Page 79 of Faeheart
Wild’s eyes blazed with emerald fire, his chaotic magic crackling across his skin. “Then let’s give them the help they need.”
“Wild, no,” I said quickly, grabbing his arm as he started to move toward the library door. “That’s exactly what they want. The cube needs proximity to living magical beings to complete its binding ritual. If we get too close?—”
“What other choice do we have, Elias?” he said, rounding on me in an instant. “We can’t just sit here and do nothing! They killed innocent people… students like us, over this dumb idea that our realms should be kept separate.” He grabbed my arms, pulling me close. “If we don’t stop them now, more people will die. I don’t think I can live with that on my conscience, can you?”
I stared at him for a long moment, surprised by the passion burning through our bond. “I… I don’t want to lose you, Wild. I don’t know if I’d survive it…”
“You’re not going to lose anyone,” he said, fierce determination burning in his eyes. “But if we don’t try to stop these people… well, then we’re going to lose everything and then some.”
“Even if you have to kill your mother?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes,” Wild nodded. “Even her.”
“I… I don’t know if I can kill my father,” I replied, shaking my head. “I’m not sure I have the strength. I’m not like Caden… my father wasn’t bad to me. He was harsh, but not cruel. He taught me almost everything I know…”
Wild put his hands on either side of my face, holding my gaze. “I will…trynot to kill him, Elias. But you know as well as I do, if he survives and the Elder Council gets a hold of him… well, that’s it. There won’t be anything we can do to stop them.”
I closed my eyes, feeling the weight of Wild’s words settle over me like a shroud. He was right, of course. My father’s survival would mean the eventual destruction of everything we’d fought to protect. Through our tetrad bond, I could feel Atlas and Caden approaching the library, their footsteps careful but determined as they navigated the mansion’s transformed corridors.
“Alright,” I whispered, opening my eyes to meet Wild’s emerald gaze. “But we do this together. All four of us.”
The library door opened silently as Atlas and Caden slipped inside, both of them looking grim but unharmed. Atlas’s golden eyes swept the room, his protective instincts flaring as he took in our tense conversation.
“The mansion’s work is done,” he reported quietly. “Twenty-two bodies in the corridors. Whatever you built into those wards, Elias, it was thorough.”
“Too thorough,” I murmured, guilt twisting in my stomach.
“No,” Caden said firmly, his gentle voice carrying unexpected steel. “They came here with a soul prison, planning to trap us for eternity. They got exactly what they deserved.”
Through our bond, I felt the half-dryad’s absolute certainty, his nature magic singing with the fury of a forest defending itself against wildfire. The contrast with his usual gentle demeanor was startling.
“The survivors are still clustered around that cube,” Atlas continued. “Eight of them, including both your parents. They’re chanting something, and the artifact is responding. Whatever ritual they’re performing, it’s building toward something big.”
As if to emphasize his point, the mansion shuddered around us, books falling from their shelves as a wave of corrupted magic pulsed through the walls. The cube’s influence was growing stronger, pushing back against the house’s defenses.
“We don’t have much time,” Atlas said, looking at each of us in turn. “We need to end this.Now.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Wild asked, his magic crackling beneath his skin like static electricity. “We can’t just walk up to them and ask nicely for them to stop their evil ritual.”
I closed my eyes, feeling the mansion’s awareness flowing through me. The wards Thorne and I had created were still active, still hunting, but they couldn’t penetrate the protective bubble surrounding the cube. Something about the blood magicwas creating a barrier that even our most powerful spells couldn’t breach.
“The cube is the key,” I said, opening my eyes as inspiration struck. “If we can disrupt its power source, the protection will fail, and the mansion can finish what we started.”
Atlas’s golden eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “How do we disrupt something powered by blood magic? It’s not like we can unplug it.”
“Actually,” Caden said quietly, “we might be able to.” His magic flickered as he stepped forward, a determined expression on his gentle face. “Blood magic requires constant feeding. If we can interfere with the flow of power between the sacrifices and the cube...”
“We can starve it,” Wild finished, his emerald eyes lighting up. “Cut off its food supply.”
I nodded slowly, my mind already mapping the possibilities. “The grimoire mentioned disruption points in ritual circles. The energy is stored within the cube already, but the cube itself is the ritual, the binding holding all the souls there. We’d have to be right on top of it to dispel the magic. And it would probably take some time…”
“Which means someone has to get close enough to touch the cube while the rest of us keep the Purity Front busy,” Atlas said, his tactical mind already working through the logistics.
Through our tetrad bond, I felt each of their immediate reactions. Wild’s reckless determination to volunteer, Caden’s quiet courage warring with his protective instincts, and Atlas’s absolute refusal to let any of us face that kind of danger alone.
“I’ll do it,” I said before anyone else could speak. “My magic is the most precise. I can dispel the binding ritual faster than?—”
“No,” Wild interrupted, his emerald eyes blazing. “Absolutely not. You’re the one they want most, Elias. The moment you getwithin range of that thing, it’ll try to suck your soul right out of your body.”
