Page 79 of Light Locked
They were part of the forest now. Clea expected the light might transform her as well. She was relieved when it did not.
Her mind flew to the foretelling of her death behind the golden door, and she couldn’t shake the sensation that it had been her fate to die in the castle last night.
She had little energy to make sense of it all now, but she knew without a doubt that the events had changed her forever.
Chapter 22
Path of a Poet
RYSON FELT ALIVE for the first time in years. He stood in still torn versions of his clothes, but his body embraced new vitality as he positioned himself against a nearby oak. The light of the afternoon floated through the trees that shuddered in a passing breeze. The forest was otherwise silent. Prince had kept him asleep for several days, stabilizing him before waking him up to the news that Clea had continued the journey to Loda with his weapon in tow.
He felt everything with heightened sensitivity, some figment of his previous power returned. It hit him how much he’d missed his sense of smell, the clarity of his eyesight, the acuteness of his thinking. Everything in the world had sharper edges, and he could trace it all expertly with his senses. He was truly awake again, or closer to it at least.
Prince continued persistently behind him. “It’s a curious thing, the connection both of you formed. The sheer recklessness of it all reminds me of young love.”
“According to you, I tried to kill her,” Ryson whispered firmly before he looked over his shoulder. He waited now at a crossroads. One direction would take him to Loda, the other would take him back to Virday. He’d stopped walking at this impasse, unable to push himself in one direction or the other. Prince seemed content to sit and watch him think.
Prince’s mask tilted innocently, his shadowy hands crossed over one knee. “You shouldn’t focus so much on who tried to kill whom. And if anything, you proposed delaying death. Don’t be so dramatic, Ryson. Venennization isn’t death.”
“It’s eternal craving and torment,” Ryson replied coolly, brows raised as he challenged Prince to argue with him.
“Well, yes, but not death,” Prince reasoned somewhat sheepishly.
“I don’t like that I offered her that life.” Ryson looked back toward Loda. It had taken five days to restore him, but he knew he could still catch up with Clea. In his current state, he’d be able to track her seamlessly. It alarmed him how much he wanted to. “I don’t know why but I have the vaguest sense that something has been set in motion. It’s almost as if—”
“As if what?” Prince chided back, calling Ryson’s attention back to him again. “The fact that you proposed the life of a Venennin just means you saw potential in her. You loved few things, but cultivating the potential in others was one of them.”
“That’s what worries me,” Ryson replied. “Potential for what? Energy is given momentum by belief. I thought her raw belief in light was simply the product of her ignorance, but even Meridian could not have obliterated a room full of Venennin at that age.”
“Veilin draw their power not from ignorance, but innocence. Meridian lost her innocence at the end, becoming more cynical and withdrawn as is the inner death of a Veilin.” Prince set one ankle upon his knee as he wagged his foot up and down. “Clea holds fast to her innocence. She does not approach the worldwith sharp judgments, but mystery, thus there is always hope. Though, maybe it was not just innocence that fueled Clea’s power. Strong positive feelings amplify ansra just as strong negative ones amplify cien.”
Ryson stared at Prince critically, facing him to prepare for some version of an argument.
As if sensing this, Prince added, “You cursed your heart. With your power diminished, your heart has been freed. I just want you to be happy.”
“Didn’t you try to kill me multiple times?” Ryson replied.
“I think you found it endearing. Who else would try?” Prince’s mask tilted up to the clear sky. There wasn’t a cloud to be spotted, and he seemed to admire it. “Seeing you get so lost in your humanity has compelled me to think about life as a human.” He paused. “They always search for love. I believe it to be the beating heart of ansra. It’s truly transformative.”
Ryson raised an eyebrow, leaning back against the tree somewhat impatiently. “You’re the only one I know who can kill a hundred men and preach to me about the importance of love.”
“I can’t deny that, like you, I am two persons, one good and evil, constantly in battle. Quite often evil, but I do like to be good on beautiful days like today,” Prince replied. “You haven’t realized, have you? You’ve changed.” Prince waved him off with a polite tilt of his wrist.
“What are you suggesting?” Ryson asked.
“She has borrowed from your strength and made it her own. You have borrowed from her spirit and made it your own. You give her tools to fight, and she gives you the will to.”
Ryson mulled over the proposition for a moment, trying to understand what other motives Prince might have.
“I need to defeat Alina. I helped create her.”
There was a long pause.
“And you think your and Alina’s death erase your legacy?” Prince eased toward his next thought somewhat suspiciously. “I am the first general.”
“I awoke with her at the front of my mind, Prince. I can’t explain it,” Ryson shot back flatly.
“And you hardly thought of me?” There was no hiding Prince’s dismay, and Ryson hadn’t expected the question. He didn’t know how to articulate why Prince hadn’t seemed like a threat.
