Page 76 of Prisoner of Darkness and Dreams
The voice isn’t Diomi’s, but I recognize it right away. Leon’s words come to me, cutting through the vivid images, and I cling to them.
“Remember Mistwell. Remember the worst thing I ever did. I couldn’t forgive myself, but the people who love me accepted me despite it—including you. For you, Ana, it’s different. What happened with Kit was no foolish mistake. You helped him. The fact that you have to shoulder the burden, that the choice is so hard to live with, proves you did it for him, not yourself.”
I let his words sink in, realizing he’s right. It was the best thing I could’ve done for Kit, and that’s also why it was the hardest. It’s going to keep being hard, but that doesn’t mean I can just hide from it. I don’t need to let it weigh on me like this. My guilt doesn’t serve Kit’s memory. It’s not what he’d want.
I return to the memory, bracing myself for the onslaught. This time, I don’t recoil as I watch Kit die, looking for a way to escape from the past. Instead, I watch it deliberately, taking in every detail and accepting every moment. The celestial magic beneath my fingers thrums louder, until it’s almost a roar.
Then, just as I say goodbye to Kit for the last time, I release it.
The magic burns across the memory, smothering it in a bright, starry light, and when the light fades, there it is: the same memory. Only now I can look at it and feel sadness, not despair. Pain, rather than agony.
That’s it. That’s the last memory. Darkness falls again, and with nothing else coming to me, Diomi tells me to open my eyes.
I sit up and tentatively remove my hand from the stone.
“Now, Your Highness. Try to find your magic.”
For a moment, I’m worried I won’t be able to tell the difference, that my magic will respond to the stones’ presence, and I’ll be tricked into thinking it’s back for good. But the moment I reach into myself for my power, Iknowit’s worked. There waiting for me is a vast well of magic—and it’s all mine. Familiar and warm, I revel in the sensation of it coursing through my veins as I lift my palm and conjure.
A cage of golden light appears in my hand.
“We did it,” I breathe, so alight with joy it’s like I’m one of my sun beams.
I look up, searching for Leon’s gaze, wanting to share this moment of triumph with him. But he’s not there. Strange. I was certain Leon had entered the temple when I heard him during the ritual. His voice was clear as a bell. Yet when I look around now, only the dryads surround me. I must’ve imagined his voice urging me on.
Dismissing the thought, I lift my palm again to enjoy the rays of light that glow from it.
“Thank you,” I say to the dryads as tears of gratitude prick at the corners of my eye. “You don’t know what this means to me.”
The dryads beam back at me, and I see the joy they get from this work, the satisfaction of erasing a little more suffering from this world. Diomi’s expression soon grows serious, however.
“You did wonderfully, Your Highness, but be aware that the effects won’t last unless you continue to face every part of what happened to you. If you don’t, it’s possible the memories will return to their darkest forms and diminish your inner flame again.”
“I understand,” I say, already knowing what I’ll need to do. First, however, there are other duties I have to think about. I have a responsibility to prevent suffering in this world, just as the dryads do.
“You have done me a huge service, but I’m afraid I must make more requests of you,” I say, standing and addressing Diomi and the other council members. “I’ve faced the darkness, but it’s time for Agathyre to do the same. We need to talk about Caledon.”
Chapter 25
Morgana
“And this void within him allows him to absorbanyone’spower?” Letrium asks skeptically.
We’re back with the council, although now we’re in the entrance chamber of the city hall so that all our party can join in the discussion. I know Leon still finds it insulting, the fact that we’re not all allowed into the rest of the tower, but he listened when I said we shouldn’t push the dryads on this.
It’s progress, but now I’m also trying to make headway with the Agathyrians, explaining Caledon’s power so they have some idea of exactly how dangerous he has the potential to be.
“He can’t absorb everyone’s power, no,” I clarify. “He can drain the power from anyone, but he onlyabsorbscelestial magic—that’s what helps him stay young, for some reason.”
“It’s the solari condition,” the dreadlocked dryad, whose name I’ve since learned is Inas, says. “If a terrial magic user was to steal another’s magic, they may become more powerful, but it would have no impact on their physical condition. But celestial magic deals with the spark of life itself. Absorbing more of that magic means rejuvenating himself with more life.”
“And yet,” Diomi says, thinking, “Her Highness says he never holds ontothe power for very long. That must be due to the void within him. Eventually, the foreign celestial magic, like all other magic, drains away into it.”
“But none of that explains how he could make himself immortal,” Leon points out. He’s been doubtful from the start that the dryads could help us with this, but they’ve agreed at least to consider the questions we have for them, even if they haven’t promised answers.
“Well, that depends on your definition of immortal, I suppose,” Letrium says.
“Becoming a god,” Leon replies impatiently.
