Page 88 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
More immense pink mushrooms dot the space like oversized umbrellas, but my attention is stolen by the crystals scattered around the shore. They are long, thin shards with pointed tips, growing in clusters. The largest is taller than me. A rainbow of colors ripples up and down their surfaces, a hum of power radiating off them.
I turn to Aldrin in wonder. “What are they?”
“Naturally growing plinths. These ones are diamond and can store immense amounts of magic,” he says, tugging me along.
“Why has no one harvested them?” I crane my neck to view more.
Aldrin gives me a sidelong look. “Have you ever tried to break diamond? Let alone magic-reinforced diamond charged by the gods themselves. We have no technology that can do it.”
As we reach the base of the valley, the creek never becomes deeper than the middle of my calves, but Aldrin leads me out of the magical water and along a stone path that is warm beneath my bare feet. There is a trail of fae runes cut into the stone, illuminated green with raw magic.
A low, ornate railing brackets one side of the path and the slate platforms of the hill close in the other side. Small, domed pavilions dot the pathway that leads to a temple obscured by trees, each housing a large bronze bowl burning with eternalflames. Those fires are like nothing I can wield. The magic within them is foreign to me. The yellow tongues within flicker green and purple at their edges.
We cross over an arching bridge that spans the widest river funneling into the main pool and step onto the large stone island that holds the temple. I expected more from a structure dedicated to the fae gods—something with many great tall rooms, spires and towers, the size of a castle—but this one is just large enough to house a portal and all its plinths within. It is certainly decorative, with gilded surfaces and rows of open arches and columns.
We enter the temple in silence and pause in the doorway to gaze upon the portal within. A sense of foreboding creeps over me. This gateway dwarfs its moonstone cousins that lead to the human realm or transport fae within their own. It is constructed entirely of glittering diamond, with many smooth facets picking up the light, like a gemstone in a ring.
A stone path leads through the chamber to the mouth of the portal, cutting through dense clusters of tall plinth spikes that occupy every available space, covering the entire floor and climbing up the walls. It is like I am standing inside a massive rainbow geode.
I turn to Aldrin. “Why are the plinths so vibrantly colorful and the portal only faintly shimmers, if they are both cut from the same gemstone?”
He blinks at me as he registers my words, clearly deep in thought. “The plinths are designed to store raw, unformed magic, while the portal consumes it. There is still power sitting within the plinths, shown in the light that shimmers through them, but the portal is completely deactivated. It opens to the realm of the gods.”
He leads me up the stone steps toward the gaping mouth of the gateway. The closer we get, the more unease builds in the pitof my stomach. “And these plinths—they are needed to open the portal?” I think back to the single jade plinth we used to open dozens of portals in the sacred site in Appleshield and shudder at the idea of just how far away the home of the Tuatha Dé Danann must be.
Aldrin approaches the beautiful, otherworldly arch with caution, placing his hand upon it and pulling away sharply, as if burned. That tug in my belly becomes nauseating as I follow behind him.
He looks back at me. “Once, powering the plinths and feeding their raw magic into the portal was enough for fae to open the passage between realms, but the gods sealed the doorways behind them the last time they left us, so we couldn’t follow them to their home any longer. Except I think they left a crack open in the doors, and there is something very wrong with their world. Something they are protecting us from. Maybe they are at war. Maybe something worse is happening.”
I step up to the portal and very slowly reach a hand out to touch its surface. Aldrin grips my shoulders, as though he is preparing to hold me up. My fingers only graze the cold surface of the massive diamond, but the pull on my magic is immediate.
It drags thick threads of my power out of me and into the stone with greedy savagery.Sucking harder and faster with every moment that passes.
I have powered up many portals in my own realm. I even tried to open one to the Spring Court when the planets were out of alignment. My magic has always been a presence filling up and resonating within the stone as it activates the enchantment within. I could always draw unused power back into myself to close the portal behind me.
In this gods’ passageway, every last drop of my magic and whatever Aldrin added himself is drawn away and disappearswithout a trace, like the gemstone itself consumes it. Like there is something beyond that steals it.
I draw in a shuddering breath and rip my hand away, stumbling backward. Aldrin steadies me on my feet. The diamond arch would suck me dry if I allowed it.
“Do you think these portals are responsible for the corruption?” I gasp, panting hard. “That they are drawing the very magic out of our lands?”
Aldrin frowns as he squats to inspect something. “I think they would, if they were connected to the land. See here?” He points to a chunk missing from the portal, as well as in the ground. “There are keys and mechanisms that have been removed from the portal itself and the path that connects them to the plinths of this chamber. This was how the gods deactivated the gateways. It also disconnects the portal from our land. It is the reason why a structure so desperate to suck up magic is still surrounded by half-charged plinths, and why magic and life grows with vibrancy outside. The portal can’t reach any of it.”
“So, without the keys and mechanisms, no fae can unlock these portals and travel to the realm of the gods?” I ask.
He runs a hand through his hair. “Almost all of those relics were taken by the Tuatha Dé Danann on their departure, but a handful were stolen by fae before they could procure them. I have hunted down many such relics during my rule, all that have been found, and keep them locked away where no one can access them. The last thing this realm needs is for someone to open these portals and for all our magic to be sucked through them.”
“Would someone really be foolish enough to do that?” I bite my lip. The stupidity of people continuously astounds me.
“There are those from the Winter Court who believe our only salvation from the corruption lies with the gods. That they need to return to restore their magic. If they were going to save us, ifthey could, they would have done so before they left. The early signs of our doom were there. I think they are fighting their own battles.”
“Maybe that is why my grandfather was roaming this realm,” I venture.
“Yes.” Aldrin frowns. “But whether Nissien visited after the mass exodus of his kind, or stayed behind when they left, is unknown.”
A deep chill falls over me. I can’t get out of this temple fast enough. Aldrin must feel the same, because he moves with speed at my side.
“Is that why you brought me here?” I finally ask. “To show me the portal?”
