Page 101 of The Crown of Moonlight
My fingers clench on the reins, and my cheeks flare hot as I feel the Riders looking at me.
“Brilliant,” Lorcan says, reining his horse hard enough that the red gelding throws his head up.“Shall we set a watchfire of our own here on the beach?Maybe put up a war banner, too.Just in case we’re not visible enough as we twiddle our thumbs and wait to cross.”
Sean, who has been glaring at my back for the second straight night, snorts at that.“I told you the woman was trying to kill us, didn’t I?”
“Daire can make sure we won’t be seen,” Chyr says, sending a scathing look at both Sean and Lorcan.
Fortunately, that shuts them both up.
Chyr shifts his attention to me, his eyes softening.“How deep is the water, Flora?Can your magic do anything?”
“Can I split and hold back the tide?”I gape at him, thinking he’s lost his mind.
“Can’t you?”He raises his brows and gives me that slightly crooked smile I’ve come to know.Then he shakes his head.“You wouldn’t need to do it alone.Sean is skilled with windshear and vortices.My own air magic is better with cords and short bursts—and Niall’s is more about precision than force.Daire and Lorcan have water magic.And all of us can lend you strength.”
“Nothing that can hold back the ocean,” Daire says.“And why would we trust her magic?”
“I’ll settle for someone holding back your mouth long enough for Flora to concentrate,” Ronan says, and Rua gives a big yawn where she’s curled across his shoulders.
“Father of Curses,” Sean growls.“Do you all hear yourselves?We’re not here to save this woman from her own stupidity.”He jabs a finger in Chyr’s direction and sweeps a look around at each of the other Riders.“We don’t know what will be waiting for us before we reach the doorway.Not to mention what is waiting for us in Tirnaeve.We can’t afford to waste any magic.Not on her.”
“I’m sorry.”Heat floods my cheeks, and my breath comes too fast and shallow to fill my lungs with air.
Fergal stares at me, sets his jaw, and kicks his horse forward, sending it splashing out onto the causeway.
“Fergal, stop,” Chyr orders.
Before Fergal can rein in, though, a wave washes his mare off her feet.
She tries to swim, nose high, and her eyes are panicked as the tide sweeps her farther from the causeway.Fergal dives from the saddle and paddles towards her head, but he’s not a strong swimmer either.Another wave pulls him under.
I don’t stop to consider whether holding the sea is possible—I focus on what’s least impossible.Instead of trying to force the water back, I steal the motion from it, stilling a section before it reaches the causeway above Fergal and his horse.It only holds a few moments before it breaks, but I try it again, and it feels firmer, as though my grip on it is stronger.
Between the causeway and Fergal and the mare, the level drops, and the rush of current slows.Water streams around the barrier, doing its best to fill the empty space, but both the Ever and the horse find their feet.Fergal crouches on the sand, a few inches of water still eddying around him.
Racking coughs shake his body.Then he shakes himself and reaches the trembling mare.He pats her on the neck, pulls himself into the saddle, and rides her back in the direction of the causeway.
And now that I’m holding the water, I can’t help thinking about it.
Holy Goddess—I am holding back the tide.
The reflection of the pale moon ripples on the water, nearly full, and the air is heavy with magic and brine and smoke.I shiver, and cold sweat beads across my skin.I can practically feel Sean’s gaze boring into my back, sharp as an executioner’s axe.
The magic doesn’t feel wrong.It doesn’t feel forced, not in the way that magic used to be painful.It’s as though I’m asking and it answers.
I don’t know how much I have inside me, or how much I am spending.Whether I’ll have enough to get everyone to the other side.All I can do is test it.
“Stay here,” I say.
Kicking Eira into a run, I charge out onto the causeway, pushing the barrier forward as I ride.
“Go!Everyone!”Chyr orders behind me.“Now!”
Water splashes as the Riders send their horses forward at once, a trained unit charging.That’s not what I wanted, and my hands tremble.
Instead of the narrow space needed to calm the water for a single horse, now I have to hold back enough water for all of them.
My jaw sets so hard it aches.Fear bangs against my ribs with every heartbeat, as loud in my ears as the thunder of the horses and the crash of the sea.Fergal leans forward in the saddle and jumps the mare back up onto the causeway, reining her around beside me, and we run until we reach the other side.We come off the causeway wet to the knees, the castle a black hulk against the sky.
