To Scale the Emerald Mountain (The Willowbane Saga #1)

44. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

ELLYA

W e have some time before my appointment, so Nana and I opt to jump near the Healer’s District before walking the remainder of the way.

“How are you, Elly?” she asks me.

My chest squeezes at her concern. “I’ve been awful to you, Nana. I’m sorry.”

She pats my hand gently. “Don’t apologize, my darling girl. No harm done.”

We walk in silence, taking in the shops and apothecaries with dried flowers and herbs hanging in windows. The air around us is pungent as vendors sell tinctures and all manner of ointments and salves. Not everyone can heal themselves like my family and I, our lines maintaining great power through the generations. The same reason why we are capable of the jump and reading auras of other’s with strong magical signatures, rare gifts.

“I’m glad you wanted me to come with you today,” Nana tells me. “I know you have been angry with me—and for good reason. I made many mistakes. We knew what was likely to come, and we should have made you aware. We should have told you after your vision with the emerald and Alec retrieved it. There is no excuse at all why we didn’t tell you when Locane expressed interest in you. ”

“I know. I understand why you and Alec made the choices you did. It doesn’t make it right, but I do understand,” I tell her.

“You still haven’t been able to use your Sight?”

I shake my head. “Speaking of visions,” I raise a brow at her. “Did you know I was going to stab my mate in the heart?”

Nana chuckles. “Yes, I did. I Saw it several days before it happened. I didn’t know when, only that you would do it with your beautiful new staff,” she eyes the sharp spear poking above my head. “And I knew that it would be what set you free from the dark magic still holding you, keeping you from accepting the love around you.”

“Did you also know that I can’t truly kill Alec? Even after he came back and my full memories returned, I had no knowledge that mates cannot kill each other.”

“Yes, I knew that, too. As did Alec. We decided not to tell you that bit of information when your electric currents manifested and you tried to hit him. Twice. You were quite volatile and territorial, even as a girl. We had no doubt you would have acted on your violent anger towards him often if you knew he would just come back.” Nana laughs fondly. “I hope you aren’t battling with guilt for your actions. It was required to set you both free.”

“Is it bad that I’m not?” I grimace at her. “I mean—I did at first when I thought he was truly dead, but then he came back and told me to do it again if it was what I needed. I feel like myself again,” I admit.

Nana stops walking and pulls me to the side.

“No, you are guilty of nothing. You gave Alec the outcome he desired when you two fought. You were never going to be yourself without him. As hard as he pushed for you to be your own person, he is a part of you just as much as you are him. When Locane erased those memories, he erased a part of you. We feared those memories would never come back.” Nana laughs bitterly. “Gods, Alec has been endlessly frustrated with me these months, reminding him that everything will play out just as it’s meant to. Told me he was sick of my positivity.”

“I think I told you something similar,” I laugh.

She squeezes my hand affectionately and says, “You did.” She stops walking to gaze at me with glassy eyes that make mine well.

“Today is the first time I have seen either of you look fully alive since this whole nightmare started. Don’t let anything pull you away from that, for any reason. You deserve your happiness and the love that Alec has for you. You don’t need me to tell you that he is a great man who absolutely adores you.”

Nana pulls me into her arms tight, wrapping me in her calming peace. “You have faced so much unfairness in life. You should have had your mother. Tellisha would be so proud of you.” I begin to sob as Nana pulls away to cup my cheek. “Raising you in her stead has been the greatest honor of my life. Thank you for all the joy you have brought me.”

“Thank you for always being there for me,” I hiccup and sniffle, barely able to get my words out. “I don’t know who I would be without all you taught me.”

Nana smiles through her shining eyes. “You would be the same brilliant and fierce person you are today. No one can give that to you. Nor can they take it.”

I pull her to me tightly, and she murmurs into my ear, “I am so proud of you, my darling girl.”

Laughing, I wipe my tears and pull away. “I’m not a girl anymore, Nana. ”

Her eyes crinkle happily. “No. But you will live to be hundreds of years old, and still, I will call you my darling girl.”

The office Alec directed us to doesn’t have the typical air of an office at all and is more similar to the sitting room attached to my bedchamber, with colorful blankets thrown around and drooping potted plants sweeping the floor.

Cescily’s recommendation is a woman named Mharseila, an Empath who can sense and sway emotions.. Mharseila has the trademark dark skin and hair of the Quinndohsi people, and her dark eyes shine with kindness and understanding. She has a calming aura; on first impression I can see why she’s in this profession and comes highly recommended, aside from her gifts as an Empath.

Mharseila listens to me intently as I recount to her many of the same things I told Alec late into the night, only in much greater detail, touching on areas that I’m not ready to go to with him yet. I open up to her far more than I ever would have imagined I might. By the time I’ve finished, I’m thirsty and everything is bone dry from the amount of tears shed.

Throughout my recounting and searching for words to describe all my conflicting emotions, Mharseila gives me gentle encouragement and reminders that nothing about my emotional turmoil is wrong or abnormal.

We discuss the rigidness of my spool of power connected to my Sight—how it seems cemented and unwilling to relent—to which she tells me that it’s not surprising, considering the trauma inflicted on me was based on that singular gift alone. Mharseila tells me that I am most likely subconsciously suppressing my gift in an attempt at self-preservation.

“Keep practicing. It may be difficult and uncomfortable at first, but I encourage you to keep trying while leaning on the support of those around you,” she tells me in parting words as she escorts me towards an antechamber where Nana waits patiently on a plush chair, reading a book. She smiles up at me when she sees my calm expression.

We exit out onto the street in the bright sunlight, its warmth sinking into me, charging my buzzing electricity that is excited to be released. My feet move with a new lightness—unburdened.

Nana and I discuss briefly about how my appointment went while we purchase flatbread with cheese and mushrooms from a street vendor and sit at the edge of a semi-circle fountain, nestled between two curved sets of stairs leading to a city terrace above. Water splashes merrily behind us from the mouth of the dual faced sun carved into the stone.

“May I join you and Alec this afternoon to test your new powers?” Nana asks me hopefully.

“Only if you’ll finally fight me with that.” My head nudges towards her staff, its indigo hook peaking above her head.

Nana tips her head back, her long hair glinting in the sun, and laughs. “You do have a worthy weapon now,” she says, eyeing my staff appreciatively.

“It really is stunning.”

“It took Alec years to perfect it. His smith was irate every time he scrapped one. He was ready to quit by the time they got the blend right, and then Alec kept bringing it back for alterations.” Nana laughs fondly. “The man actually cursed the king to his face when Alec brought it back, yet again, to add the jasmine embellishments.”

“What metal blend is this?” I ask, curiously, stroking the smooth gray iridescent material.

“It’s a unique blend that Alec conceptualized for your weapon. A mixture of tungsten, a stone from the petrified roots of the willowbane tree, and a ground pearl from a llylian oyster. Your weapon puts mine to shame. Fenwood is rare and expensive. That,” Nana points a manicured nail at my staff, “is one of a kind and truly priceless with all that it contains. First, having one of those stones from the tree is highly illegal. To be caught with one, even the size of a thumbnail, is punishable by immediate death on the Mother Continent. A pearl from a llylian oyster takes thousands of years to form and can only be obtained if it is gifted to you by a syren of the deep personally. The syren who offers it calls it back to herself if it passes to a hand that it was not meant for.”

I stare at her, my jaw gaping comically as I try to wrap my mind around just how much care Alec put into my weapon.

Nana laughs at my surprise.

Unclipping the staff from my back, I hold it in front of me to inspect.

The unique color shifts and shimmers in the brilliant sun, swirling with endless shades of purples, blues, creams, yellows, and everything in between. I run my hand over the cool metal, my thumb tracing the etchings of jasmine and ivy vines.

Emotion suddenly coats my throat. I knew the weapon was special and personally made for me, but I thought Alec putting the emerald into the staff was the extent of the priceless items it holds. I never would have imagined that he had a metal blend created with rare items .

All for me.

Nana is gazing at me affectionately. “I probably should have let Alec tell you that. I’m surprised he didn’t. He is very proud of himself. Gods, he was insufferable the last time we visited when he showed it to me after years of trying to perfect what he envisioned for you.”

Pursing my lips to hide my smile, I reclip the weapon behind my back when we stand to leave.

Alec communicated to Nana during my appointment the time he had in mind for us to meet at the village of ruins nearly ten miles from The Capital. We jump, heading there a few minutes early. Small dilapidated stone buildings—abandoned to wither in the dry desert heat—sit half buried in the rust-red sand.

I’m unsurprised to see Alec already here. His two large swords peek out from over his bare shoulders, his bronzed skin, dark hair, and brutal scars on full, glorious display.

“You used to wear a shirt to train,” I state, as I scan my eyes over him appreciatively.

“I prefer not to, but I always wanted to be appropriate. Then it became a necessity when you began maturing. You were not discreet.” He stretches an arm behind his back and grins arrogantly as my eyes roam over him, watching his muscles shift and strain.

“I heard a syren of the deep gifted you a pearl from a llylian oyster.” I cross my arms and raise my brows. Alec’s responding grin while he continues to stretch is infectious, and my face breaks to mirror his.

Nana’s voice cuts through the air. “Sorry, Alec. She asked me what kind of metal you used.” I turn to her quickly, having already forgotten she was here.

“How were you able to put the pearl into a gift for me without her calling it back?” I ask.

“Because you are my mate. You are an extension of me,” Alec states simply.

“Did you already have the pearl when you started designing my weapon?”

“I did not. Nor did I have a stone from the willowbane roots.” He strides towards me planting his lips on my forehead. “How was your appointment, my clove?”

“It went well,” I tell him honestly, and he breathes relief.

“That makes me very happy to hear.” He kisses me again and returns to stretching.

“I expect the stories you left out on the other rare objects you have gifted me when we get home,” I tell him.

“Of course,” he replies, and I catch a glimpse of the pride Nana mentioned in the swelling of his chest.

I unclip my staff and twirl it several times. “We already know that the emerald has increased the power of my currents. Will it affect my Sight as well?” I ask neither of them in particular.

It’s Nana who answers. “I don’t know how it would. Your gift is already more powerful than any Seer in recorded history.”

“I want you to try something,” Alec says from behind me before plucking the staff from my hands. I purse my lips, and he chuckles.

“Try to wield your currents without the staff.” I turn to him quizzically. “I am curious if you must continue to have the gem in your physical possession to use its power or if it simply lives within you now.”

Sitting in the hot sand, I dig my fingers into the scorching, gritty earth. I wince at the scalding heat on the surface but as my hands dig deeper, the grainy sands begin to cool. The soft powder around my hands is soothing; telltale warmth bubbles within me as the energy of the earth and sun combined soak into my skin, fueling my magic.

The spool of golden thread in my belly hums—a living force begging to be released. My well of power is fuller than ever. Where that spool used to shimmer softly when I would reach for it, it now vibrates and thrums in happy anticipation, an excited pet eager to be set loose.

Focusing on the crumbling sandstone straight ahead of me, I hold in my sights the broken building with empty windows like lifeless eyes.

I barely pluck my thread of power.

Magic courses through me with golden-green fire, vines of electric light sprouting and running through the ground. The glittering connection releases from me with a thunderous boom. A resonating shockwave vibrates the air and sends ripples through my chest.

The building dissolves to miniscule particles with a ring of gold-green fire, a fierce wind ruffling my hair in the aftermath.

Turning back to Nana and Alec, I expect them to match my beaming pride. I fall short when I notice Alec’s full mouth curved down deep, and Nana’s features are pinched with concern.

“What’s wrong?” I ask in alarm. Their eyes meet, glancing at each other nervously for a moment and something hot bubbles in my gut. “Don’t you fucking dare think about keeping more secrets from me!” I yell at them, pointing an accusing finger.

Alec sighs, running his hands through his hair. “I am not trying to keep secrets from you. I believe the emerald is now nothing more than that—an emerald. I believe its power solely lives within you. I have been trying to channel the power with your staff in my hand, emerald to the ground, just the way you had when its power transferred to you. I feel nothing.”

“Well, that’s good, right? That means even if someone takes it from me, or I lost it somehow, I still hold its power?” My eyes dart between the two of them as worry continues to etch the lines of their faces.

Alec walks to me and rubs a large hand soothingly down my arm. “Yes, while that is a positive aspect, it is concerning for what it means in the grand scheme of things.”

“Meaning?” I demand impatiently.

Alec sighs, rubbing his head again while he looks away from me momentarily. “If only you can wield the power of the emerald, should we not now assume that the power of all the gems will only go to you?”

“What, you think I’m some kind of ‘chosen one’ now?” I scoff, my eyes darting between the two of them.

“Given your visions, and the way you fully absorbed the power, it would seem so,” Nana answers.

“I don’t see why that’s a bad thing. We were planning on trying to find the rest anyway,” I say.

Biting my lip, I consider what the purpose of my holding all this unheard-of power could be. The new vibration and energy I’ve felt while using my amplified currents feels good . It’s invigorating and gives me a sense of life I’ve never known. The new, dominating power swims within me, turning happy circles in my gut—eager to shine. That power calls for me to delve into its depths, to open the tap and let it flow as freely as wine from a barrel.

And that’s only the power of one gem. The prospect of what still waits for me no longer feels like a crushing responsibility, but a doorway to possibilities I know now that I want .

“Right,” I drawl when Alec and Nana remain silent. I take my staff back from Alec. “Even if I don’t have to hold the gem to use its power, it will be convenient to not have to crouch down in order to channel.” Striding quickly back to my original practice spot, I choose another building.

Alec is beside me in a second, turning me to face him. “Speak to me.”

“What do you mean?”

His brows knit. “You are very calm in the face of impossible responsibility. Why?”

“I’m not wasting anymore time,” my tone is clipped when I look towards my targets with more determination.

But Alec turns me again, rougher this time, his trepidation demanding my attention. “Ellya.” His tone is stern.

I try to shake my arm free, but he holds firm.

“What?” I throw back at him.

Alec grips my arm tighter, but not uncomfortably, his touch conveying his desperation that he tries to hide. “I do not believe that this is not some facade reaction before you retreat into yourself again.”

Yanking myself free, I give him a sour scowl. “How dare you? After everything I shared with you and holding up my promise to—“

Alec interrupts, his eyes cutting into me harshly. “You are not scared or angry that choices may have been made for you that you do not get a say in?”

“Are you saying that you’re angry for being shackled to me through this?” I snarl.

Alec’s eyes turn steely, moving a step closer to look down on me. “Even if given the choice, I would always choose you. ”

We stare off for several breaths before I recall the insult I threw at him, trying to push him away. My frustration instantly melts. My face softens, and I take his hand in mine before putting it over my heart. “I would still choose you, too.”

Alec loosens a breath, squeezing my hand in his. “Promise me. Promise me that you will never try to push me away again.”

“I promise.”

Alec’s eyes shutter closed before his lips meet mine.

“I’m finished being afraid.” I press my mouth gently against his once more before I reluctantly pull away and focus on my targets.

I practice for another hour, and by the time I’m finally finished, a large portion of the former village is nothing more than an empty space.

The emerald does, indeed, work as a conduit for my power, allowing me to not have to place a hand on the ground. I’m also able to fork off the veins of shimmering electricity to hit multiple targets at once, like raging rivers branching out to deliver destruction. With my last attempt, I imploded seven buildings at one time, leaving a cloud of golden-green smoke. The smoke always clears quickly on a harsh wind smelling of cloves and jasmine.

Despite the incredible amount of power I’ve exerted, I’m not drained. In fact, I’m barely tired, only hungry. Alec packed me multiple apples with a jar of peanut butter. I fill the divots from each bite with large amounts of nut butter and repeat until I’ve eaten four, and I drain a whole water skin.

As promised, Nana gives me a fair fight. We dance around each other with swift movements, the sound of metal against nearly indestructible fenwood carries on the hot desert air as Alec happily watches us, giving me pointers occasionally—a meticulous instructor. Nana easily bests me and reminds me she has had hundreds of years to master her art before she leaves.