| |
Afton
As soon as the pain washed over Afton, it faded, and her chest heaved. Silver rushed to her side, helping her up.
“Why were you screaming like that?” Silver’s eyes were wide, scanning her over, seeming to search for open wounds.
“It comes and goes.” The longer episodes completely drained her of energy while the short spurts, like this, were only mildly better. Each one felt like her body was being cleaved into pieces.
Keelen’s hand gripped Afton’s arm as he studied her expression. She didn’t have the energy to rip her arm away.
“Fucking release Ragan,” Keelen shouted at the imps, his nostrils flaring. “No one is going to fight you, and I promise she’ll leave you alone.”
I promise no such thing.
The imps each peered at Keelen, their white eyes not revealing any of their thoughts. And then the ones holding onto Ragan released him.
“I don’t understand why they always listen to you and not me,” Ragan muttered and took Afton’s face in his hands, his worried gaze expressing everything he felt.
“Because I don’t take their shit,” Keelen spat. Then his voice softened as he spoke, “I don’t think she’s going to last more than a few weeks before they will require Silver.”
“That isn’t going to happen,” Afton snapped, her hand clasping Silver’s.
“You’re right, it won’t.” Keelen locked his gaze on hers, and he looked just the same as when she’d seen his still body at the lake.
“How?” Afton asked, her shoulders sagging, a lost feeling washing over her. She didn’t know how to save herself—she didn’t know how to save her sister or her home.
“Silver and I used our magic together to retrieve my body from Valgmyr.” Keelen paused and glanced at Silver. “As you know, when she last brought my soul to Ketill, she asked me to be your guard, your weapon. I had been drawn to her and agreed before I knew who I was, until the memories became clearer after the tonic you gave me. I’m meant to be hers, just as you’d wanted me to be. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be your weapon for a little while right now.”
“Rory...” Ragan shook his head. “You’re risking yourself to do this.”
“Do you want to remain in Valgmyr?” Keelen asked, ignoring his brother.
“To protect our home, yes.” She’d told herself again and again that she would do anything to protect Ketill, her sister. That hadn’t changed.
The imp Afton had choked stood not far from them, watching, her sharp teeth still bared. All Afton would have to do is use her energy to murder the creature, but she held back for Silver, waiting to see what Keelen wanted to do.
“You and Silver have the capability of holding the energy like Ragan and I because of your eyes,” Keelen started. “There’s a reason I didn’t die down here, a reason Ragan won’t either.” He glanced at his brother with a look that urged him to continue.
“We’re immortal.” Ragan sighed. “You know this. I think I know what Rory is trying to say. It isn’t only our eyes that makes us this way—it’s our horns and our wings. And you and Silver only have one of the three which means you won’t survive.”
“What are you saying?” Silver asked. “That nothing can be done?”
Keelen turned from them and walked toward the imp, then knelt before her. “I want to ask something of you, Mother.”
Afton arched a brow. Mother?
The imp tilted her head and held out her hand. A few other creatures shifted closer to their leader.
“I want to transfer my horns and my wings to Afton. She already has the ability to keep the energy healthy—she just doesn’t have immortality. And isn’t this what you wanted? Why you sent Ragan to retrieve one of them? You hoped a bond would form between him and one of the sisters, and that it could help in the process. Well, it did.
“No one else would love the lands like Afton. I don’t want Silver to be destroyed by her sister not surviving. I don’t want myself ruined by Silver dying. And I don’t want to see my brother suffer any more either.”
Afton kept silent, for once, too astonished to even gather the words screaming at her to argue or attack. She instead listened.
“If I do this,” Keelen whispered. “I want Silver to be able to return home.”
If Keelen gave up his immortality, that would mean he would be like her, and he would die down here.
“Wait!” Afton shouted, holding up a hand and stepping forward. “Only if Keelen can go with her.”
The imp studied them both, the others behind her hissing. Afton would end the creature as soon as she said no—she waited for it. But the imp shrugged, allowing Keelen to do as he wished.
Afton narrowed her eyes, her heart accelerating—she hadn’t expected the imp to give in, even though she was Keelen’s mother. Perhaps the lands were as important to them as they were to her.
“Are you sure this is truly what you want?” Silver asked Afton. “It would be forever.”
Afton peered up at her sister’s glistening eyes, the ones that matched hers, but were much kinder, gentler. “You are as much a queen as I am. You’ve always been. I only happened to be born first. You kill when necessary, you love fiercely, and you do what’s best for others.” Afton’s own eyes pricked with an emotion she hadn’t let herself dredge up often, and although the tears didn’t fall, they were there.
Afton’s gaze fell to Keelen’s. “I’m ready when you are.” She didn’t care to ask him if he was certain because what he was sacrificing was more important.
He nodded and stood from the ground. “I have to touch you. Is that all right?”
She glowered and stepped toward him.
Keelen wrapped his hands around her shoulders and closed his eyes. “Open your magic to mine. That’s all you have to do. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Afton placed her trust up front and took the risk—she’d seen the way he was with her sister, knew Silver would always come first for him, so she shut her eyes and did as he asked. Focusing on the spinning web of energy, Afton swept through it, brushing strands aside, peeling layer by layer open, until at the center was a gaping hole.
Keelen’s fingers tightened and she could feel his energy within hers, searching for the chasm. She wanted to scream at him its location, yet she didn’t want to disrupt his concentration. But then his energy was close enough so she could grasp it—she yanked it toward the dark hole.
She gasped as she felt it then, the whites and golds shining, the energy binding around her, attaching once more. But it didn’t just rest against her bones and muscles, it penetrated every inch of her, like a soft caress through her veins.
A tingling sensation started at her forehead, her back, but she didn’t feel anything burst free. She opened her eyes, expecting to find Keelen as he was, yet his horns and wings were no longer there.
Afton reached up to her forehead, her fingers brushing something solid—a curled horn. Glancing behind her, she discovered dark leathery wings protruding from her back. Her eyes widened, her heart pounding as she found her sister’s face.
“You’re the Queen of Valgmyr,” Silver whispered, her expression filled with awe.
Afton blinked, her chest tightening when she looked to Keelen. She hadn’t even liked him much, only found him a necessity, but he was more than that.
“Thank you,” Afton said. A sinking feeling washed over her. “How can you both go home, though? I thought no one can leave here once they come.”
“Their eyes.” Ragan brushed Afton’s cheek. “Silver’s eyes are like yours, born with a bit of Valgmyr energy. So the imps will be able to take them home.”
The female imp hissed, gesturing to Silver and Keelen that it was time for them to leave.
“Brother.” Ragan wrapped Keelen into a fierce hug. “I know you never wanted to be in Valgmyr. But do know, I will always fight for you. Even when you’re not here.”
“And I would gladly stay if it was what you needed.” Keelen pulled back with a smile. “You don’t need me. You never did.”
Afton turned to Silver and threw her arms around her, squeezing her tight. “Javan, he—”
“He’s gone, and I know what he was to us. I always have,” Silver murmured.
Her sister always could see through things better than anyone, and it should have come as no surprise that Silver had already known Javan was their grandfather.
“Make sure Midnight doesn’t bother Ivory too much,” Afton said in her sister’s ear, trying to lighten the mood.
“I think she’s starting to give in to his temptation finally.” Silver chuckled, but Afton could hear the sadness in her voice. Then she squeezed Afton tighter. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Afton drew back first, lifting her chin, desiring to be strong for Silver as she always had. “The imps once let Ragan out. Perhaps I’ll see you again.”
Before Silver could respond, out from the topiaries, the imps flocked forward, their wings pumping, their bodies arching. The creatures grasped both Silver and Keelen and lifted them upward.
Above them, the limbs unraveled, allowing them to pass through. She watched through the small space, studying her sister as she went up and up, until the branches drew back together, closing. The remaining imps tucked themselves within the topiaries, their stirring quieting.
Her sister was truly gone.
“Stay safe,” Afton whispered, wishing Silver would somehow hear her.
Two warm arms circled her stomach. “I’m sorry.”
“We all lost,” Afton whispered. “But we gained more. This will just be another story to others, one which shall be passed down of a world that became better. People will continue to make mistakes, but they will have a land that won’t darken and die. Sisters aren’t meant to be together forever. But even apart, she’ll still be with me.” She whirled to face him. “And your brother better fucking make her happy or I’ll rip his heart out.”
Ragan rolled his eyes and slowly ran the tip of his finger across one of her horns. “They suit you.”
“I’m sure they do.” She didn’t know when she would want to look in the mirror at them, when she wouldn’t be reminded of all that had happened. That would be saved for another day.
“I want you to try something. Come on.” He pulled her from the garden and she walked beside him toward the lake.
They stopped in their tracks when they found what was laid out before them. She took a deep breath and smiled. The lake stood empty—all the bodies gone. Every single one. But across the ground was a fine layer of dust. Their souls had already left once they’d died, but now their bodies could have rest, too.
After a few moments passed, Ragan drew her to the ground. “Press your hands to the grass.”
She knelt forward and placed her palms against the cool blades. Ragan did the same, his pinky brushing hers. A gentle tug came inside her, the land drinking her energy, but it didn’t ache like before, wasn’t the agony she had wanted to end. It was powerful and felt as though it was filling her instead of draining her. For the time being, the land halted its taking.
“I needed you to do that to prove it wouldn’t hurt.” He grinned, his hands grasping hers as they sat back. “You’re forever by my side, if you choose to be, that is. Either way, you’re the queen here, even if you’re not mine.”
She could still see the worry—the doubt—in his eyes, that maybe she wouldn’t wish to be by his side in the way he wanted. “I think I rather like the quiet here, and if you truly don’t mind my moods, then I’m yours.”
“And I’m eternally yours.” Ragan’s lips captured hers.
“How about we go into the lake for a while? A little less clothing?” She smiled against his lips.
As she stood and helped him from the ground, she looked up one more time toward the barrier and repeated her earlier words.
Stay safe.
