Page 132 of Rising Out of the Darkness
As I watched her produce a small drip of water with Liam’s guidance, my heart tugged. Liam had told me she’d been struggling to find peace, to find the calm emotion within her to help let her Tide and Frost dynamis flow. My shoulders fell. I was probably responsible for that particular problem.
If that wasn’t enough guilt to add to my shoulders, Killian and Clara had informed me Lena had discovered my mother’s secret office in the garden.
I had known my mother spent hours every day in her garden, but I had always assumed she was tending to all the plants and flowers. Instead, she was working hard on creating potions to fight the dynamis suppression. My question was, why hadn’t she or my brother told me about it?
Together we had discovered a problem with suppressed dynamis, so why wouldn’t they tell me that they’d discovered the cure for it? The things that we could have done with that knowledge that had been lost for the past twenty-three years…
The only conclusion I can come to is that she was trying to protect my brother and I. She knew what this cure could mean, and the less others knew about it the safer it would be.
Thankfully, we had Clara. Ever since Lena had discovered the ingredients of my mother’s potion, Clara had been researching ways we could recreate it…blood magic and all. Perhaps this might help me eradicate my blood magic problem as well, severing Alastor’s hold over me once and for all.
When I looked back towards Lena, she was drenched from head to toe. Liam’s face was so red it looked like he was about to pass out.
Could you die from laughter? With a snort, I shook my head at the thought.Ah, but what a way to go.
A splash alerted me, and my body tensed. Elena’s mouth gaped open, and if I was seeing correctly from this far away, the tears in her eyes as she took in the sight before her.
Liam was soaked, as was the ground surrounding him. When he tried to take a step forward to congratulate her for finally using her Tide dynamis, he lost his footing and slipped into the mud.
All at once the most radiant sound inhabited my soul. Elena’s head was thrown back, both arms wrapped around her body as if to stabilize herself from her own laughter. It was the most captivating sound I’d ever heard.
She helped him right himself back on two legs, and then they both zephyred back to the castle. I was left alone, tucked between my ever-familiar shadows.
Today proved more than ever that Elena would be fine without me. She’d finally allowed herself to let down the walls between her emotions and her dynamis, and I’d never felt so proud of her.
My Wildfire had learned how to burn all on her own. Elena didn’t need me, in fact she never really had. Shuffling my feet on the soft soil, I closed my eyes and tried to take a deep breath.
It was time I let my Light Phoenix spread her wings and fly…without me.
Elena
As I sat with a towel drying my soaked hair in front of the fireplace, tears welled up in my eyes.
I couldn’t believe that I’d finally been able to calm my emotions enough to use my Tide dynamis. That was a feat that I’d honestly never thought I would be able to achieve.
All my life my emotions had been in control, wild and raging, as they tumbled out of me. Today, I’d been the one who was in control, and I’d never felt more fulfilled in my entire life. Every day, I’d felt more empowered, more alive in my own skin.
Unfortunately, I also had an overwhelming need to share this feeling with the only person who didn’t want anything to do with me. The one person who’d promised me that I never had to be afraid to show my feelings. The man who’d unleashed my timid heart, only to push me away.
I was so heated, I swore my hair dried on its own without Eloise’s help.
She’d come in earlier to help the seamstress with the fitting for my ball gown. I feared my grumpy demeanor had sent the poor seamstress running for the hills before all the adjustments were made. Eloise had tried her best not to probe about Declan, but had accidentally spilled the beans that he would be the one training me tonight after dinner.
Ever since then, I had been stewing over what I would say when I finally saw him again.
The way he’d treated all of us in the training ring was uncalled for. His words had rattled me, leaving me with a throbbing wound in my heart ever since.
What thoughts had even crossed his mind, and what had altered his feelings towards me so much? Shaking my head, I shoved my face into my towel and screamed. How could you be so full of rage towards a person, but on the other hand need their comfort more than anyone else’s in the entire world?
Chapter 52
Elena
Leaning against the wall of the hallway, I regretted the basket of rolls I’d devoured earlier. All of them now felt like boulders inside my stomach, which turned upside down with each step I took towards the ballroom. Towards Declan.
What I’d give to have dynamis that could allow me to time-travel. I could go back to the past and force Declan to stay inside the castle walls. To not leave, to not change his mind about us…about me. With a heavy heart, I pushed open the door and shuffled into the ballroom.
Servants bustled about, setting up the room for the ball tomorrow. By the look of things, the king had spared no expense for this event. Everything dripped in gold, and the light shining through the stained-glass windows made the room come alive with color.
