Celeste's life is far from the enchanting fairy tale one might expect from a princess. Her father, a ruthless and self-absorbed king, leaves a trail of death and destruction in his wake. To seal alliances and maintain his power, he arranges for Cele...
Next to the explanation of the spell, I slowly remove the necklace with the black stone from my neck and grab the list of names. With a deep sigh, I let my eyes wander over the three items and think about how to start this story.
'We started this because father found a way to make my night rider magic fade to the point where I would become human. That would mean no new generation of night riders would emerge, so there had to be a way to keep my magic alive but also make me strong enough to face father alone. The spell I'm going to do tomorrow was created by Viko, Nora, and Tristan from the Narvik spells that Yin and Yang used to connect themselves to the lifelines. The killing of the people on that list, thanks to the stone and the spell on my dagger, ensured that a portion of their magic is stored in that stone on the chain and another portion in my lifelines. Stealing people's magic is very dangerous because magic is connected to your lifelines and turns into black magic as soon as you take it over. Black magic in your lifelines is like a fire: it starts very small that you don't notice it until it gets more and more nourishment and spreads around it.' His eyes glance over my black veins as I pull up the sleeve of my evening coat.
'Alisha told me what that does to you,' he says softly.
'Our magic is powered by the lifelines, which, in turn, are powered by the strength in nature. Some say that the lines are also powered by the gods, but no one knows for sure if that's true or not. Yin and Yang thought that if you had enough magic, you could connect yourself to more lifelines since you were powerful enough to handle it. That turned out to be nonsense. The pure magic of the lifelines still turned into black magic and consumed them. The spell I'm going to do tomorrow reverses that.'
I place my hand on the crumpled paper and look at it in silence for a moment. This spell always seemed so far away from me, but now that I'm telling this story, I realize how real it is that I will do this tomorrow.
'With all this stolen magic, I am now strong enough to perform the Narvik spell. The principle of the spell is that I will offer my magic to the lifelines and nature on Blood Mountain, the point where the lifelines intersect and the place where the night riders were created. That offering should, if all goes well, be so much magic at once that nature or gods, whatever you believe, will turn it into white magic and send it back to me."
Elien's eyebrows have dropped, and his black eyes speak with suspicion.
'What do you mean by offering?' he asks as his hand slowly goes to the piece of paper.
I would prefer to lie and spare him the same fear that Novak, Alisha, and I have felt for months. Honestly, that's exactly what I've been trying to do since he started traveling with us, and it was successful if we weren't sitting here now.
'Offering, giving the magic,' I make another feeble attempt before Elien snatches the paper from the table and scans his eyes over the curly letters. It doesn't take a minute before his head shoots up, and he looks at me in amazement and anger.
'Tomorrow you're going to cut your wrists and let yourself bleed to death on a stone in the hope that it works?! That's not just giving your magic, that's giving your life,' he says loudly in disbelief.
I can only nod my head very slowly, not knowing what to say.
'What are the chances that this will work?' Elien snaps at me.
'We don't know,' I answer honestly. With an open mouth, a red face, and eyes full of anger, he looks at me for what feels like minutes.
'All of this, those hundred deaths, your pain, and three years of suffering could be for nothing? You could just be dead tomorrow, in fact, you are dead tomorrow. You're leaving me alone; what would have happened if I were still stuck in the castle? Would you have just left me there?' I want to grab Elien's hand again, but he pulls it away so quickly that I don't even get the chance.
I swallow and let out a deep sigh.
'No, I wouldn't have left you. There was a plan in case the spell didn't work, and you were still there. Novak and Alisha would have come to get you. The same goes for if the spell doesn't work tomorrow; Alisha and Novak will take care of you,' I try to improve the situation.
Elien's anger seems to subside a bit, but the fear blossoms even more.
'Can't you just do another spell that has been done before and that you know works?' he asks in despair. I shake my head.
'I have no choice anymore. The black magic in my body is consuming me.' Elien's face drops further to the point that he lets the paper slide from his hand. It hovers in the air before landing in the middle of the table.
'What's the plan if everything works out tomorrow?' he asks softly, his eyes again focused on the table.
'Then we go to the castle to kill Christiaan and Father.'
'Will you become queen then?' I shake my head.
'No, after everything, I don't want that crown. It means that you have the choice to claim the crown if you want.' He immediately shakes his head too.
'No, I've been locked up there long enough.' A small smile plays on my lips, and I nod.
'Who gets it then, the crown?' That question gives me the opening to explain our plan with Diana. A story where he remains silent the entire time, and his despair seems to slowly subside.
'Okay,' is his final reaction. A response that carries a much heavier burden than just the story about Diana.
'Do you have any ideas on how you want to kill Christiaan?' he asks, surprising me. I nod, and a small grin plays on my lips.
'Can I deliver the final blow? For myself, for all the tortures and experiments, but also for you and everything I couldn't help you with.' I look at him in amazement at the proposal I never expected to hear from him.
In all those months, I've had time to plan exactly what I want to do with Christiaan. It's an image to which I've clung more often than I'd like to admit. You would say that it's a murder that I want to carry out myself, but that's not entirely true. Christiaan has a debt to settle with me that he will pay one way or another that day, but I don't need the final blow for that. In my plan, it was never about how he breathes his last breath; I've heard that sound often enough.
'Okay,' I agree. Elien nods his head, then looks me straight in the eyes.
'Make sure tomorrow succeeds,' he demands.
'I will.'
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
