Page 29 of Tower of Tempest
Driscoll wrinkled his nose but didn’t speak.
“Meanwhile, Gran was getting sicker. Her cough started when she first brought the mirror to me, and it got worse day by day until she could barely get out of bed. Then one day, I woke up and the mirror was gone. Gran said she had to sell it, that we needed the gold. I was disappointed but didn’t blame her.”
She’d gotten better after that but never fully recovered from that cough. Then it had taken a turn for the worse a few weeks before she’d been kidnapped.
“I know where that mirror went.” Driscoll straightened. “That mirror ended up in Elwen. In the wrong hands. It led to an evil woman using it to destroy the entire land. To imprison me and my two best friends.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said, remembering Gran telling me about the horrible destruction that had befallen the earth court—though she’d never mentioned the mirror being part of it.
Driscoll shrugged. “Eh, it’s okay. Luckily one of my best friends happens to be a kick-ass princess who saved us all and is now queen, ruling over the earth court.” He frowned. “How did the mirror end up in Elwen in the first place?”
“Gran told me she sold it to a pirate.”
Leoni rolled her eyes. “Of course Bastian was involved.”
I didn’t know who this Bastian was, but Leoni’s tone seemed more exasperated than angry.
“What price did you pay?” Driscoll asked.
I stared at him for a minute, not understanding the question. “Price?”
Prince Lochlan sighed. “How much do you know about these magical items? How they’re made?”
My gaze shifted around the circle of faces. “Gran told me that themagical items were created from shadow magic. That when shadow elementals used enough of their magic, it created a new, powerful object.”
“That’s not exactly true.” Leoni tucked a red strand of hair that had fallen from her bun behind her ear.
Of course it wasn’t. Half truths. She’d always spoken in half truths.
“Every time a shadow elemental rips a person’s shadow away, the dark magic from that act creates a new object. A powerful one, but one filled with darkness. If you use that object, a price has to be paid.”
I thought about the cough Gran had developed right when I’d started using the mirror.
My blood ran cold.
“Magic always has a price.”Gran’s final words to me.
I fiddled with her necklace that hung from my neck.And the bean. I hadn’t just used the mirror. I’d used that magic bean too. Had that also come from someone’s shadow being ripped away? Blood and skies.
“I didn’t know,” I whispered, trying to take all the information in.
“It’s okay,” Leoni said.
I stood, pacing. “It’s not. She never told me. How could she not tell me something like that?”
She’d taught me so much about magic, why not tell me that? It also made me wonder what else about her magic she’d kept from me.
“Because she knew you wouldn’t use that mirror if you knew the cost,” Prince Lochlan said quietly. “She wanted you to use the mirror because she felt guilty, and she wanted to make you happy.”
I sank back to the ground, his words just another reminder of why I’d stayed in that tower with her. Because through it all, Gran sacrificed so much for me. She brought me that mirror and let me use it, knowing it was killing her. That she was paying the price. She must’ve finally had no choice but to get rid of it—or risk dying from that awful cough.
“Do you think...” I paused. “I used a magic bean Gran kept hidden. I used it to leave the tower, and that same night is when your shadow came for her. Do you think that’s why your shadow was able to find her finally? That was the price I paid for using that bean? Losing Gran?”
The guilt at that thought rose so fast and heavy, I felt like I was drowning in it.
The prince opened his mouth, then closed it. “I’m not sure. Sometimes the price is immediate. Sometimes it takes months to reveal itself. But it could be connected.”
So it had been my fault Gran had been taken. I sucked in a sharp breath. “What about when I use my own magic, then? What’s the price?”
