NOVEL NEXT Chapter 117: Forged to Save
Rowan watched as Kess was swallowed by shadow, then buried so deep in that darkness that he could no longer see her. Something inside of him broke. He'd thought about forbidding her from doing it, but what good would that do? He simply had to trust Kess and hope for a miracle—even if Kess was that miracle.
The shadows grew overhead, then evaporated, replaced by a blinding light that was so bright Rowan could no longer look where Kess had been. The Archives storm moved. Like a lumbering giant, it crept across the city, tendrils of lightning snaking down to the surface. Where it met the Ashfall, more lightning erupted, as if the two storms fought with each other, a blinding clash of orange and blue.
The smaller storm's touch was gentle as it approached the blinding wall of light at the top of the palace, like a mother coming back for her child. No buildings were destroyed in its wake, and no shadows played in its clouds. It simply lumbered on towards Kess, finally stopping as the eye hovered over that pool of light where she stood, though Rowan could no longer see her. Niall backed up as some of that lightning whipped towards him. The storm sighed as if something heavy weighed it down, then devoured Kess, the clouds blasting everyone on the plaza backwards.
Rowan shielded his eyes with his arm, gritting his teeth against the wind as it forced him against the railing. Then a thin stream of light began to spread out from the smaller storm, encompassing the palace and the city streets beyond, a multicolored wonder of Fulminancy that stopped the Ashfall in its tracks. Cresting the top of those layered powers, a thin, nearly invisible veneer of his own Fulminancy shimmered as it clashed against the Ashfall. The two powers warred, and Rowan watched in disbelief.
His powers coaxed and pushed against the Ashfall, bolstered and supported by more traditional Fulminancy, but somehow keeping the Ashfall at bay with Kess's touch. Where his Fulminancy frayed, tendrils of Fulminancy snapped into the storm before Kess mended the shield and renewed her push.
I've spent all this time cursing myself for being different, Rowan thought as he watched his Fulminancy tangle with the storm itself. And yet, he'd never needed anything more than what he already had inside. Perhaps he'd coaxed the storm into Hillcrest with his experimentation, but it seemed he also might have saved Hillcrest by giving Kess what she needed to fight back.
Rowan grinned fiercely. She hadn't lost yet. She hadn't given up. And in that moment, Rowan saw what he'd seen in Kess so long ago when she'd come into his life, battered and broken—a gifted woman capable of so much more than she realized, who could learn about her enemy, fight against it, and ultimately, understand it. Because this Fulminancy wasn't just their combined powers fighting against the storm—it was a storm itself, clashing against that darkness with each strike, whispering to the wind and the clouds as Kess fought below.
Kess felt the storm unraveling at the edges, dissipating, and finally disappearing. With it, her power flagged, and the shield began to tear and fray at its edges. It evaporated, shrinking to where Mariel's storm still swirled. Mariel's storm disappeared altogether, and Kess blacked out.
She took a gasping breath and felt the plaza flagstones beneath her body, her clothes still damp from her wounds. A searing pain erupted from where Niall had scored a hit on her earlier. Groaning, she turned over to stare at the sky, which was strangely empty. Nothing swirled there—no clouds, no storm, no Fulminancy. Stars flashed overhead, a tapestry so beautiful Kess almost cried. Her ears rang, and sounds echoed strangely from the top of the palace, muffled and loud all at once.
She was alive. The Ashfall was gone, and yet—
Something wasn't right. A flicker of Fulminancy snapped in her veins. That's when she remembered the lockets. The storm might be gone, but Fulminancy was still here.
Her eyes locked on Rowan, who lurched towards her, eyes relieved. He didn't make it far before a bolt of Fulminancy hit him in the back, sending him sprawling to the ground. Kess struggled to sit up, looking for the source of that power.
Northmont stood over Rowan with Fulminancy crackling in his hands, a look of distaste on his face as he nudged his son with a boot.
"It was foolish of you to leave me alive, boy," he said, planting another boot into Rowan's ribcage. Rowan rolled to the side and got to his feet, shaking, his sword already out, but devoid of the same Fulminancy which had saved him from Niall. Northmont hit him with another blast, and Rowan took it stoically, though blood erupted from a wound in his shoulder, and he groaned as he held his stance.
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Kess struggled to move. She was drained and fading. She wasn't entirely certain she should be alive. Her arms were leaden as she tried to roll herself to one side, but as she put more of her weight down, they collapsed beneath her.
No, it can't end like this.
But Kess was out of ideas. She'd taken away everyone's Fulminancy to save them, and now Rowan's father would—
Rowan fell with a grunt nearby, unmoving. Kess reached out a shaking hand to his chest, fearing the worst. He was still breathing—for now.
Northmont walked closer, a smirk on his face. He crouched in front of the two of them, and Kess glared at him, though her face was sitting in what she was pretty sure was a pool of her own blood. She clutched Rowan's sleeve, a protective motion that she knew was laughable in the face of a man brimming with so much Fulminancy.
"I have to thank you, you know," Rowan's father said, looking down at them both with disgust. "You've gotten rid of the storm, rid me of my enemies—" He jerked his head over to where most of the Councilmen lay still in a heap. Kess fought back a sob. Rae, fortunately, was nearby, and still very much alive. But what could Rae do without Fulminancy? Kess had disarmed them all. "And you've given me the opportunity to finally rid myself of a thorn in my side. He surprised me once with that power of his, but never again. And you…"
He paused, looking at Kess. "You were everything we hoped you'd be. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do without something inconvenient like attachment to keep you in check." He raised his hand, his Fulminancy gathering there.
It was then that Kess felt something digging into her chest. She fumbled with cold, sticky hands for Draven's ring, still attached to the chain she'd snapped her locket from.
Don't let it make you into someone you're not, he'd said. She closed her eyes, feeling that metal in her hand, gripping Rowan with her other.
I stopped the storm, Drav. I did what I was supposed to do, and now—
Only she hadn't done what she was supposed to do. She'd promised Mariel she'd release Fulminancy. Mariel had seemed confused when Kess said it hadn't worked. Kess forced her sluggish mind to work through the possibilities. They'd destroyed each locket, hadn't they? Kess remembered those blasts of power, strong enough to make her sick and dizzy—to send shadows skittering up her arms. Except—
Her eyes fell on her ruined locket a few feet away.
No power had come from that locket. No instability. No feeling of release.
Nothing had happened.
Kess opened her eyes again, staring at the ring as Rowan's father's Fulminancy reflected off of its shining surface. Why had Draven bothered giving it to her at all? He'd never been one for keepsakes—never been one to assign emotion to material possessions. And yet he'd insisted that she take it, then been attacked by the Council not long after. He'd been trying to keep it away from them. She studied it for a moment longer as Northmont's power crackled overhead.
Then she saw it.
That same gold used to make the lockets. The same twists and curves, molded into something smaller and more compact. Draven's involvement in Forgebrand. Forgebrand's ties to goldsmiths, and their devotion to Mariel. Niall's words that night in the sitting room: I woke up one day and mine was missing.
One of the lockets had been fake.
This was the real one.
Kess prayed for more time as she scrunched her eyes shut and drew up the last of her Fulminancy, a single pathetic thread nothing like the well she'd had access to just moments ago. She didn't know where it came from, or if she could even survive using it. But if it would save Rowan—
She channeled her Fulminancy into the ring, and it left her body for the final time with a ripping sensation as it lanced through her, sharp and pure.
The ring crumbled in her fingers.
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
A soft breeze spread the ashes of the ring, dust in the wind.
Rowan's father's power snuffed out, and with a whisper like a dying breath, Fulminancy was gone.
Dizzy, sick, disoriented, and relieved, Kess thought she heard the sounds of thousands of voices rejoicing, an otherworldly quality echoing throughout the city.
As Rowan's father gaped at his own hand, Rowan came to slowly and shakily. He squeezed Kess's limp hand, then stood, his shoulders bowed, his breath coming in gasps. He pulled back his fist and clobbered his father across the jaw. Northmont went flying, knocked out cold, and Rae whooped from somewhere behind Kess.
She closed her eyes and thought she felt the gentle caress of a woman—overwhelmed with sorrow and relief—as she retreated into blackness.
To second chances, a voice whispered on the wind. Then it was gone.