Dark Summer (Book I, Witchling Series)

Chapter Nineteen

Rania gazed down at the person who now determined the fates of both her sons. The stars were bright, the evening cool. The world didn't quite feel real. She couldn't shake off the shock of all that happened the past hour or how she'd watched it all unfold without being able to stop it.

She wasn't used to the idea of stepping aside to let her sons wrestle with the demons that tormented her for so long. Overnight, everything had changed. She felt cold. So cold. The yeti drew near her, but his warmth did nothing to thaw the ice in her body.

"How could you agree to do this, Sam?" she whispered. Instinctively wanting to help Summer, she knelt and lifted the T-shirt Beck used to stop the bleeding in the girl's neck. Rania lifted it, and the blood began flowing again. She replaced it and applied pressure.

Sam left her mind and spoke out loud in the soft, guttural language of the forest people. "He gave me no choice."

"You could've refused him. You could've used your magick to reclaim the amulet." She glared up at him, tears blurring her vision. "You could've taken my soul instead of his!"

"I've taken no soul yet," Sam reminded her. "Beck is the Master of Light. His choice carries weight. I must respect it. You must, too."

On some level, she knew this. She was no longer the Mistress of Dark. She no longer had a say in the ways of the balance that Sam and his people were charged with maintaining. She was the reason Beck did what he did. If not for the Dark she'd created during the years when there was no Mistress of Light, her sons would not be here tonight.

"You don't know that, Rania," Sam said with kindness she didn't deserve. "But you always knew you would not be the one to fix the gathering Dark. You cannot. Only a Master of Light can bring forth more Light and only a Master of Dark can stop the Darkness from growing."

She wiped her tears, meeting his dark eyes. The yeti's amber fur was dusted by starlight, making him glow. Sam was normally difficult to read. This night, emotions kept her from even guessing what was on his mind. Rania swallowed hard.

"I know I have no right to ask you. I know you have no obligation to tell me. I'm begging you, Sam." She spoke with forced calm. "What is it you're hiding? What made you agree to this insane deal with Beck?"

The yeti reached out to her, squeezing her shoulder to comfort her. His features softened.

"Please tell me. Please."

His gaze went to the cliff. He appeared to be listening to something. Rania assessed that he was talking to his fellow yetis.

"Beck was here when you arrived," he said.

She waited. Sam looked at her again.

"The Master of Light was here. The elements brought him."

"I don't know anything about the Light, Sam."

"Rania," he started then stopped. She saw the indecision on his face before he continued. "I have lived over a thousand years. Magick and the elements are not things meant to be fully understood, even by my kind. We listen. We watch. We balance. But we do not command the elements."

She listened, struggling to absorb what meaning he would give her.

"They brought Beck here tonight."

"Are you saying...?" She frowned. "Are you saying you made a mistake throwing her off the cliff?"

"No. That I had to do," he said with both firmness and sorrow. "The girl who went over the cliff was not strong enough to balance Decker. But the elements brought the Master of Light to the side of a girl caught between Light and Dark."