Page 162 of The Last Syphon

Utterly terrifying.

It was right in that moment that Inara realised they had a lot more in common than she had originally thought. They were both blessed and cursed with an ability people feared. An ability they were forced to hide. Concealing part of oneself was not easy. It was a struggle he understood, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he knew what she was…

No.

She could not risk it.

“When my power manifested, my father decided it would be in my best interest to keep it hidden,” he continued. “Bloodbornes have been feared for a long time, and he worried that if a vote were to pass, and Bloodbornes were to be outlawed as Syphons are, that it would mean my death and the death of our Line.”

Inara frowned. “Your Line?”

He looked at her, face grim. “After the Dark War, they did not only kill Syphons. They killed everyone related to them too. Mothers. Fathers. Brothers and sisters. Everyone. Magic is passed down through blood. In their eyes, if there was no one left with the bloodline of a Syphon, the power could not return.”

Pure horror filled Inara. “That’s…That’s…fucking abominable.”

Prince Walder nodded. “It wasn’t only the Dark War that claimed lives. It was also everything that happened after.”

All those lives…All those people. She could not think of anything more terrible.

Inara crossed the border. There was a distinctive difference between the Tolanian land and that of the Borderlands. The rot seemed more…prominent here. Worse. Darker. Filled with more of whatever evil it was that was causing it.

The two walked on in silence for a while, and the further they moved, the more destruction they saw. Half-standing homes, long since destroyed. The dried husks of animals and people. Trees and plant life, wilted to nothing. She didn’t realise this kind of devastation could have a smell, but it did. Decay permeated the air, even though there had been nothing alive there for 2,000 years. It was a barren landscape of ruin and ashes. Eerie wasn’t a strong enough word to describe what she was seeing. Everywhere she looked, she saw death. There was not a shred of life on this land. It was everywhere. In front of her. Behind her. Above her…

Below her.

Slowly, Inara began to feel it. Feel something strange was happening to her. With each step she took, her body felt heavier, as if the energy were being drained right from her soul. It got harder and harder to move her limbs, a deep sense of lethargy slinking into her bones. Her gaze swung to Prince Walder.

“Do you feel that?” she asked. It was even a struggle for the words to pass her lips.

This wasn’t normal, by far.

“Yes.” He didn’t ask what she was referring to because it was pretty fucking obvious. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his skin had turned slightly pale. Almost sickly.

She called her shield to wrap around her in a bubble a few inches away from her body, even going so far as to make sure it provided a barrier between the soles of her boots and the rotted land. Instantly, she felt better. A pressure built up from the bottom of her shield. Not that she needed any more proof after that, but it just solidified it. She felt pressure from her shield when it was being attacked by something. For whatever reason, the cursed land of the Dead Kingdom was draining her. Feeding off her. It was stealing her energy.

Inara held her hand out to Prince Walder. “Come here.”

“What?” he asked. He was panting now. Whatever was going on, it was definitely affecting him, too. There was no denying it.

“Come here,” she repeated.

He moved until he was standing just before her shield.

“Come in.”

A line etched between his brows. He ran his eyes over the shield, giving her a questioning look.

“Stop standing there like an idiot. The land is feeding off our energy. It’s why we feel like shit. Get in the shield, and it will stop. The less I need to extend it, the longer I can make it last.”

The prince’s lips twisted, but he eventually stepped forward. His entire body locked up as he passed through her shield with no trouble, joining her inside it. It was a tight fit. Like she said, the less she had to extend it, the more she could make it last. With a constant pressure hitting her shield, Inara already wasn’t sure how long she could keep it up. So, to be safe, she made it as small as possible.

This meant her and Prince Walder were basically shoulder to shoulder. Every movement caused their bodies to brush, and that contact sent a sizzle shooting down her spine.

Once safely inside, he looked up in wonder. “How did I pass through like that?” he asked, a slight admiration in his voice.

Inara simply shrugged. “I told it to let you through.”

“You…told it?”