Chapter 140
Serafine POV
The doors open one by one, and I watch as everyone begins to get in. Garrick is the first to climb in, taking the far rear seat. His expression is unreadable as he settles back. Helena slips in beside Killian and nods to me as she settles. Her eyes are sharp and focused, and flick briefly to where Eryx is still sleeping before they come back to me. She’s observing me, possibly calculating how I am coping.
The maid climbs in next, tucking her bag behind her feet and folding her hands on her lap. She doesn’t say a word, but I can see the wariness in her eyes. She’s holding a lot of weight on her shoulders. Xander couldn’t bring more than one maid because if he did, it would mean more soldiers, which would make everything far harder. She’s done everything with such silence that I admire her. I make a mental note to thank her properly later.
I know that Xander will thank her, but I want to as well.
Xander is the last to get in the back; he sides in beside me, his thigh pressed close to mine. His presence helps to ground me, and I feel some of the tightness that was building in my chest ease.
Helena adjusts the strap on her shoulder and leans forward slightly. “When we stop to make camp, I’ll be taking Eryx and looking after him,” she explains.
Glancing toward her, I frown slightly. I would rather Eryx stay with me and Xander as much as possible. He’s our child, and I don’t want our child to grow up thinking that the guards and maids watched them more.
“You don’t have to-”
“I know that I don’t have to, but I want to,” she says, cutting off my own words. “You’re going to need your full focus, and Xander is going to be ensuring everything is safe. Plus, someone needs to monitor him while you’re practising, if his magic reacts with yours… we can’t risk ignoring that.
The words are heavy, and everyone quiets like they are listening and wanting to know more. I now realise this isn’t simply about me learning to control my magic anymore. We still don’t know what kind of magic Eryx carries. We know he does, we’ve felt it, seen signs. It also means we don’t know how deeply it’s connected to mine. The way the Hollow responded to him, the way that he stilled when we entered, it’s all signs that his magic is also
connected to the Hollow.
I’ve noticed it, there’s too much for it to simply be a coincidence. I had been so focused on figuring out what was causing the dying crops, on what was changing within me, that I never considered Eryx. Sure, I knew he had magic, but I didn’t think any deeper than that.
That was my mistake, I should have. He might be a baby and unable to use his magic, but I should have got answers before now.
“You will be watching for signs?” I ask softly.
She nods. “Anything out of the ordinary. And if I feel his magic shift toward yours, I’ll call it out immediately. You’ll know. I promise.”
My throat tightens with a strange aching gratitude. I know she’s the only one able to do this. She can sense things, she sensed who I was before I told her. So if there’s anyone who will be able to catch a change in Eryx and his magic quickly, it’s her.
I hope that nothing changes, but at least knowing Helena is there waiting to help eases some of the tension I feel.
“Thank you,” I whisper. “I mean it.”
She gives a small shrug. “He’s ours to protect, Serafine, just like you are. You’re saving the packs by fixing this issue, so we should all do everything we
can to help you.”
My fingers reach out and brush gently across Eryx’s curls before I lean in and press a kiss to his forehead. He stirs slightly, but uitwaken fully.
Xander reaches over and rests his hand on my knee. “We’ll get through this,” he says. “One step at a time. You focus on what you need to, and let us focus on everything else, you don’t need to worry about Eryx, I’ll be there and Helena.”
I nod and rest my hand over his. I know that he’s right, Eryx will be fine with both of them there. The maid as well, I need to focus on using my magic, so he can be reassured that I know what I’m doing.
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09:10 Mon, 23 Jun
Chapter 140
The rest of the drive is quiet, and no one speaks. No doubt, everyone has their own thoughts to contend with and worries they are trying to control i know I do, I’m not entirely comfortable with the plan to use Killian as a guinea pig, sure I can feel the magic and have a sense of how to use it.
But what if I do something wrong? This isn’t like I learnt things, it’s more like the Hollow gave me memories of past Veyrathi so I would know the way to use the magic.
The silence around me isn’t strained, it’s full, though. Full of questions that no one wants to ask, yet maybe because answers haven’t been figured out? Maybe it’s because there are answers they were given that they haven’t processed yet.
Eryx sleeps the entire way, totally untouched by all the tension clinging to us.
When the car finally rolls to a stop, it’s already night, and the sky has begun to darken slightly. The trees here are tall and thin, but the air carries a crispness that tells me there’s water nearby. Maybe it’s a stream or a lake? Either way, it’s a good place to test my magic later, once I’ve tested it on dry land.
It’s quiet here, not like at the Hollow, where the silence was heavy; this place doesn’t feel sacred, but it feels real and just as alive as anywhere else.
I watch as the guards set up camp quickly. Tents are half up before I’ve even begun to unbuckle Eryx from his seat, and I realise a car with guards must have got here before us. By the time I hand Eryx over to Helena, there’s already a fire being built, and one of the guards is calling out about how he marked the perimeter already.
The guardians wander silently, keeping a distance from the guards and others. I watch as they get settled and hidden in plain sight.
Standing near the edge of the camp, I watch them work. I see Helena getting settled with Eryx in her arms as she sits, beneath a nearby tree. She’s got blankets surrounding them. I know he’s going to be safe, right now, I need to focus on my task.
Turning, I walk away, I go past the fire, away from the tents. I don’t go too far, I stay in the perimeter that was set up, but I’m far enough away to think without the noise of everything else. Stopping beneath some trees, my fingers brush against their bark, and it flakes off like old paper.
Here, the wind shifts between the leaves above me, it’s faint, which is good. Closing my eyes, I try to focus and hear footsteps crunching behind me.
“Didn’t realise I’d be shadowed,” I murmur, as I let the magic come forward.
Killian’s voice comes easily, and he sounds a little smug. “Someone’s got to make sure you don’t blow yourself up.”
I glance back to see him grinning, his arms folded as he leans against one of the thinner trunks. “Or someone else,” he adds with a wink.
“You’re feeling brave.”
“Always. It’s me, let’s see what you have witch.”
My eyes roll, and he chuckles. I’m not a witch, I don’t think. I don’t even know.
Rolling my shoulders, I step into the open patch between the trees. The moment that I focus inward, everything narrows around me. My heartbeat slows, and the threads within me start to stir. It’s not wild and uncontrollable like it used to be, or unstable; they are waiting for my instructions.
Lifting up one hand, I hold my palm up, and the threads gather.
“It looks like you have loads of mini worms coming out of your skin,” Killian says, and I ignore him and focus harder.
The threads twist from my skin, faint and silver and coil together tighter as I breathe through the pull. The air seems to grow heavier in front of me, it’s not charged like a storm, but it’s thick and dense./
Drawing the threads tighter, I feel them wind up my arm, then down my spine, and threading through my legs into the soil. That’s cool, the magic is rooted in my directions. It’s pulling from me and drawing strength from the earth itself,
I hear Killian shifting. “Uh… Serafine… what exactly are you-”
I open my eyes and flick my wrist forward, the air snaps, and a sharp gust of wind slams into him hard. I watch as he lifts off the ground and flies back
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Chapter 140
several feet before crashing into the leaves with a grunt and curse.
The twigs beneath him crack, and the birds burst from the trees above, fleeing to safety.
I blink, stunned, and bring the magic back, and the gust dies down just as quickly as it came.
Killian groans from the ground. “Okay. That was rude.”
Raising an eyebrow, I walk to him, as he pushes himself upright and brushes leaves from his clothes.
I’m confused; he opted to do this. “You said you were my guinea pig,” I remind him.
“I didn’t say I wanted to be launched into orbit.” He scowls at me, but it lacks heat. There’s still that gleam of mischief and humor in his eyes, along with something that looks oddly like respect.
My eyes flicker down to my still–tingling hard, the threads are slowly unwinding and settling beneath my skin.
“I didn’t even push that hard,” I murmur. I didn’t, it was a gentle flick of my wrist, nothing explosive, or at least that’s what I thought.
“Well, that’s horrifying,” Killian says, brushing dirt off his shoulder.
Maybe it is for him, but for me it isn’t, not anymore. It’s the first time I’ve had true control of it, where I’ve not been fighting to hold it back, or feeling scared of it. I no longer feel overwhelmed by it, because it’s now steady and present.
It’s powerful, and that was just the beginning.
