Page 119 of Duskbound

"But you did use it. For me."

"What I did in that chamber..." He looked away again, but not before I caught something dark flash across his face. "That wasn't a tactical choice. It wasn't strategic."

"Then what was it?"

He paused. "Seeing what they were doing—" His voice caught, and he had to take a breath before continuing. "I lost control. Completely. And that's exactly why I never let myself use it. Not like that."

I remembered the calmness in his voice as he'd torn them apart, how the very stones of the castle had groaned under the force of his rage. It should have terrified me. Instead, I felt something else entirely.

"We need to get back to Ravenfell," I finally said.

"You need to rest."

I shot him an irritated look. "We don't have time for that."

"We'll have to face Urkin once we're back. He's going to be furious." His voice carried an edge of concern. "I have no idea how he will handle our deviation. You need to gather your strength."

"We need to tell him what we discovered about the siphon. About the King," I hissed.

"I already told you, he's not going to believe us without proof."

The silence that followed felt charged. I traced one of the bandages on my arm, remembering. "Valkan said something. When he was..." I couldn't finish the sentence.

Aether's jaw went rigid, his knuckles turning white, but he stayed silent.

"He said he wished he could open me up and spill my blood onto the land. That maybe that would restore the essence." I took a deep breath. "I'd never thought of something like that before."

His eyes locked onto me. "What are you trying to say?"

"Talon suggested that I create essence within me. I just wondered..." I shook my head, gathering courage. "What if I could transfer my essence to the land? What if I could imbue arcanite?" I peeked up at him.

"We don't have arcanite."

"What if we could get it?"

"How?"

"Riftdremar."

Aether leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "It was destroyed, Fia. You know this."

"But we don't know thatallof the arcanite stores were destroyed. It's been over twenty years, for all we know, they just took what they needed and left the rest."

He sat back, deep in thought, eyes distant.

"You want to go to Riftdremar on another whim?"

"I was right about the siphon." I met his gaze. "Can't you try to start trusting me?"

He studied me for a few moments.

"I know it's not proof," I said into his silence. "Or theproofthat will make Urkin believe us about the siphon. But it can buy ustime. If we can start feeding essence back to the land, even in small amounts, wouldn't it be worth it?"

Aether sighed, running a hand through his dark hair. "You're sure you want to do this?"

"Time is our biggest enemy at the moment. Let's tackle that battle first."

"Time." He nodded, his face unreadable.

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