His life leaves him.
When I open my eyes, a smile spreads his lips, more glorious than any I've seen upon them before.
I fall back by his side and stare up at the moon as the memories I stole play through my mind. My family and the soldiers raced through the forest and came upon the clearing with complete surprise. The first girl they saw was one I recognize from Aeri's thoughts—Nymia, her sister. She didn't even have a chance to scream before they ripped her magic from her soul. They made it halfway through the meadow before anyone woke up. My stepmother made them love her as my sister put knives through their hearts. Some tried to fight, but I don't think faeries were trained in war. It's a uniquely human concept. Before they were destroyed, they created a portal and escaped, leaving my family and the soldiers on their own.
They were mad with power.
When they sucked all the magic from the air, the soldiers turned on each other, trying to carve it out of one another's flesh. My brother fled, surrounded by a pack of wolves. My sister saw her opening and slid a knife through my father's chest, the way I know she's imagined doing most of her life. Then she and her mother disappeared into the night. Before the soldiers had a chance to kill him, my father ordered them to leave these grounds and never come back. Then he lay there in the dark as death slowly took him.
Now I know why humans were never gifted with magic.
We abuse it. We abuse each other.
We're not worthy.
Yet even as I think it, a voice pulls me back.
"Princeling," she calls across the meadow, familiar yet foreign. "Come with me."
I blink as Erick's memory clears and find myself back in the cave, cradled against his chest with two warm arms wrapped lovingly around me. His chin nestles into my hair. I almost relax into the embrace, until Nymia's horrified expression flutters across my thoughts, the last sight of her before she collapsed into a bed of lilies. The only thing keeping the ache at bay is the knowledge that she's alive now, out there on a mountain somewhere, surrounded by people who care for her, who've protected her better than I ever did.
Princeling. Priestess Sytrene's voice rings in my ears, as clear as ever. Come with me.
Where did they go?
What did she do to him?
What happened next?
I close my eyes and sigh as my stomach clenches in pained hunger. I have no idea how long we've been sitting like this, but it must've been a while because my muscles have gone stiff.
"You should eat something," Erick murmurs, breath brushing against my forehead.
He slides one of his hands from my waist and lifts his palm into the air, as though plucking fruit from an invisible tree. A moment later, a bright red apple sits between his fingers. The move was so casual I know he's done it a thousand times, as though creating something from nothing were as simple as breathing. But the magic is advanced—advanced enough I couldn't copy it. It's the sort of power only the priestesses were capable of wielding.
He offers the apple to me.
I look up and meet his gaze with a million questions swirling in my eyes.
"I'll explain, Aeri." He holds the fruit closer, willing me to take it, to trust him, to believe him. When I do, a look of relief passes over his features. "I promise, I'll explain."
I lift the apple to my lips and take a bite as I settle into his lap, leaning my head against his chest so I can hear his heart. The gentle thump beats to the same rhythm as mine, as in sync as we always were. Erick runs his fingers up and down my arm, swirling over and around, tracing every inch of my skin, touching me because for the first time in I don't know how many years, he can. For a brief moment, beneath this quiet glow, it feels as though nothing has changed, as though we're back in our cave, at peace and at home in each other's arms. There's no awkward air, no uncertainty, no vacant swathe of time. There's just him, and me, and the love that's always lived between us.
Until I realize someone is missing.
A pang burns in the hollow of my throat. Ru?
Erick's chest sinks as he expels a heavy breath. Without his needing to speak, I know the hound is gone. All losses lessen with time, but some never quite go away. "He was loyal till the end."
What happened?
"He stayed by my side for ten years after you left, and then I woke one night to find him curled against my chest, so peaceful he could've been sleeping, but no breath stirred in his lungs."
Fighting the sudden heat at the back of my eyes, I nod, take another bite of apple, and chew until my throat opens enough to swallow. We don't say anything else, both lost in our own minds. Once my hunger is abated, I reach up and cup his cheek.
I'm ready.
Erick nods and I sink back into his memories.
A woman with glowing skin steps through a seam in the world and into the clearing. Pearlescent robes billow around her legs as she walks, caught on an invisible wind, and a golden diadem rests upon her brow. I recognize her from Aeri's memories. "Priestess Sytrene?"
A frown passes over her lips before they smooth to calm indifference. "You said you wish to help?"
"I do. I'll do anything. Please, tell me how to fix this."
"There's no fixing this." Her eyes harden like an iron sword pulled fresh from the kiln. "What is done can't be undone. All we can do now is fight to save what's left. And to do that, I need to know how this all began."
"Of course." I take a step forward, closing the gap between us. "Give me your hand and I'll show you everything."
"You'll show me?" Her brows knot. "How?"
"With, um…" I swallow, suddenly sensing the current of ripe hatred in the air. My fingers twitch but I don't lower them. There's no running from the decisions I've made and the slaughter they've caused. "With my magic. Aeri gave it to me on the night of the solstice. She was just trying to give us a way to talk that didn't require words"—Priestess Sytrene's eyes go wide—"but now I can read minds, and share memories, and even bend them, if I wish."
"The solstice?" she whispers.
I lick my lips and nod.
Her gaze sharpens, cleared of whatever confusion or surprise it held. "If you truly wish to help, come with me."
With the swish of her hand, a puddle forms between us, glistening with the rainbow sheen of glittering magic. I recognize it as a portal, same as the one Aeri used in the garden that day to get away. Priestess Sytrene dips her toe into the gateway and disappears in a flash. With one final glance at the body of my father, still and bleeding a few feet away, I follow.
When I open my eyes, I'm lying with my cheek pressed against damp stone. Goose bumps rise along my skin with the chill. The world is draped in shadow and eerily silent, until a golden glow blinks to life, the same sort Aeri used to create to allow us to swim through the caves. I almost shake my head when stalactites and wet stones glisten into view, wondering if I've been brought back in time. But when I turn, it's Priestess Sytrene looming above me, not the woman I long for with all my being.
"You're hiding in the caves?"
"I sealed all the entrances on the night I discovered your affair with Aerewyn," the priestess explains emotionlessly. "So for now, it's as safe from human entry as any place can be. Aside from you, of course."
The darkness at the edge of the light seems to move, and I wonder who else might be hiding in the far reaches of the cave, invisible from sight, but I don't question. Instead, I meet Priestess Sytrene's amber eyes. "As I said before, give me your hand and I'll show you everything."
This time, the priestess takes a seat by my side and closes the distance between us. Magic tingles in my fingertips. When I open up to the power, it explodes across my chest and down my arms, an unruly beast I don’t quite know how to tame. It aches for me to dive inside her thoughts and steal the deepest secrets of her mind, to carve a pathway through her history, twisting it and bending it, reshaping it as I will. Every ounce of strength I possess goes into quelling those urges. Instead, I send my own memories down the line, letti
ng them sink into her skin and unfurl, sharing the best night of my life with this woman who I know wishes it never occurred. For all our mistakes and despite everything that's happened, I can't unwish that night, even if it makes me a selfish man. Sharing my soul with Aeri and seeing hers in return was a magic unlike any I've ever experienced, the sort of power I pray faeries and humans can both understand—love.
I start with Aeri landing beside me in my bed, then show the priestess the blessing she made me eat, the magic she sent beneath my skin with a prayer I didn’t understand then, but do now, and finally the moment I opened my eyes to a new power buzzing inside my heart. I keep the hours spent wrapped in each other's arms to myself. They're for me and Aeri. They're ours and I won't let anything taint them. So I jump forward, to the night we planned to run away, to being ambushed by my father and his men, to watching the human army disappear with Aeri at their helm, as my heart lay in tatters by their feet. I show the priestess how I found her in the dungeons and set her free, only to condemn her to a worse fate—death.
We break apart, releasing our fingers at the same time.
The priestess says nothing. I stifle the power thrumming in my blood and do the same, studying her face for some sign. At first, I think she's scrutinizing me as well. Her eyes dart back and forth as though searching for something. Then I realize they're not glancing outward at me, but inward, at her memories, at the visions I just shared, at forces I couldn’t begin to fathom. It's only when she blinks and focuses her gaze that I see the emotion written across her features for what it is—shock.
"The Mother gave Aerewyn a blessing for you?" she asks, so softly I'm not sure if I'm supposed to answer. "During our solstice?"
"That's what Aeri said," I try to explain, as best I can. "She thought maybe it was supposed to be a sign, that what we were doing wasn't wrong, that loving each other wasn't bad, that her goddess wanted us to be the beginning of a new world, one where faeries and humans didn’t live on opposite sides of a magic wall, but together in peace."
Priestess Sytrene stares at me then, as though seeing me for the first time, no judgment written across her face, just marvel, as though I've grown a second head. Maybe I have. It'd be the least of my concerns.
Her expression darkens. "And do you really think such a world is possible? After everything you've seen this night?"
"I do." What other choice do I have but to believe? For me. For Aeri. For the dreams we were naïve enough to build, innocent enough to believe in, and determined enough to see come true. "Maybe not now, but someday."
If this was a test from their gods, we failed.
Aeri and me for running away instead of fighting. The priestesses for trying to silence us instead of shelter us. The faeries for giving to everyone except those who needed it most. The humans for always taking, coveting something that was never meant to be theirs. We all played a part and now the game is done.
Or is it?
"Only from the ashes can a phoenix be reborn," I murmur, thinking of Aeri on that first day we met, her crimson hair fluttering in the breeze, as bright as the feathers aflame just beyond her head.
"What?"
I look at the priestess. "Maybe it was always supposed to happen this way. Maybe the world had to end for a new one to begin."
I want to believe it—that we were pieces on the board to be moved by godly hands, that I didn't kill Aeri, that we didn't destroy everything, that our love wasn't the cause of so much destruction—yet part of me can’t help but wonder if it’s the coward's way out.
What if there is nothing more?
What if we're just another tragic story to be written across the stars?
I hope that's not true, more for Aeri than for me. I know how much she hated stories that didn't end happily. If I could, I'd rewrite this one. But I can’t. All I can do is pray we're still caught in the middle, stumbling in the chaos before the storm clears.
"I need to pray on this." Priestess Sytrene interrupts my thoughts and waves her fingers through the air. Another shimmering puddle pools by my feet. "You may leave. If you wish to fix what you've done, use your magic to erase this faerie spell from human minds before they destroy everything. If I contact you again, come willingly and alone. I have a feeling Mother isn't done with you yet."
I nod and step through the portal, letting the vortex carry me away. When I open my eyes this time, I'm surrounded by the shadows of pine trees outlined silver by the moon. A wet tongue licks my face as panting breaths reach my ears.
"Ru?"
He barks giddily in response. I hug his furry body to my chest and close my eyes as the night flashes over me, so overwhelming I'd drown in my own thoughts if he weren't here to ground me. Then with a deep breath, I stand, and push the wave away. There's no time for tears or regrets or pointless wishes I'll never see come true.
"Come on, boy. We've got work to do."
The vision of Ru grows fuzzy, even as I try to hold onto him, his goodness, and the warmth his presence always brought. I've never met a purer soul, and I don't think I ever will again. There's a sadness I'll never quite be rid of in knowing he died before I got the chance to say goodbye.
What happened next? I ask Erick, well aware there's still much left unsaid. His story isn’t done yet, and neither is ours.
"The world fell into ruin," he says sadly, looking away, over my shoulder and into a scene I don't think he wants to show me, one that darkens his blue eyes with heavy shadows, a black film as thick as the one Nymia used to see in her dreams. "I went back to the town and erased the spell from as many minds as I could, but there was no containing it. Before I got there, men and women had ridden away on horses to find new untouched lands, taking the words with them. They spread like a wildfire of whispers, torching the land. Within a year, all the magic was gone, trapped in human bodies and contained."
Even though I anticipated the words, my stomach still drops. The faeries couldn't stop it?
"I'm sure they tried, but there was nothing they could do. If they got too close, they'd be lost to the spell as well. Their minds shifted toward preservation instead, trying to hide and save as many magical creatures as they could."
Did they?
Erick arches a brow teasingly, bringing back the ghost of the boy I used to know. "I thought I was the one telling this story."
You are, I retort as a grin pulls at my lips, completely at odds with the subject we're discussing. But even in the face of the end of the world, he makes me smile. I can't help it, and I'm not sure I want to. There's got to be room for joy, especially in the midst of so much gloom. I'm just prodding you along. What happened next? Before I interrupted?
All the joy vanishes from his face and his leg jitters beneath me, foot tapping my calf as it bounces. "The wars."
Wars?
He sighs. "Walk with me?"
I roll free of his lap and stand. Erick takes my hand as he rises to his feet, lacing our fingers together. We walk through the meadow while the grasses and flowers part before us, giving us room to step so we don't trample precious stalks. I think he just needs to move, because we go in circles, never reaching the edge of the golden glow where shadows hide, just roaming around and around while petals stretch and strain to graze our skin, whispering dreams of the faerie souls stuck within. The cave is so massive that if not for the stillness, I'd almost believe we were outside beneath a setting sun, in that soft light of dusk.
"When all the magic was sucked out of the earth, humans realized the only way to get more was from each other, and the wars began. Not everyone who took magic had done it maliciously. There were those like Sylvi, misguided as she was, who only wanted a little bit of the wonder for themselves. They were the first to die. In the beginning, it was a fight for power, but once the coldhearted were all that remained, a sort of stalemate happened. The fight shifted to one for land—each human with magic wanted to become a king or queen, to carve out their own slice of the world, to find people over which to rule. What was t
he purpose of so much magic if there was no populace on which to wield it? New kingdoms emerged with royal families tied by magic blood. The power was endless. Every human born to one made of magic came alive with new powers all their own. But in a way, it made my job easier. For that first year, I'd floundered, struggling to find people with magic, to get close enough to them to steal their memory of the spell, instead diving into the minds of everyone I came across. But when the kings and queens emerged, it was easier to sneak into their castles at night to draw the memories from their minds. Eventually, all human knowledge of the spell ceased to exist, through my actions and through time."
How much time? I ask, not quite understanding.
Erick offers me a wry smile, as though he expected the question. "Priestess Sytrene called me back to the cave after a few years. This time, she wasn't alone. A man stood by her side in robes made of ebony, with black diamonds resting in a crown atop his brow. She asked how my work was going, and I told her I needed more time. So he gave it to me, using a spell I’d never heard before. He pressed his palm to my chest, shooting magic into my skin, and after that, I didn’t age."
The man was a priest, that much is certain, and I'd also guess that beneath all the other power Erick has shown me, some of Father's magic resides in his soul, shimmering with faerie immortality. I stop walking and tug on his hand, drawing his eyes as an unsettled feeling pools deep in my gut. She called you back again, didn't she?
Parting Worlds - A Little Mermaid Retelling (Once Upon a Curse Book 4) Page 18