Chapter Two
Easton
I tried to catch my breath, but I couldn’t. There was only rage and the absence of anything pure. I thought I had lost my soul once, but I had been wrong.
As I stood in the field where Lyric had once been before the shadow took her, I knew I had lost my soul again. Not like a tragedy where I could dig myself out after I found a way to heal. This was all-encompassing. Pure terror that ripped me limb from limb as I begged for a salvation that would never come.
“Easton. We don’t have time for this.”
I looked over at Wyn, one of my best friends, my fellow warrior, and wanted to rip her throat out. “Don’t have time for what?” I asked, my voice calm. Too calm. Thankfully, she seemed to realize what that meant. Fire slid up my arms, but I tamped it down, not wanting to use my Wielding. I was exhausted, bleeding, and broken. My Wielding reserves were almost depleted. But I had enough to scream.
To vent.
To purge.
Tears filled Wyn’s eyes for a moment—only an instant before she quickly blinked them away.
I cursed under my breath. I knew she wasn’t cold, wasn’t heartless. No, that was all me.
Had always been and would always be. The only flame that could melt the ice was that of the woman who was no longer in front of me.
Vanished within smoke.
Wyn raised her chin. “I’m sorry, but we need to gather our forces, our dead, and figure out exactly what the hell is going on. And who took Lyric. How they took Lyric.”
“I know who took Lyric.” My voice was cold, precise. “You know, too.”
She nodded, her face covered in dirt and blood. “Okay, I do. But we can’t fix that right now. We can’t go after her. Not until we know what we’re facing. If you leave right now, you are leaving everyone—your people. And you don’t have much else. We need your help, Easton. We all do.” She paused. “I do.”
She looked down at her hands, Water sliding from her fingertips, and I held back another curse. She had lost her Wielding during one of the dark crystal’s many power surges during our new Fall. Somehow, after Lyric had connected with the crystal, Wyn had gained her powers back. But instead of being only an Earth Wielder like she had been for centuries, she was now an Earth Wielder…and a Water Wielder. I didn’t know of any other person over the past thousand years who had held those two powers.
It had always been Earth and Fire or Water and Air. Obscurité and Lumière. Spirit had been lost to death, cast in mystery.
The two factions outside of Spirit didn’t meet, not after the realm had eventually been carved into two separate kingdoms. When the old kings began the wars for more territory, more power, or whatever other fabled explanations the histories gave, the two kingdoms didn’t mix powers.
It was unheard of.
There had been stories of long-lost loves and those who secreted themselves away to hide in the Spirit territories or even the human realm. Those Lumière and Obscurité who’d shared a forbidden love. Even their children never had more than one power. One element.
Most Wielders only had one Wielding to begin with. Two elements within a single Wielder was not uncommon, but those who had it weren’t in abundance, either. A dual Wielder with the powers of both kingdoms running through their veins?
I had never heard of such a thing after the Fall, and it was only myth and legend before that time.
And now, here Wyn was, standing in front of me with power I knew she couldn’t handle—at least, not yet—and that was just the beginning of it.
The realm was shattering around us, breaking into pieces, and holes in our very universe were rupturing. People were crying, healers trying to work their magic. Literally. Doing their best to keep others alive, and still others finding their places as they gathered themselves and tried to breathe.
“Okay, okay. I get it. We’ll figure it out. Do what needs to be done.” I paused, lowering my brows. “I’m going after her as soon as I can. I’m going.”
“We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Wyn said quickly. “We’re going to find her. And not just because of who she is. Not because of what she is. Because she’s Lyric. And she’s ours.”
I understood that. The realm needed Lyric because of her powers, because of the prophecy. Our friends and family needed her because she was Lyric.
I needed her because she was the other half of my soul.
My heart, my future. And I was supposed to die for her, not the other way around. I’d be damned if I let The Gray have her.
“Any other updates?” I asked as we began moving through the ranks, looking over the people who had fought for freedom by our sides. There were warriors, bakers, teachers, those who had never fought before but were powerful in their own right. They were trained, and once we were able, they would be taught more. They had dropped everything to keep our people alive, and I would never forget that.
“Lanya is with Delphine. She’s helping the other woman.”
I sighed. “Will Delphine survive?”
Wyn nodded as Teagan came up when we stopped near a bluff. My other best friend stood silent, his jaw tense, soot covering his face.
I didn’t know what to say to him, though I didn’t think there were words. He had watched his mother burn to ash and had fought alongside his grieving father to protect the realm. But it almost felt as if it hadn’t been enough. I couldn’t help them.
“Delphine will never see again.” Wyn let out a shaky breath as she continued. “She saved my life.” Teagan reached out and gripped her shoulder, squeezing it, but Wyn shook off his hand.
That surprised me, but it shouldn’t have. The two had always had a rocky relationship, but they were pulling away from each other more and more. There was nothing I could do about that. There was nothing I could do about so much.
“And Lanya. How is she faring?” I asked after the Lady of Air—a title I wasn’t sure she wanted anymore.
“My grandmother’s whole. Unharmed but for a few bruises,” Rhodes said as he made his way over to our group.
I looked at the other man, his dark hair pulled back, his silver eyes shadowed. I had once hated him. After all, I had grown up believing that he was the opposite of who I was and everything I stood for.
The actual Prince of Lumière, the late Eitri, had been my opposite, but I had never thought much about him. He had been nearly powerless until he used The Gray to try and kill us. He died painfully because of it.
Rhodes, however? Rhodes had always been similar to me in power. He had searched for the fabled Spirit Priestess just like I did. When I was forced to stop hunting because my kingdom was dying, and there were only so many people who could protect it, Rhodes had been the one to look for her.
He had found Lyric, and thought she was his soulmate—not mine. We had all been wrong, and I had been a jealous asshole.
In the end, Rhodes left his home and found her, but he hadn’t known the true decay lurking within his kingdom. None of us had.
“I’m glad she’s okay,” I said honestly.
“She’ll be with Delphine until the former Queen of Lumière can fight again. She will, even if she has to learn to Wield differently.”