Page 73
To him.
I stop at the base and crane my neck to take in its full height. The cocoon rises from the floor, crystalline arms branching around Elionn’s form to cradle his body. His head and shoulders remain free, but the rest of him disappears into translucent depths that shimmer with inner light.
“How did you get yourself into this mess?” I ask, circling the formation once.
No obvious weaknesses present themselves. No seams where I might pry it open, no thinner sections I could break through. The crystal appears seamless, grown around him rather than constructed.
I complete the circle and stop in front of him again, increasingly certain brute force will not win this battle. I raise my hand, where silver-bright sigils glow beneath my skin in response to Elionn’s proximity.
With a deep breath, I reach toward the crystal.
“Do not—”
Kelaros’s warning once again comes too late as my palm lands flat on the cold surface, and white hot, electric pain explodes through me. My back arches, mouth opening in a silent scream as a connection forms.
Elionn’s heartbeat thunders through me, pounding in my ears, my chest, my bones. His magic rushes into me through the conduit of our shared blood, my own magic surging to protect me from shattering at the onslaught.
And through it all, I sense him on a deep level that I never knew existed.
His consciousness lies dormant but intact, wrapped in layers of protective magic. Beneath, pain and purpose tangle together in knots too complex to unravel. Whatever brought him here, whatever keeps him here, it wasn’t entirely against his will.
The chamber pulses in time with our joined heartbeats, the veins in the walls brightening with each surge. The connection burns through me, too much, too fast for my magic to repair.
I try to pull away, but my hand won’t move. The crystal holds me fast, neither solid nor liquid, bonding us together.
“Elionn,” I gasp, pushing at the surface with my free hand. “Wake up!”
His eyelids flutter without opening. The pulse throughout the chamber quickens in response, and the cocoon around his body shifts, grip loosening then tightening around him.
I search for some weakness our connection might have exposed. From beneath my palm, a fine network of cracks spreads outward without penetrating deep enough to reach him.
“Come on,” I mutter through gritted teeth, pouring more of myself into our bond, reaching for Elionn through the barrier of crystal and magic.
His fingers twitch, the first independent movement I’ve seen.
Hope flares inside me, and I press harder, ignoring the burning in my veins and my blurring vision.
“That won’t work,” Kelaros says from behind me. “At least, not without killing you both.”
The interruption breaks my concentration, and my hand comes free with a wet squelch.
I stagger back, catching myself before I fall, and turn to find Kelaros standing several yards away, arms crossed over his chest.
I flex my tingling fingers. “How do you know it won’t work?”
“This isn’t the first Royal the court has tried to bond with.” He walks forward with fluid grace. “The Silver Prince is lasting longer than the last, though. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
“You knew he was here all along.” It’s not a question.
Kelaros lifts one shoulder. “I suspected. I’m not the only fae who has ventured here. Others followed, all snatched up by the Court.”
He studies the walls, as if expecting to see the missing fae imprisoned here, or at least their remains. “With each new arrival, the Court briefly surged back to life, bringing forth phantoms like the ones we’ve encountered. The strongest resurgence came when a Dark Prince passed through the rift, but even then, the decay resumed within a handful of hours.”
He turns back to Elionn. “This time, though, it’s lasted for several day—”
“Months,” I interrupt. “He’s been here for months.”
Kelaros stills for a moment before shrugging. “I tried to seek out the Silver Prince, to discover what had happened to him, but the court guards its secrets, and this chamber has been resistant to my exploration.”
