He nodded. “Like it’s leaking out and taking all of my spirit with it.”
“And your magic,” Declan said. “Is that correct?”
Tarron nodded. “Most likely. I haven’t tried my power, but I have less of it, I think.”
Damn it. This was all bad. Souls were everything in magic. Our power was linked to them.
“Soon, she’ll have it all. My entire soul,” Tarron said. “I can feel it.”
It would be a fate worse than death. My heart twisted. “We’re going to find a cure. I promise.”
“What about the false queen?” he asked. “What if we kill her?”
“None of us are strong enough for that.” I shook my head. “And even if we could manage it, it’s a bad idea. Because your souls are linked, we think it could kill you, too.”
“Damn it.” He frowned. “And she wasn’t injured in the battle?”
“Barely,” Aeri said. “We slowed her a bit, but not for long.”
I turned to Aeri. Because Tarron had been hit by the curse, we hadn’t had a chance to talk about her imprisonment, but there could be clues there. “Did you learn anything while you were imprisoned?”
“She wanted you,” Aeri said.
“To kill me or use me for my power?”
“Both.” Aeri shrugged. “Whatever she could manage.”
“And the people in her realm,” Tarron said. “Do you have any idea how many are brainwashed to be on her side?”
“Not a clue.” Aeri frowned. “It’s hard to tell, to be honest. Her power is so strong.”
“I know all too well.” Tarron’s tone was grim.
“We need to find a way to beat her,” Aeri said.
“I’m not strong enough,” I said. Aeri was immensely powerful, but this would be my job. I could feel it. And I just wasn’t strong enough. “She’s too fast with that power of hers.”
“And once it hits you, you’re done,” Tarron said.
“We’ll have help, though.” I thought of the Unseelie we’d met in the forest when we’d been on the way to rescue Aeri. “There’s a Resistance force in the forest. Unseelie who escaped her dark magic before they could be brainwashed.”
Aeri leaned forward. “Really?”
I nodded. “They’ll help us. They’re eager to overthrow her.”
“We’ll help however we can,” Claire said.
“Of course,” Connor added.
“Thank you.” I drew in a deep breath. “I need more magic. I already gave it everything I had to try to heal Tarron, and it didn’t work. I could use my Dragon Blood to try to create my mother’s light magic, but I know it won’t work. I’m not strong enough.”
“I don’t think I can hit you with any more of that crazy white light,” Claire said. “Whatever it was, I can’t feel it inside myself. Not even a little.”
I nodded, remembering the battle from a week ago. My mother and Claire had tangled, and unfamiliar magic had burst out of Claire. It had hit the false queen as a massive blast of light, and she’d grown stronger. “I know. I think that had as much to do with her as it did with you.”
“Then what is your plan?” Connor asked.
You are only half of me. Half of what you could be. The false queen’s last words to me echoed in my mind. They made my heart ache.
But what if I could use that?
Half of what you could be.
I needed to become more.
“What are you thinking?” Aeri asked.
My gaze flicked up to hers. “How could you tell I was thinking?”
“You’ve been staring into space for the last thirty seconds, and it’s been dead silent all around.” She gestured around the table.
Everyone was staring at me.
“Oh, right. Of course.” Apparently, I was losing it.
But I was onto something. I knew it. “The false queen said that I was only half of her. Half of what I could be.”
“Bitch,” Aeri muttered.
Tarron growled low in his throat, and I shot them both a thankful look.
“But she’s right. I’m not enough. Not as I am now. I need more magic.”
Aeri frowned. “That’s bullshit. You are enough.”
I shook my head. “She said I am half of what she is. Half her power. So I need more. I need to become like her.”
“Become like her?” Aeri asked. “That sounds terrible.”
“Not evil. But stronger. As strong as her.” Even as I said it, the slightest bit of doubt tugged at me. I didn’t want to become like her.
But I did need to stop her.
I’d do anything to stop her.
Anything to heal Tarron.
If her magic had cursed him, I could heal him. I was her daughter, after all. So much of my magic was like hers—the mind control, the reflective power. I just needed to gain this magic as well.
“I’m not sure this is the right direction,” Aeri said. “You’re moving toward the darkness.”
“Fight fire with fire, right?”
Aeri frowned, still unconvinced. “How are you going to do this?”
“I’m going to use my gift of premonition”—another gift that was like my mother’s—“to find a way to become more powerful.”
“I guess it’s the only clue we have.” Aeri sounded doubtful, but I waved her off. This would work.
It had to.
I couldn’t call on specific information on command, but I could often get clues related to a specific thing if I asked the right way.
The doorbell rang.
I frowned, then glanced at Aeri.
She shrugged. “No guests that I know of.”
I stood and hurried to the door, then peaked out through the peephole.
Aethelred stood on the front step, wearing one of his familiar blue velour track suits. His long Gandalf beard blew in the wind, and brilliant blue eyes peered out of his wrinkled face. He stared right at me through the peephole. “I know you’re in there, Mordaca. Open up.”
I swung the door open and grinned. “It looks like your seer powers are still going strong.”
“Of course.” He stepped inside. “How do you think I knew you needed me?”
“Impressive. You could tell I was about to use my power?”
“Just got a feeling.”
I grinned. “Thanks for coming.”
His power would enhance mine. If we both looked into the future, our odds were better.
“I’ll be expecting a walk on the beach for this.”
I nodded. “Of course. As soon as I fix this little…issue, we’ll get back to our Friday routine.”
I’d missed my walks with Aethelred, so it would be no hardship.
I gestured for him to follow me into the workshop.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” I said as we entered.
Wally, Aeri’s hellcat, looked up from where he’d been sleeping on the mantel. His flame red eyes blazed, and the smoke wafting up from his fur moved more quickly. He meowed.
“He says he did no such thing,” Aeri translated.
Only she could understand Wally, just like I was the only one who could interpret for Burn.