Elara Meadows's Arc

Chapter 5 of 7

The cold ripple across the bond had faded, but so had the bond itself. Elara stood in Miredeep's stone hall and pressed a hand to her chest. Once the pearl's warmth had answered every reach. Now it felt like a candle burned down to almost nothing. Maris had spent it to defeat the dark siren king, and the connection had never come back. She could still light the pearl. She could not draw enough to fight. When the enemy came with his forces, she would be useless. She carried Rath in her arms and walked to a shadowed chamber apart from the guards. She thought of Maris often now. He gave orders and left. He shared only what he decided she needed. But she thought of the pearl he had pressed into her palm, and the bond it had made. That bond was the source of everything behind her eyes. If it stayed weak, her power stayed weak. "I have to wake it again," she whispered to the baby. Rath watched her with his father's deep green eyes and said nothing. He showed no power now. He was only a child. Elara took the pearl from her pocket. It glowed soft and gold. She reached along the thread of the bond the way she had learned to reach for magic. She fed it a little power, then more. The pearl flared. Pain shot through her chest. The thread stretched thin and threatened to snap. She eased off, gasping. Forcing it would break the bond for good. So she tried the opposite. Not pulling from the bond, but giving to it. She held Rath close and let the warmth of him, the small heartbeat matched to the pearl, flow into the stone. She thought of Maris, of the child they had made, of the shore where all of it began. She stopped chasing power and simply held what she loved. The pearl answered. Its glow climbed from soft gold to bright. The thread in her chest grew thick and warm. Strength poured back into her, more than before, deep enough to matter. Elara laughed, tears on her face. The bond was awake again. Her magic was hers. Then the warmth turned to a chill down her spine. She had felt this once, the night Rath was born. Somewhere in the dark water, something had noticed. Strengthening the bond had sent a pulse across the sea, and the dark king was attuned to it. He had found them this way once. He had found them again. Elara clutched the pearl and the boy. Her power was full now. But she had lit a beacon straight to the enemy, and this time he was bringing an army.