Hard Light (NaNoWriMo15)

Chapter 30 - Warnings

Leah blinked.

If she was going to Shatter anyway, then what did it matter what Emrys did to her?

She pushed herself off her arms, sitting upright.

"Leah?" said Emrys at her sudden movement. "Did you figure something out?"

Leah watched him, silent. She was close enough to him. Close enough that neither he nor the Slayers at the edge of the room would be able to react if she hardened a shard of Light and struck. Not through the chest, but the eye? His throat? They were soft enough.

Emrys's eyebrow was raised, his expression careful. He knew what she was thinking--at the very least, he suspected. She knew it. "Leah?"

If she killed Emrys here and now, she'd save Kieran. It wouldn't matter if she Shattered--she was going to anyway. When she did, she'd be different. Slayers weren't Radiant. Asriel had said as much. Kieran had said that the Shattered's minds were fractured--there was no way the process that created those monsters would leave her stable.

Leah curled her fingers, feeling the Light in her heart ready, sensing her coming command. It would be so easy. One movement, and Emrys would be bleeding out on the floor.

One movement, and she could save Kieran.

Leah hardened a shard to her hand. It was cold. Smooth. Deadly.

And she couldn't do it.

She tossed the shard on the desk. Coward. "Nothing. Thought I felt something. Communing with the orb or whatever it was you were talking about before."

Emrys frowned. "Perhaps the orb grows stronger at certain times of the day." He glanced at the sun. "Though it's past its peak, which is strange. Perhaps..."

Emrys trailed on, but Leah's mind was racing. She'd been so stuck on Asriel's suggestion, but maybe there was another way. Even if she couldn't end it, maybe there was something she could do to sabotage the ritual. Emrys had mentioned the set-up being important, hadn't he? Maybe it would have been dangerous for anyone else, but she had the Preserver mark. Worst case scenario, she Shattered, turned into a Slayer and hoped her Teridian blood still counted until she finished.

She didn't have anything to lose, but Kieran--the other Lightless--they did.

As the sun began to set, Emrys hustled the final few Radiants, Leah included, out of the research lab. It wasn't until Leah was back in her Teridian clothes that she let herself relax, a feeling that almost instantly dissolved as she felt Emrys approach from behind.

Even Illiya, who had assigned herself as Leah's personal escort, seemed to tense. "Did you need something else, Emrys?"

Emrys sighed. "A moment alone with Leah, if you please, Illiya."

Illiya glanced at Leah like she was looking for confirmation. Leah just kept pulling on her boots. "We were going to head to the dining hall. I think being, um, separate from Kieran has hit her a little hard. Making sure she's eating and all--"

"I understand that," said Emrys. "I won't be long."

"No thanks," said Leah, straightening and walking straight out the door, leaving Emrys behind. She didn't have the energy left to play those games.

Dinner passed by in a blur. Much to Illiya's delight, Leah cleaned her plate, even if she still wasn't paying much attention to the conversation. It wasn't long before she'd excused herself back to her rooms.

There, she pulled out her notebook and started writing, taking extra care to mask her usually messy handwriting with clean, straight letters.

'Shade told me of this place. If anyone is still here, there is a ritual in the lower levels of the League designed to 'cure' the Lightless, but it is far from a cure. I believe its true purpose is to control and influence the minds of those with Radiant blood. Its victims can be identified by their white hair. Do not trust them. Emrys may control them.