Page 21 of Amethyst and Iron
Protecting me in the most powerful way I’d ever seen from them before.
I hadn’t even known they’d been capable of this, thatI’dbeen capable of employing the shadow magic from my Wraith side in this form.
It wasn’t just my shadows either.
As I focused in more detail now that I was becoming more cognizant with every moment that went on by—I guess I’d been in some sort of stasis or suspended animation before when I’d first…arrived—I saw my frost anchoring my boots to the ground, spread all up my ankles too.
It wasn’t keeping me in the Valley of the Dead, because I realized I wasn’t technically there now.
I was on the periphery.
My frost was preventing the powerful pull I could feel trying to drag me to those specters in the near distance. Souls, forms… whatever… of the absolute dead who were partially visible in unclear outlines in the heavy mist through the trees all around them.
My shadows were repelling the attempts from the dead and the determination of the nature of the place itself, by deflecting their commands, trying to repel their efforts, as my frost acted as the final line of defense.
Well—outside of the Soul Brand.
If it hadn’t been for that, I didn’t think I would have been able to stabilize myself in this periphery position very well. I wasn’t completely sure, but it felt like I’d been here doing this for some time now—maybe hours? Time seemed to linger, to stretch longer than it was meant to, especially compared to the living world.
I’d clearly died on my Dark Fae side and my Wraith side was what was keeping that from being permanent, from me crossing over into the heart of the Valley of the Dead with the others there in the distance. But I could feel myself weakening, my magic becoming a strain to hold steady. And I could also feelhimgiving me his strength.
Cassius.
Through the Soul Brand he was helping me.
But that fucking worried me. Just the thought of what it could be doing to him twisted me up inside.
And I knew him. I knew he’d allow himself to be completely drained, to give every ounce of his power and energy, in order to save me.
I didn’t want that.
I didn’t want him suffering.
He’d already paid a heavy price the last time he’d spared me from death.
Things would not play out that same way again.
I couldn’t feel him through the Brand right now, so I couldn’t tell how much he’d already drained himself to fuel me.
All I did know was that I had to stop it. I mean, Lazriel could tide him over with his potent vampire blood to assist, and Sylas could likely tether him so he wasn’t weakened to the point where he was pulled in here as well. But all the while I was here, he would still be in danger and straining.
As a Wraith I technically had the ability to walk among the dead. At least briefly. To shadow them, but not be with them in a whole sense.
But with me being a hybrid, that had complicated matters and it didn’t exactly operate in a straightforward way.
Not to mention, the Wraith ability to walk among the dead was a choice, one I was supposed to invoke while I was still living, one where I could pass through should I wish.
In this case, I’d been forced in here against my will when my Dark Fae side had been killed by my psychotic brother.
This place didn’t like that.
I could feel every moment I remained here was upsetting it, angering it.
My Dark Fae side that had been sent here in death was what they wanted to keep here, and the Wraith aspect was putting one hell of a wrench into that.
But not for much longer if I didn’t do something.
It would take me. My Wraith side couldn’t withstand the pull indefinitely.
