Page 42 of An Archer's Redemption

My head submerged, and I felt the pressure of the watery flow carrying me away, yet I didn’t struggle to breathe. If anything, sucking in the blueish mist filled my lungs with warmth and exhilaration.

It tasted . . . sweet?

And it felt as if magicwantedme to drink it in, to let it live within my body and spirit.

So I did.

I surrendered and lay back, allowing my body to float, buoyed by the currents.

Magic sensed my shift, and the surrounding glow grew brighter. Aches that plagued me from years of hard service with the Rangers vanished, and my body was renewed. I had experienced magic’s healing in bottomless pitchers of wine—but while the wine’s healing only repaired injury to body and mind, the currents’ power restored the soul. In a single moment, I felt reborn, my flesh replaced with perfect, never-worn skin. I felt my muscles knitting together where scars caused pain.

I became whole and unmarred once more.

Discarding my last shred of caution, I opened my mouth and laughed at the sensations hammering my body and mind. Mist and syrupy thick liquid-that-was-not-liquid rushed to enter. I panicked but soon realized it wouldn’t harm me—it couldn’t—it waspartof me, and I was part of it.

This torrent of power was my home.

No, it was more than that.

It was an extension of my spirit and soul.

I belonged here.

And that’s when she spoke.

Her voice wasn’t muted or muffled; it echoed with sonorous clarity in my mind.

“After carrying me for so long, it is now my time to carry you, Bond-Mate.”

“Órla?” I wheeled my head around. “Where are you? I can’t see you.”

She laughed in my head, and I thought it was the most joyous, purest sound I’d ever heard.

“Have you learned nothing? I am everywhere—in the mist, the currents, the air above, the stone below. Thanks to your heavy breathing, I even flow within you. That’s pretty weird, by the way.”

I coughed through an unexpected laugh.

Órla giggled.

“I have never been an owl. I am an eternal, limitless spirit of magic. One day you will learn we are not so different, you and I.”

Her laughter shifted to a serious tone.

“Declan, I would embrace you every day, but this is not your time. This world needs you. Atikus is in more danger than I thought. He cannot wait for his connection to heal naturally. You must restore him. If Atikus falls, I fear this world will be powerless to resist the rising darkness.”

“How do I restore him? I don’t know what to do.”

“Trust that small boy deep within you, the one who fears and aches.

“He knows the way.

“Trust the boy.”

“The boy?” My head spun in confusion.

“The currents will deliver you to Saltstone soon. I fear Atikus may already lie beyond our aid. Do not tarry.”

“Órla, what do I do? I still don’t understand!” I shouted, but she didn’t answer.

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