Page 117 of An Archer's Redemption

Atikus stepped forward and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Our mother is dead,” I blurted out. “I mean . . . I lost her. Kee, I tried so hard . . . but her fingers . . . I couldn’t . . .” I began sobbing uncontrollably.

Atikus guided me to one of the chairs, while he took the other. Keelan kneeled beside me and gripped my arm.

For what felt like an eternity, no one spoke.

Keelan watched me as I mourned. It wasn’t until that moment that I realized how few tears I’d shed over my mother’s loss—over all of our losses, really. Everyone expected me to be strong, to use my magic to fix all of their problems and set the world to rights.

Who was supposed to do that for me?

I might’ve turned into a powerful Mage, but the small boy who smarted at the slights of others and never grasped his own worth still battled within my soul.

Atikus, racked with his own sudden grief, stared with pooled eyes into the dwindling fire in the hearth.

After what felt like forever, I spoke, sounding very much like that small boy Atikus had first met seventeen years ago. “I know you never got to know her, Kee, but she was so strong. And Spirits, she was beautiful, inside and out. There were so many times I thought about just staying on the island with her and never coming back, but she knew what was at stake. She gave me strength and taught me to believe in myself for the first time. Imagine that. The mother we never knew did the most motherly thing possible just before—”

Another wave of sobs overcame whatever I was going to say.

Atikus pulled himself out of his own thoughts and leaned forward. “Declan, she was proud of you—of both of you. I cannot imagine a greater gift a son could give his mother than the time you spent with her. On the island, it was, what, a year?”

I tried to steady myself. “More like a year and a half, the way we counted it. It wasn’t enough. Dammit, it wasn’t enough.”

Atikus reached over and patted my hand. “If it had been a hundred years, it wouldn’t have been enough. Take that from someone who’s lived averylong time.”

Keelan released my arm and leaned back against Atikus’s chair. “What happened? Are you okay talking about it?”

I let out a humorless laugh. “Guess we’ll see.”

I walked Keelan through everything, starting with Órla’s first warning about Atikus being attacked through my own arrival in the cavern at the base of the Silver Mountains earlier that day. Somehow, I managed to get through the whole thing without breaking down again.

“I still don’t understand.” Keelan turned to Atikus. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see you, buthowdid you get here? Everyone else’s Gifts fell silent weeks ago.”

“The Gifts are part of the reason we are here, but first we need to find Irina’s spirit and send her where she belongs—to the void. If she is allowed to continue roaming free, there is no telling what kind of havoc she will cause. We fear she may also have the same unrestricted use of magic Declan and I now share.”

“Unlimited magic? What are you talking about?” Keelan looked between us with wide eyes.

I tried to smile, but a grimace was all I could manage. “Let’s just say we don’t have Gifts; we have magic. It isn’t unlimited, but it’s . . . a lot. Remember the old stories of the original Mages and how they could do almost anything? Back before Irina?”

Keelan nodded. “Yeah, I remember tales about that. Never believed any of it.”

“Well, it was all true. Turns out, several of those Mages sacrificed themselves to cast a spell that stripped the others of their magic and gave it as a Gift to normal people around the world. The spell had to be performed at the Well, the same Wellour motherwas the Keeper of.”

“Holy Spirits,” Keelan whispered.

“Literally.” Atikus chuckled despite the somber mood in the room.

“Anyway”—I shot the old man a scowl—“when Irina took over Larinda’s body and did whatever she did to the Well, she shattered the spell. Gifts ceased to exist. We believe we receivedour magical abilities because we happened to be the only people in the room at the time of Irina’s attack. If she hadn’t fallen into the Well, Kelså might’ve had the same powers, too.”

“But that still doesn’t explain why you popped up out of nowhere to scare the schnitzel out of my kitchen staff.”

Our three heads whirled.

The Queen stood in the doorway.

It seemed none of us had heard her enter.

I scrambled to my feet. Atikus followed suit as quickly as his old knees allowed. Unsure how to greet a monarch, I fumbled an awkward bow, then extended a hand as if to shake hers.

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