Page 125 of Enchanted Crown
She continued, “But we do not use them as sanctuaries like Dra Skor. They are simply there. For Enchanted and regular civilians alike.”
John asked, “Is there something you do value like that? Something which is tied to your Enchantment.”
“Of course,” she responded. “The shadows. Darkness. So the entire jungle.”
John turned to me. “The lakes will need to be healed. It may not work to try to heal her without the lakes being healed first. Just as in Dra Skor.”
“Try it first without,” Lorenzo encouraged. “We would need approval to go to the lakes.” A pause. “And showing the king and queen that healing is possible would make that easier.”
But what if we needed those lakes to do it? Just as we had in Dra Skor? I looked all around me. The three of them hadn’t been standing under the shadow of the trees only to get away from the sun, it was because they drew their power from the shadows. Granted right now only Lorenzo could use his Enchantment, but the other two likely still felt safest in the shadows.
I flashed back to the day we had cornered and chased Lorenzo down. How inky and fast the shadow magic could be.
“Should we head to an area with more shadows?” I asked.
“Keir,” Dex snapped.
I shrugged. “They might need to be near them. Draw them in as I heal them.”
“Is going in the dark with an enemy—” Emric looked to Kessara with a hand up, “no offense intended, really the best idea?”
“He will be safe so long as we are,” Reyes stated matter-of-fact.
I took in his body language. He was tense, but not so much so it promised violence. I looked him in the eyes as I said, “I will have to send my magic at you. To cover you and pull the poison from you.It will not hurt, more of a buzzing feel, but I do not mean to harm you.”
“Me first then,” Kessara said without delay.
“Prin—”
The princess glared at the other man. “I will go first.”
They seemed to communicate with a look and the general gave her a nod of concession.
“You should be able to speak to Lorenzo and General Reyes while I work to find the poison,” I explained. “So they know you are fine when it may appear otherwise.”
“Come then,” Princess Kessara said without delay. “Let us find more shadows.” A pause. “I hope you aren’t afraid of the dark, Prince Keiran.”
I wasn’tafraid of the dark. Not truly. But the sounds of the jungle, a rustle here and a rustle there from a source unknown, paired with the dark and damp forest all around me, enough of it that it felt the jungle could swallow me whole... well, I was man enough to admit that it was a bit unnerving. Unable to help it, my wings released as I stood ready on the forest floor. And to counteract the darkness in the middle of the day, I let my magic burn beneath my veins, as did Emric and Dex.
There were so many trees. So many damn trees that were blocking out the sun entirely. How did anything grow in here? It felt like we had gone forward in time to the dead of the night, not just gone deeper into the forest. The moss growing along the bottoms of the trees and other random places felt unnatural. A freak of nature. If I found out it had teeth and it reached out to bite me, I wouldn’t be all that surprised.
I inhaled deeply. It was dark and moss was creepy as hell, but I was here for a purpose.
“If you’d hold out your hand, Your Grace,” I began, “I will let you get a feel for what my Enchantment feels like.”
Reyes whispered something which Lorenzo shut down immediately. “No. He’s nothing like him. Even without knowing, he will not hurt her.”
“Without knowing what?” Emric asked boldly. “I don’t like secrets. Secrets get people killed.”
“This is a secret for another day,” Reyes bit out while shooting Lorenzo a glare. “No one needs to be killed today.”
“You don’t have to sound so disappointed about it,” Emric joked.
Reyes, surprisingly, laughed.
“Are you ready?” I asked the princess.
“Yes.”
