Bella Powerforce's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

Two candidates stood in the crystal tent, and Bella could not choose between them. Silver had the weight for the crown. Goldie had the touch for time. But the shard measured burden, not intent. It could not tell Bella whether Goldie served her mother in secret, or served only the hours she loved. Choose blind, and she might hand the realms to Cyndi through her daughter. Bella needed to see inside them both. So she called them back to the tent at dusk. Silver came first and folded her hands. Goldie followed, jaw set, gold hair loose. The panels threw colored light across their faces. Bella held up a plain crystal cup. "Drink," Bella said. "It binds truth for the span of one question. You cannot lie while it holds." Goldie looked at the cup like it might bite. "You think I'm hers." "I think I don't know yet." Both drank. Silver first, then Goldie. Bella set the cup down and faced her niece. "Do you take orders from Cyndi?" The light in the tent held still. Goldie's throat worked. "No," she said. "She left me. I raised myself. I want the hours. Not her war." The cup did not crack. Truth. Bella breathed out. Then Goldie's face changed. Her hand went to her chest, and she staggered against a crystal panel. "Something's wrong," Goldie said. "The bind pulls. Not from me. From my mother's magic." Her eyes went far away. "She's using a thread. A trust spell. It runs from her to—" She stopped. "Heather." Silver stepped forward. "Your sister?" Bella's stomach dropped. Heather had warned her of Cyndi's plot. Heather had broken a spell to do it. Now the thread showed Bella where it ended. "Cyndi has her," Goldie said. Her voice went flat and final. "Bound at Blackspire. The fortress. I can feel the walls through the spell." Bella had spent the season hunting Cyndi's stronghold and found nothing. Her sister had hidden it well. Heather could not name it, bound as she was. But the truth cup had reached down the same thread and dragged the answer up. "You're certain," Bella said. "I bend time. I know a lock when I feel one." Goldie pressed her palm flat to the panel. "She's alive. Scared. The children aren't with her." Bella looked at the two girls in the colored light. She had come for insight into their hearts, and she had it. Goldie was not Cyndi's weapon. Goldie had just handed Bella her enemy's door. But the same drink that cleared Goldie had shown Bella a worse thing. Her youngest sister was a prisoner. Retaliation, exactly as feared. And the moment Bella moved to free Heather, Cyndi would know the fortress was found. "Silver," Bella said. "Ready the court. We ride for Blackspire tonight." Silver nodded once. Goldie straightened, gold eyes hard. "I'm coming," Goldie said. "She took my aunt. I'll open the hours myself."