“We can do this,” I whispered, hoping my voice portrayed more confidence than I felt. “If we work together, we can save her.”
Pulling on my well of magic, I urged Ryllae to do the same. Filling my arms with threads of power, I released it on an exhale. Something strange happened. Magic flooded from us both, but the ribbons were neither red nor green.
They were white, shining with the brilliance of the midday sun.
I didn’t have time to question the color, however, because Maiela needed our help. The others were frantically speaking, but I couldn’t hear them. My entire being was focused on saving the Fortune Elf.
Ryllae squeezed my hand, and understanding passed between us. I knew exactly what she wanted me to do. Closing my eyes, I dove into the place where my magic resided. My well was full, the green ribbons waiting to be used. As I pulled them up, I sensed another presence. It wasn’t nefarious…
If anything, I felt righter than I had in a long time.
The white magic left our hands, weaving around Maiela and lifting her up. Soon, she was levitating on a bed of ribbons as white as a cloud, being carried to the rocks. My heart didn’t stop racing until the Fortune Elf’s feet landed on the shore.
Then Ryllae released me. The magic dissolved into the air as Kysha ran towards Maiela, the two wives meeting in a fierce kiss. They broke apart after a minute, and Daegal hugged them both.
“I thought you were going to die,” Kysha said.
“Me too,” Maiela hiccuped.
Ryllae joined the hug, and the sound of hushed reassurances filled my ears as Xander drew me to him.
“Are you alright, Aileana?” he asked me, pulling away from the others before hugging me tightly against his chest.
“I’m fine,” I said, ignoring the nausea that was deciding to make a reappearance. “Did you see my magic?”
“I’d have to be blind to miss it, Sunshine.”
“It was white.” I raised my eyes to his. “What does that mean?”
His brows furrowed, and he shook his head. “I don’t know, but we’ll figure it out. The most important thing is that you’re alive. We’re all alive.”
He bent, his mouth capturing mine in a claiming kiss that spoke of his relief. I melted against him; my worries momentarily forgotten as I reveled in being with my bonded mate.
Eventually, Xander released my lips, drawing me against his chest. Nearby, the other two couples did the same. We had survived the trials and made it across the Heart of Ithenmyr.
My mate held me for a long time, his arms wrapped tightly around me. I couldn’t stop thinking about the white ribbons of magic.
What did they mean?
Spirits Abound
RYLLAE
Ihad once heard it said near-death experiences could tell you a lot about yourself. Now that we had survived a slew of them in the past few days, I could confidently say that the only thing I knew for certain was that I did not enjoy quests.
If I never did anything else like this, I would be a happy elf. Crossing this lake of fire was one of the most frightening moments of my entire life, and that was saying something, considering I had spent over two and a half centuries in prison.
“How are you, Princess?” Daegal asked roughly. He held me tight against his chest, placing kiss after kiss on my head as he caressed my back. I never wanted him to let me go. “Are you feeling okay?”
Translation: Was I mentally stable or going to fall over the ledge of madness?
Before he came into my life, I would have said no. I was not sane. Sanity had left me somewhere during those first hundred years of my imprisonment.
If that had been him dangling on the edge of the path instead of Maiela, if—gods-forbid—he had fallen to his death, I would have gone with him. If not in body, then in mind.
Daegal was holding me together. My father might have tried to break me—and in a lot of ways, he succeeded. I was a shell of myself after prison. Broken and cracked, barely keeping myself in one piece. My bonded mate was the glue that brought me back to life. He filled in those cracks perfectly, and together, we were something new. Better. With him, I would be okay.
“I’m feeling… alright,” I said.