Page 47 of Steeling Light
She needed to go to understand her power before she spoke to her daughter again. She was no longer a High Fae, and the power which resided inside her knew things that were happening in worlds beyond Nyth. She could feel the darkness that was coming. If she stayed here, she would lose too much time, and there would be so many more that needed her help.
She could not help them as she was. Understanding the power within her was the most important thing. Even more important than speaking with her daughter.
Everyone in this world would need help soon enough. The time of ballroom dancing was over for Adelynne Emlyn. Instead, she would remind them of what it was like to breathe easily.
She would help them laugh again.
But first, she did something the power inside her disagreed with. She ran her fingers across her daughter’s cheek and bent down to whisper in her ear. “I love you, Ainslee. Follow your heart because that’s the only path that matters. Protect the ones who can’t help themselves, as I always taught you to. And if you ever need help, call out to me. I will be there. Have a wonderful life. The only thing I wish is that we’d had a little more time.”
And then she disappeared.
Chapter 25
Rhosyn and I met today and spoke of offering the humans a chance at peace. We will not win this war. We were given powers and tools by dragons, but they are not enough. They have desperation on their side. An animal backed into a corner is always the most dangerous.
~Daegon Rahn, personal journals
Ainslee
My entire body hurts like… well, like I just got done nearly dying to the God of Nightmares. Somehow, we’re still alive. Well, everyone other than my mother. I’d watched her attack him even as I was bleeding out. I’d watched until I couldn’t hold on any longer.
I’d seen Morvael’s shadows break her back, cut her a hundred times, and then everything had gone black.
Rhion and I had woken up beside each other, and the Labyrinth was empty. My mother was gone along with Morvael.
He is gone.Maerlix’s voice in my head is somber as I stand in his chamber with Rhion beside me.He was destroyed as the web foretold.
“Along with my mother,” I say softly. I don’t know what she did, but it wasn’t me or Rhion who killed Morvael. She—the woman I considered worthless in so many ways—saved us.
Yes, she was destroyed. And remade into something more.
I blink, but it’s Rhion who speaks. “What do you mean ‘something more’?”
The power of a god cannot be killed unless that god is forgotten completely. But how many children wake up terrified of their nightmares? The God of Nightmares cannot be forgotten in this world, which is why he was imprisoned all those years ago by the Old Ones. He could not be destroyed. Instead, Adelynne Emlyn convinced the godhood inside Morvael that she was a more perfect vessel. As soon as his power left him, Morvael was destroyed as the Light burned the last bit of darkness away.
“My mother became the God of Nightmares?!” I shriek, panic rising inside me. Rhion wraps his arm around me protectively, but I don’t feel any relief. “Morvael fed on the pain of his victims. My mother can’t be forced to do that. She’d…”
Your mother is not the God of Nightmares. Morvael held the godhood of dreams. Each vessel changes the power it encompasses. As long as the power can find something to feed on, something to cling to inside of them, it will… adapt. Your mother has become the Goddess of Hope.
The Goddess of Hope. I think about the woman who was always so powerless in my mind. She couldn’t have fought off even a normal soldier. As soon as Morvael’s influence became strong, she’d given in to the dread.
But she saved me as a child. She ruled the House of Light without issue. When Rhion and I both failed to kill Morvael, it was she who did it without ever touching a blade.
“She’s not dead?” I finally say after several seconds of processing.
No, she is not dead.He says it, and in that very creepy way of his, he smiles, venom dripping heavily onto the stone floor. Rhion squeezes me tightly.
“So… Can I talk to her? How do I find her?”
Maerlix becomes very serious.The Goddess of Hope is not ready to be found or spoken to yet. It has been less than a day since she ascended. The change is… overwhelming. She is seeing a very different world.He pauses for a moment.If a spider were to become a High Fae in the middle of Draenyth, how long would it take the spider to adjust? How long would it take before it could speak? Before it could walk on two legs? Before it could eat or drink? These are all things it could do before, but now it would be something different, something foreign.
Now, how long before she could pick out a dress, buy it, put it on, and then dance in it? How long before it could join in the politics of the House of Light? How long before it could wage war or use magic?
Daughter of Brightness, a spider becoming High Fae is simple compared to what your mother has gone through. She needs time. She is in a world of power far beyond your imagination.
I close my eyes, and while there is still sadness coiled in my stomach, it’s hiding. My mother is alive. She’s different, but she’s still alive, and I’ll still get to see her. Eventually. My eyes open again, and I say, “I’ll give her as much time as she needs. She waited for me to come to her before. I can wait for her to come to me this time.”
Rhion seems to understand that I’m done talking about this. I can’t let this coiling despair impede what has to happen next.
