Page 41 of Lera of Lunos
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Lera
The qoru holding me forces me to my knees beside Tye, another qoru’s blade still at his throat. In the moment while the monsters’ greedy attention fixes on the opening portal, Tye’s green gaze finds mine. “Five.” The single, hoarse order escaping his swollen lips sends a shiver down my spine.
“Five,” River mouths.
My heart lurches as I feel the sudden surge of River’s power. He may be unable to use it himself with those shackles on, but he doesn’t need to. He needs to do nothing but simply let it wake, let it exist enough for my own body to respond in echo. If I dare.
Stars. The males want me to connect the quint, as I have before. Each time with disastrous results. My mouth dries, images of Karnish’s collapsed buildings and the arena’s cleaved ground clear in my mind. The magic has only grown more powerful since. Worse, the slight waggling of the woven magic, the most I’ve truly done up to now, will not be enough.
To combat Griorgi’s nightmare, I’ll have to wield the power fully, holding nothing back. And if I do, I will kill us all. I know it. And so do the males. I can see as much in River’s apologetic gaze, his sad resignation. His eyes slide meaningfully toward the open portal, through which the first of the qoru squadrons are just starting to emerge in rows of three. Feet clicking on the marble floor, milky pink eyes wide with excitement, pointed teeth bared. It’s too late to prevent the invasion, but there may yet be time to destroy us all—and the portal—before the hordes are loose. Time to save the world, just not ourselves.
“I’ll shield you from debris,” Tye rasps, his magic rising, growing inside my blood and roaring for destruction. “You’ll walk out, Lilac Girl. But you must destroy this place before you do.”
No.No.I can’t kill them. I won’t kill them.
Feeling eyes on me, I look up to find Coal’s brilliant blue stare. His face is grim, his subtle nod saying he knows what’s just been said. Is unsurprised. Is in bloody agreement.
Shade opens his yellow eyes for a moment, his gaze full of pain and longing. He, too, nods. Mouths a farewell.
Tears spill from my eyes as the males offer up their magic to me. I trace their faces with my gaze one last time, memorizing them. River’s high cheekbones and steady gray gaze. Shade’s full lips and golden skin. Coal’s hard jaw and sharp, sky-blue eyes. Tye’s lovely, angled features, his splash of freckles, the glint of that silver earring. The orange cord of Tye’s magic stretches its claws, shooting tendrils of energy through my core. It’s a force of will to open myself up fully to Tye’s power, and when I do, a predator’s hunger seizes my heart. My muscles tense, my breath and heart quickening with an eagerness to pounce.
The need to fight and kill grows stronger and wilder as Coal’s magic untangles within me, making my blood simmer while shoving away pain to a hazed corner of my mind. If I’d thought the quint’s magic unbearably powerful before, now—with the males throwing all their strength and life into the quint bond—it is cosmic.
Faster, my mind urges as the first dozen qoru fully clear the portal, the next set already on their heels.You must move faster.
I don’t let any of my effort show on my face or in my limbs, my unsuspecting qoru guard focused eagerly on the arriving squadrons.
My eardrums ache with the pressure. My scalp tingles, thousands of tiny sparks racing beneath my skin. The phantom keening I’ve heard only once before sounds again. Low and dangerous. Vibrating with apocalyptic destruction.
The final cord of magic smells of earth damp from rain. Grabbing the tendril of Shade’s power, I wrap it around the others, the tight bundle whipping like a great fish. Around me, the moss stretches its velvet strands, growing so quickly I can see the change before my very eyes. The glowing blue even begins shifting to violet, like Coal’s eyes do in the throes of magic. Yes, the moss feels the power. Wants it. Except my mortal body doesn’t give it up.
I realize I’ve forgotten to breathe for some time and I gasp, forcing air into my cramping lungs. The power thrashes inside me, yearning to assault its enemies. Three, six, nine, the horrors continue to march from the portal. Fifteen, eighteen. More.
“Now,” River orders, as if I have any control over the power pulsing in my chest.
Yet, something inside me obeys. Power thuds through me—my own power—and chaos cedes a tiny slice of ground to control. I would smile if every piece of my heart wasn’t breaking for what’s about to happen. My thrashing magic winds itself up for a blow. The very air in the room grows heavy, as if riding the edge of lightning. Then, it all snaps like a whip.
Two of the marble pillars collapse at once, whole chunks of the ceiling crashing down on qoru and fae and pews alike. In the middle of the floor, a crevice similar to the one I made in the arena is already starting to open. The force of the impact knocks me back, the moss softening my fall. As promised, Tye’s shield saves me from the worst of the falling debris.
Voices rise into the air, the qoru’s screams carrying an otherworldly anger. Pain. Griorgi shouts something I don’t bother trying to make out.
Gripping my magic, I lash the world with it again. This second burst collapses the right side of the room, bringing down a dense cluster of qoru. A piece of ceiling strikes Tye hard enough that he falls limp, the shield around me disappearing. The shield caging Coal and Shade is gone as well, the two males now sprawled many paces away from each other.
Only River is conscious still, crouching in the moss-free island in the front of the nave.
He won’t survive the next clash of magic. None of us will. Ice fills my blood.
Groans and screeches of anger fill the air as qoru struggle to find their footing. I’ve lost track of Jawrar and Griorgi in the second blast, but I know they’re out there still, rallying their offenses.
The magic inside me thrashes again, showing me the path of the final destruction with a focused, intelligent hunger. The shock wave will come from the left this time, destroying what remains of the temple’s pillars. Once the supports fall, the stone ceiling will crumble, the dome’s weight too great for even Jawrar’s dark shields. Either here in the Gloom, or up in the Light.
I can’t do it.
Yet I can’t halt it either.
My gaze meets River’s, his gray eyes understanding, conveying his love and strength and sorrow. The magic inside me builds to a tsunami, every bit of it on the verge of breaking through and shattering us all forever—
