Page 224 of Of Nine So Bold

Because the tree and I were the same. The castle and maybe even the nexus too. Each of us had been twisted by my stepmother’s magic. Each of us had been forced into being something we were not.

I always had been tied to this place. And what she’d done to us—me, the tree, the castle, the nexus itself—it affected us all. Every time my stepmother had tried to twist my home, every time she’d wrought magic to tear my world apart, it had nearly gutted me. Her power had sent me spiraling into darkness, no matter how far away from here I’d been.

Aneira was more than my nation. Lumilia was more than my city. We were connected. We always had been.

And we were still fighting to survive.

“Tell me, Gwyneira.” My stepmother turned back to me. “Here you are, all alone, cut off from your precious men. There’s no one left to save you, and nothing you can do but watch them die. Sodotell me. What was this all for? Some noble delusion of dying for your daddy’s throne? A misguided effort to avenge that stupid man?”

I shook my head, never taking my eyes from her. “No.”

“Then what was it? Why wouldn’t you just crawl away and die like you were supposed to? This whole world was always going to be mine. There’s no one left to save you, this world, oranything.”

I dug my fingers into the dirt, my palm stinging and tingling. “There’s me.”

With all my might, I sent my magic rushing to join the remnants of the tree’s original power. Drawn by our connection, the energy of my men came with it, merging with my own.

Fire, water, stone, and wood. Nature itself and power like the sun. Like the energy of the stars.

And my power at the heart of it all.

“What nonsense is this?” My stepmother’s amused and incredulous voice came from far away. “You think you cantakethis place from me?”

Roots climbed over my fingers, my wrist, encasing them like the tree was gripping my hand.

Niko’s power surged within me, bringing understanding. The tree wasn’t attacking.

It was trying to help.

I smiled, drawing on Dex’s magic. “Grow.”

Fresh roots ripped through the soil. Spreading fast, they tore into the flagstones, racing for the edge of the glass dome.

“You—” My stepmother spun, flinging out a hand.

Fissures of nothingness shredded through the roots. Pain screamed through me and the tree alike, but then the demon’s fire was there like my veins had suddenly turned to rivers of flame. Whipping my palm toward her, I let it go.

Eyes wide, she spun. Her magic caught the blast with a slash of nothingness, devouring it.

But my diversion stopped the attack on the roots long enough for them to hit the glass wall. The wood scaled the misty surface, stabbing it over and over.

And the glass cracked. Groaned. Broke like crumbling frost around us. The roots fell back to the earth, but they didn’t stop there. Surging forward, they charged at the Voidborn monsters, tangling around them and yanking them away from my men.

Melisandre stared. “You little… You think this means you’re winning? Because one little tree listens to you?” She glared. “Try fightingthis.”

The hairs on my arms rose, a sensation on the air like dark lightning preparing to strike. Her hand flung down, aimed at the dirt and stone.

Magic pierced the ground. Through the roots of the tree, I could feel it racing down into the depths of the earth.

Racing for the nexus.

Our magic chased it, following the roots through the earth. Rot and corruption tangled around us, trying to devour our energy and that of the tree alike.

And deep below us lay the nexus. Like a dark cloud in my mind, my stepmother’s corruption engulfed it in a swirling mass of vicious, hungry magic.

Melisandre’s power hit the dark cloud, merged with it, drew it in like she was drinking its blood. With every drag she took from it, dark veins rushed out through the earth, pouring more power into the rot climbing over the castle. Shudders shook the ground, making the stone and dirt crumble.

Horror gripped me. The nexus was dying. A few ley lines still ran to it, but their power was twisted and corrupted. Countless more lay around it like severed veins, their uncorrupted magic bleeding out into the earth, never reaching the nexus with sufficient strength to let it fight back completely.

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