Page 78 of Blood Currents
Cyrus
Elio’s sanctuary felt smaller thanusual when we finally reached it.We’d won the battle, saved the wellspring, watched my father form a temporary council—but the weight of what came next pressed down on all of us.
After my father had assembled his emergency council and sent us away to rest, we’d come here—the one place that felt truly safe.
“We did it,” Marigold said, breaking the silence.“We actually did it.”
Keane nodded, his portal magic still shimmering faintly around his hands.“One wellspring.But there are others.”
“And the master,” Elio added, his voice hollow with exhaustion.“Whatever he is.”
I watched them, these people who’d become everything to me.Keane with his quiet strength, somehow still standing after everything his uncle had done to him.Elio with his masks finally shattered, raw and vulnerable in a way I’d never thought possible.
And Marigold.Always Marigold.
She moved between them with that natural grace that had nothing to do with training and everything to do with heart.Touching Keane’s shoulder.Squeezing Elio’s hand.Small gestures that meant everything.
All I could focus on was Marigold’s hand on Elio’s arm as she stood beside him while he faced the wreckage of his family legacy.His parents had escaped, his entire world collapsed.And there she was, offering comfort with that gentle strength that had drawn me to her from the beginning.
I felt my fire stir, blue threads pulsing beneath my skin.Not rage, exactly.Something more complicated.
When Marigold finally looked at me, something in my expression made her pause.
“Cyrus?”
I turned away, moving to the window where stars glittered through the enchanted glass dome.My flames were coming too fast now, curling around my fingers in restless patterns.
I heard her approach but didn’t turn.
“Hey,” she said softly.“Talk to me.”
“Not now.”The words came out rougher than I intended.
Her hand touched my arm, and I felt my magic leap toward her, eager despite my conflicted heart.“Yes, now.”
I finally faced her.“You forgave him.Just like that.”
Understanding dawned in her eyes.“Not just like that.And not completely.”
“He betrayed us,” I said, keeping my voice low.“Betrayed you.And the moment he finally does the right thing, you’re right there beside him.”
“Because he needs me,” she said simply.
“And I don’t?”
The question hung between us, more revealing than I’d meant it to be.
A movement caught my eye.Keane had approached, his expression carefully neutral but his eyes missing nothing.
“This is about more than just Elio,” he said quietly.
I wanted to deny it, but the truth burned too hot to contain.“I don’t know how to do this,” I admitted.“Any of it.”
“Share, you mean,” Keane said.
I nodded, the admission painful but necessary.“I’ve spent my whole life with clear divisions.Enemy.Ally.Friend.Nothing prepared me for… this.”I gestured vaguely between us.
Marigold’s eyes softened.“Nothing prepared any of us.”
