 138 of Fallen Heirs

A look passed between all four of us, emotion threatening to get the best of us, as the brutal reality set in.

There was no choice.

Orpheus gave a reluctant nod, and then he and Saryan were erecting a wall to replace mine.

As soon as they did, I stepped back and began the incantation to open the portal to the celestial plane.

Reciting the incantation I’d learned by heart, I brought my golden fire together on either palm, holding them steady in the center until the beginnings of a gateway erupted. Then I thrust it forward a few feet. It settled a little off the ground and a golden doorway began to grow into being.

I could feel the pull on my power and I gritted my teeth, my hands shaking as I pushed harder until it was fully formed.

With another push, I managed to open it, bright yellow light flooding through, almost blinding to look at. In moments, a vortex came into being through the opening, growing larger and larger and more powerful until I felt the pull of it.

I dug my heels into the ground as it started to drag me toward it.

It was sensing celestial magic and because I wasn’t anchored, it was coming right for me!

I lost ground until the yellow light was flooding me, pulling at my power and me.

I couldn’t hold it.

And then a hand clasped mine, the jolt of it cutting off the pull, the vortex retreating from trying to take me.

I turned to see Orpheus there, his magic live on either palm, including the one grasping my hand. He was grimacing and fighting to hold me to this plane by his sheer astounding force of will.

“No,” I rasped. “It’s going to drain you.”

“I won’t let you go,” he told me resolutely. “Not for anything.”

A blast of white power slammed into his chest, making him stagger back, but still keeping hold of my hand, and I swung my head to see Lenora firing down on him.

She’d obviously realized what had happened and now she wanted the portal to take me instead of her.

“Orpheus!” Saryan bellowed.

“Ore!” Talon screamed, looking back and forth wildly between the barriers he was trying to hold alongside the others and us.

But Orpheus still didn’t let go of my hand.

I looked out at the field of battle, watching as Marlowe was working swiftly to evacuate everyone. Not fast enough, though. If they dropped the barriers now, so many would still perish. Not to mention, some of us might not be able to teleport away fast enough to escape it either.

Lenora shrieked and then brought her hands together, creating a shockwave of power that burst through the wall and slammed straight into Orpheus.

A scream ripped from my throat as he went hurtling from me and landing several feet away on his front.

And he didn’t move.

“Orpheus!”Talon screamed at the top of his lungs.

His pained cry cut through the noise of battle and then he was bolting toward him and skidding to his knees.

I watched him reach out to touch him.

He was stunned, just stunned.

That was all.

All it could ever be.

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