Page 96 of Mountains of Mist and Magic

“I—I'm Renya Solaris.” She looked at the fae, who was now taking the shape of a woman.

“I know who you are, light bringer.” The woman was now fully sedentary.Her beauty was nearly painful to look at, Phillippe thought. Her hair was so blonde it was nearly white, flowing like liquid sunshine. Her skin was golden, and her blue eyes burned as harshly as the sun. She seemed taller than them, but perhaps it was merely the way she carried herself: she sat stiffly on the stone chair, regal and elegant. Her gown was covered in images of the sun, moon and stars, with bright comets and solar flares worked in.

“If you know who I am, then you know why we are here,” Renya said, lowering her head respectfully. “The magic has faded from our world, and the balance greatly disrupted. Kingdoms have disappeared, and fae are becoming extinct. Fated mates are few and far between, and the drums of war between lands seem near. The very fabric of the world you were born into is tearing—and we can't mend it without you.”

“Alas—I am not the granter of magic,” the first fae said.

Selenia looked about ready to cry, and Renya opened her mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out. Phillippe was equally shocked. All this way, and nothing could be done?

The first fae smiled. “Come, all is not lost. For I have a connection to someone who can return the magic to this world.”

“Now you tell us, I nearly had a heart attack,” Phillippe grumbled under his breath.

The woman looked at him, her piercing eyes seeming to look straight into his soul. Suddenly, panic gripped his heart and he felt like his chest was being torn open. He collapsed on the ground, heaving and breathing shallowly.

“Stop that! What are you doing to him?” Selenia screamed shrilly.

Renya's face had paled. “Selenia, it's not her. It's—Esmeralda.”

Fire pulled and tugged, and Phillippe grasped at his heart. He felt like it was in a vice, and his lungs were failing him. His vision blurred from the pain, and he lay flat on his back, looking at the clouds. They had seemed so serene before, but now they swirled and darkened, and he wondered if he was losing consciousness.

“Renya, what's happening?”

Tears began flowing from Renya's eyes, which scared Phillippe more than anything. “I can see—I can feel what Grayden is feeling, and—Esmeralda has been hurt. Badly. Oh my god, there's so much blood—”

“Do something!” Phillippe heard Selenia's desperate plea, but he didn't know who she was begging—Renya or the first fae.

“He will be fine. Once she dies, their link will be severed. He will go back to normal.” The first fae’s voice rang through the air.

“Once she dies?” Renya squealed. “There has to be a way!”

“There is. I can sever their bond, and he will instantly stop hurting.”

Phillippe ground his teeth, moaning from the pain. He struggled to speak, his tongue feeling thick. “Sever...the...bond? Is she...my fated mate?”

“I think you know the answer to that,” the first fae said.

“No. Don't—sever. Love her—would rather...die than be without her.”

The first fae smiled, and Phillippe felt like this had all been some kind of trap. Esmeralda was dying, and once again, everything seemed to be riddles and games.

“I offer you a trade...Phillippe Snowden. Your powers...for her life.”

His powers? The magic he had just discovered? But he had only had them for less than an hour, and he was so excited—

Then, like a whisper in his ear, he remembered the words of the Murcurial, long ago...

“You will enjoy the feeling of power, Phillippe Snowden. But you'll have to choose. Would you rather love, or magic? For you shall not have both.”

Love, or magic. His powers, or Esmeralda. It was clear to him.

“I choose her—I choose love.”

But the pain didn't stop—it intensified. Cold moved throughout his body, and then it was replaced by molten heat. His entire body broke out into sweats, and he felt like he was being roasted over an open flame. His skin tightened everywhere, pulled taut. Just when he thought he would split open, it stopped.

“Trial passed, Phillippe Snowden.”

He lay on the ground, willing his body to stop convulsing. For the first time, he noticed that Selenia was at his side, as well as Renya. They both helped him to stand, and he got to his feet, a bit off balance, still shaking like a newborn elkten.

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