Heir of Stardust and Secrets (Mythic Spark #1)

16. A New Normal

Chapter 16

A New Normal

T he following day, I ventured to the study in hopes of finding the king. The doors stood open in an unspoken invitation. His steady voice filled the room as I crossed the threshold. Stepping further in, I halted. He was sitting at his ornate desk, addressing a stranger. I was already halfway through pivoting on my heel in retreat when the king’s eyes caught mine, stopping me with a raised brow in silent question.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude,” I said and continued back toward the hall.

“No. Stay, we were just finishing up.”

The stranger bowed deeply and left the room, closing the doors behind him and leaving me alone with the king.

“Truly, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

He waved away my comment as he stood and walked toward the sitting area. “Would you like a tea?”

I offered him a small smile of gratitude and joined him. Settling into the chair next to his, I scooped up the warm cup from the shared side table between us and took a sip before my gaze wandered past him and I got lost in my thoughts .

“Nyleeria?” The king’s voice pulled me back from the deep thoughts I hadn’t realized I’d been lost in.

“Sorry, what?” I asked, shaking away the daze.

“Where did you just go to?”

The teacup now resting back on its saucer, my eyes fell downward, resting upon my tightly clasped hands. I hadn’t a clue where to begin. The words felt heavy on my tongue, and I had to swallow them several times. It seemed guilt and shame had a firm grip on my ability to articulate what I’d come to say.

He put his tea down, attention now fully on me. “What is it?”

“I…” Choking down the rest of the sentence, I steeled myself and tried again. “That day you told me about why I’m here, about the spark, when you recited that passage about the key ?” I paused, dragging my gaze up to see if he understood.

“Yes, I know it well. It was the only reason I had for believing in your existence. I could never forget.”

I inwardly pulled away from the weight of those words but trudged forward anyway. “After you finished reciting it, there was a tingling in my right hand, and when I went to put my fingers together, a tiny spark formed between them,” I said, mimicking the movement.

His eyes widened. “What did it feel like?”

“Nothing, really, a more intense vibration perhaps, or static at most.” My words felt clumsy. I wasn’t entirely sure how to describe it.

“Did it have any other properties?”

I thought back. “No. It was small, and white—no more than a fleeting ember.”

Silence fell between us as we slid into our thoughts.

“I’ve tried to do it again,” I added into the quiet, “but nothing happens.”

My nerves were on edge, and every agonizing second of his silence had me crawling with anxiety. I was on the verge of breaking it myself, unable to cope, but he beat me to it .

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Damn. I was hoping he’d say anything but that. How could I tell him I didn’t trust him, or anyone, for that matter? He deserved better for all the kindness he’d shown me. He deserved the truth.

I swallowed. “When it happened, I considered it. Those words, the spark, that instant…” I closed my eyes for a moment, allowing myself to feel it again before I continued, “It’s like my whole life there have been moving pieces that never stopped. Never fit. Like hundreds of rings perpetually moving. I know they belong somewhere, but they just keep spinning. When it happened, it felt like one of those pieces stopped spinning and clicked into place. Like it unlocked a part of my soul. It felt deeply personal, and…” I trailed off, not knowing how to explain it further. If there were words that could explain it, I couldn’t find them, although my mind continued to try.

Thankfully, the king saved me from conjuring a clearer explanation. “I understand, Nyleeria.”

“I’m sorry if my silence played any part in things going wrong.”

He gave me a sly grin. “I think wrong is the understatement of the century.” He chuckled before going serious again. “Is that why you’re telling me this, because you think what happened was your fault?”

I didn’t just think it was my fault, I knew it was. I didn’t want to say it aloud, but that didn’t matter; the king was good at reading people, or maybe it was just me. I hadn’t seen him with others enough to know which.

“Guilt is a crippling emotion, Nyleeria.” I knew he was speaking from experience. “Allow me to assuage it for you. I don’t think there was anything we could have done to prevent what happened. It was a lesson learned the hard way, and one I don’t plan on repeating.”

“But I want to try again,” I said.

The muscles in his jaw feathered as he sat back in his chair, assessing. “I don’t think you’d survive that again, not so soon after your recovery.”

“I know.” I’d had the same thought over and over. It wasn’t lost on me that I was more fragile than when I’d attempted it the first time. I tensed, bracing myself. “I have to try. We lost a month. Another month that Cassy and Leighton have been missing, and another month that your people aren’t safe. There must be a way.”

Any day without progress was a day too much. If the king was right and I was the key to ending this cold war, and if the fae did have the twins, then I’d have to master this spark to see them alive again—if they were alive at all. I pushed that thought down, not giving it the oxygen it craved to grow and take root.

“My people and I have waited centuries, another month is nothing in the grand scheme,” he said.

“But it is for Cassy and Leighton.” The words betrayed a desperation I hadn’t realized I harbored so viscerally. I took a moment to compose myself. “Tell me you’re closer to finding them, that you’ve searched for a way to mitigate the risks of me using magic.”

Eyes softening, he said, “Let’s focus on one thing at a time. In terms of the spark, yes, we’ve done research and have some ideas.”

“And the twins?” I asked, my heart swelling in anticipation and fear.

“You have to have faith, Nyleeria.”

“So, you haven’t found them.”

The heartbreaking empathy in his features was his only answer, and I sagged under the silence.

“Have you even tried?”

Slowly, he leaned forward in his chair and reached for me, taking my hands in his as he looked me in the eyes. “Nyleeria, I promise you on everything I hold dear in this world, that Cassy and Leighton’s well-being is of the utmost importance to me, as is yours.”

Taking in a deep breath, I squeezed his hands back in recognition of his promise and felt grateful to have him in my corner.

A month passed, and the king still hadn’t allowed me to work a single spell; instead, we’d merely continued with exercises in connection and theory.

I got into the rhythm of breakfast, training sessions, forest time, reading, dinner, bed, and preparing for what was to come—whatever that might be.

My strength slowly came back, and I was finally able to start running in the woods and train without weapons. It was in that familiar territory that I lost count of the number of times a pang for Eithan stopped me dead in my tracks—but waxing nostalgic wasn’t going to change anything. I chided myself for lingering in those memories until they stopped holding power over me. I was half relieved, half heartbroken when those thoughts became fleeting.

Learning about the fae proved challenging as the veil had wiped any written word from our lands, making it nearly impossible to effectively research their realm. The king offered information here and there, but it wasn’t comprehensive, and a lot of it was hearsay. I pulled out novels to learn about the folklore, but there was no way of knowing which details were spurred by my imagination, and which were inspired by the fae themselves.

Over the weeks, I’d allowed myself to soak in the exquisite detailing around me as I walked the halls to the octagonal room, and today was no different. It would take lifetimes to commit the ornate décor to memory—even then, I’m not sure I could remember it all as some paintings and tapestries transformed as the lighting changed throughout the day.

I entered the training room to find Tarrin and Nevander waiting for me with the king. They’d never joined us before, and I looked to the king, questioning.

“Tarrin and Nevander will be part of your training moving forward,” he answered.

I raised a brow.

“I think you’re ready for spellcraft,” the king said, sounding trepidatious.

I offered him a tentative smile, immediately feeling the exact same way. I’d advocated for this moment every day, but now that it was finally here, my body suddenly remembered what was at stake, forcing me to wipe my palms dry.

The king’s eyes traveled to the middle of the room, and I followed his gaze, noting a massive crystalline structure. I’d been too focused on the three of them when I entered that I’d missed it.

Stepping up to the crystal, I could appreciate how large it was. Its tip came to just below my collarbone, and I was fairly certain it was too thick for me to wrap my arms around it. Most notably, though, I could feel a fervent energy radiating from it like the buzzing of bees.

I turned to the king and braced myself for what came next.