Page 31 of Rhadan

She rested her head on his shoulder. “I can imagine what it was like for you. Most people would envy the power you have, but like many things in life, less is more.”

“You have no idea how accurate that statement is. It only took a few months of my power, and it wasn’t even at its height before I realized it was a curse.”

Her fingers moved lightly over his chest before tracing his ribcage. “I have to believe that your power serves a purpose. Maybe you can’t see it yet, but there has to be a higher purpose for radiance.”

“I can’t imagine what it is. Even if we find a way to temper my power, I would never choose to use it.”

“Perhaps, but...” Her magic flared as the clock in the hallway dinged, signifying it was midnight. “Rhadan!”

She felt the bubble of power form around her but as mighty as her dragon’s power was, he could not stem the force undulating from her body. Her breath hitched when the darkness began to give way to light. The gray became ridges of stone as her blurred vision became distinct.

CHAPTER 17

Tempest held her hand in front of her eyes. Her fingers were long, and her nails painted a soft pink. Robin had done them the last time she visited a few weeks ago. When she’d seen her image in Rhadan’s eyes, she hadn’t noticed that fine detail. Everything here was vivid and bright, like she was looking through her own eyes. How was that possible?

She surveyed the room as it formed around her. The stone walls were covered with ancient tapestries. All handmade and beautiful in their color and intricacy. They depicted the countryside and people long gone from the world. Some were of wild animals in their natural habitat.

The candles that sat in the middle wall sconces flared as the large leather-bound book on the altar opened on its own. She glanced out the window expecting to see the rolling countryside that Mara had described, but there was only a swirl of blue smoke, and not a single boulder or tree was in sight. She averted her eyes from the arched stone windowsill, looking for the owner of the temple.

“How did I get here?” she whispered.

There was a feeling of welcome and a hum of power. She turned to the table with six chairs and six circles inset on the table. Five of them were filled with the onyx circles of her sisters. “I can see.”

Adara formed like a wraith from the mist. Her long gray robes swirled around her as if she walked in her own personal wind. She looked exactly as she had when she posed as a counselor at the camp Tempest had attended as a child. How different would her life have been if she’d only known the truth?

“You were not ready. None of my girls were. You and your sisters deserve a childhood,” Adara said.

Adara was the mother of the druids. Their protector. The single most important being in druid society. She had no idea what she was supposed to say.

Adara smiled. “You do not need to say anything, Tempest. I am simply happy that you are here. Your journey has been long and... unfortunate.”

She didn’t need to ask Adara what she meant. Her mother and the circumstances of her life were never far from her mind. Talking about those events only made them more traumatic. “I can see perfectly. Is that you?”

“Not exactly. You are whole here and when I am restored to your world, you will be as well.”

Her heart stuttered in her chest. “Are you saying I will get my sight back?” She dared not to hope, but after the day she spent with Rhadan and the world he had shown her, she wanted her own sight back more than anything.

“Yes.” Well, Adara had told her exactly what she wanted to hear. There was a sadness in her voice that alarmed Tempest.

“Wow, that’s amazing. May I ask why you don’t seem excited about making me whole?”

Adara glanced at the window. “I want nothing more than to restore your sight, but I am only able to do it because it was taken from you by magical means. You were not destined to be blind.”

Tempest swallowed, though she knew she had no bodily function while in Adara’s realm. “What? How can you restore it? Why was it taken from me?”

“Once I am at full power, I will break the spell the dark mage placed on you.”

“The mage?” Tempest recalled her childhood and her interactions with Allorin. She couldn’t remember any type of spell.

“Allorin placed a binding spell on you, but he did not realize what you were at the time. Your body reacted to the spell by protecting your magic, but he bound your sight. He suspected you would be a druid like your mother, but it wasn’t until later that Devlin suspected you were the gatekeeper.”

“Why did he want to bind me? I thought the darks, and the mage wanted the druids to have their power. I thought he was waiting for me to come into it so he could drink me like a juice box.”

Adara smiled. “You have spent far too much time with Alana.” She waved her hand negligently. “Devlin knew what you were. That you were a druid, anyway. That’s why he took your mother and killed your father.”

Tempest blinked rapidly as spots formed behind her eyes. Had her lungs required air in Adara’s realm, she would have passed out from the lack of oxygen. “What?”

“I am truly sorry, Tempest. While I was able to put precautions in place to protect this generation of druids, I was too weak to protect the former.”

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