You will not break or let a single drop fall unless I tell you,she commanded before opening her eyes.
A gentle sigh slipped from her lips. Water hovered a few inches above her outstretched palm, a perfect globe twice the size of her hand. Currents spun inside, tiny streams running through the ball.
While the sphere hovered, River raised her other hand towards the clouds. She had called them forth, so she had to send them away.
Her magic tugged at her insides, making its displeasure known. For something that Eliza Fern insisted wasn’t sentient, it certainly didn’t want to listen to River. Pouting and fighting back like a petulant child, it refused to obey easily.
Beads of sweat rolled down River’s forehead and the back of her neck. She widened her stance, splitting her focus between the perfect sphere and the dark sky overhead.
Go away, she told the storm.
Her magic was strong-willed and pushed back.
Her stomach cramped as she shoved more of her will into her magic, commanding it to leave. It argued, but she would not be swayed. The clouds would not burst on her watch—she refused to let a single drop of water fall if she didn’t allow it.
It felt like hours passed before a shard of sunlight burst through the clouds. Then another. And another.
River didn’t stop until the cloudless blue sky had returned, and the waters of Isolation Lake were as smooth as glass once more. Only then did she return her attention to the sphere. It remained perfectly balanced above her palm, just as she’d commanded it.
Her lips twitched, eager to form a small smile, but she wouldn’t let them. Not yet.
Shifting her concentration, she focused on the sphere. One moment, the ball was liquid. Next, it had transformed.
Ice hovered in the air. The sphere had frozen so quickly that the currents were immortalized within it.
Grabbing the ball with her left hand, River turned it over, studying her creation. The surface was smooth and unblemished, without a single imperfection.
Pleased with herself, River peered at her magic. It was slumbering in her veins, and she knew it wouldn’t cause her any trouble for the next few hours.
Thank the gods.
She threw the ball into Isolation Lake, willing it to dissolve moments before it hit the surface with a splash.Now,everything was back to the way it had been.
Satisfied, River allowed herself the smallest smile as she wiped her brow with the back of her hand. She might’ve been destined to be a bringer of death, but she wouldn’t be killing anyone today.
Not if she could help it.
CHAPTER 21
My Darling Girl
When River returned to Waterborn House, her childhood house was as silent as a tomb. The cleaning crews had departed, and the mansion was as immaculate as ever. There wasn’t a single trace of last night’s party. No decorations, laughter, or cheer.
There was no life at all.
River wished this was out of the norm for her childhood home, but this was how it had been for nearly two decades: cold and devoid of life.
But something…
Something was different. It was more than the lack of Tertia’s yelling—River assumed her mother had left for work. No, she felt the shift in the air the moment she walked through the back door and hung up the keys.
What was going on?
River kicked off her shoes, not bothering to see where they landed, before racing upstairs. Before she’d even realized where she was going, her feet had carried her to the wing that housed her father’s room.
Two nurses stood in the hallway, and she raced towards them on her socked feet.
“What’s going on?” River asked, skidding to a stop.