Page 102 of A Baron of Bonds
“You’ve only just returned to us for a few months. I’ve been…slowly telling you things. Like I said, I intended to bring you here the same night you left.”
“And what about in Hyrithia? You could have said something then!”
“We were busy.”
I scoffed, reluctant to admit how simple that truth was. I folded my arms. “Alright. What do you think is in there, then? Why did you react that way when Pompeii mentioned this place?”
“The last specimen I brought was bark from the trees you grew in Viridis.”
“What!”
“And a pit from the fruit.”
I could hardly wrap my head around it. He’d been studying the Blight for years?
I bit my bottom lip, and he let me think. “You should have told me sooner.”
“I should have.”
“Simulair Solum.” I spoke the words to the spell over my cupped hands, a brilliant light illuminating the corridor in mimicry of the sun. I held the swirling mass of sunlight above me, keeping it small in the moment, no bigger than a bowl, but ready to expand its surface if need be.
Pride hit me in full force, coming from the tether between us. I looked up to see his eyes prickling with blue once again. I filled my lungs and nodded at the door.
He took my elbow in one of his hands, Cosensian Magic tumbling over the ball of light in brilliant blue for just a moment as he used his power to enhance mine. With his other hand, he slowly turned the knob of the door, pushing on it slightly, and tomy reasonable dread, it caught on something behind the wood surface.
I’d seen this happen before on the day Heimlen took me through the small door that led from Viridis to Felgren. I had witnessed the Blight for the first time that day, and now, I had more reason to be afraid.
Rev pushed harder, my sun growing larger as both green and blue power wrapped over its surface, its glow streaming through what little space we could see.
I don’t think I could ever forget that sound.
The raging hiss of pain.
The sibilant stream of recession coming from the Blight as it withered from the door and from the sun I held in my hands.
He pushed harder still, forcing his shoulder into the dark wooden door, gripping my arm, never letting go.
I felt alive.
I felt incredible power sifting through my blood. The scent of death poured from the room, and I pushed myself through the space Revich had made.
The room was brilliantly lit now that the sun itself radiated through the stone space, and I watched as thick, black vines recoiled from the floor, a long table, and chairs. It had been growing along the fuckingwalleven, and nothing pleased me more in that moment than to see it wither and shrink back to a shelf near the door.
This Blight was different from the one grown in Felgren. The wood was slick and pustules of black liquid popped sporadically as it diminished, flecks of the substance spotting my dress, flying to my face and hair, some landing on the sun and sizzling into a smoky black steam.
It took only a few minutes for the Blight to recess completely. A husk of the source lay dry and dead on a bed of broken glass.
I turned to Rev and he nodded solemnly.
He let go of my arm, moving closer to inspect what had caused all this in the first place. I tried to bring the sun back to a smaller size—bring it down to a pebble and release the spell.
My hands shook as I felt my power only grow once more, and the bowl-sized sun expanded instead to the size of a carriage wheel.
“Rev,” I pleaded, my thoughts a swirling mist of panic. I’d lost control of my power once before and flashes of that fateful night began to flicker through my mind like pages of a book. It felt as if I was witnessing each second of holding that massive sun over Felgren in tandem with each second that passed in the room we stood.
His soothing voice echoed in the room as he faced me, gripping both of my arms. “Karus, bring it back in. You need to end the spell.”
“I don’t know how!” I shouted, a cold sweat brimming at my brow. My breath came in short bursts as the sun continued to grow, and Rev had to let go or be burned.
