The Secret World of Briar Rose(88)
“The truth is you always loved me, El,” she said, “and that’s better than anything I could have ever dreamed.”
Clouds dispersed from Elly’s eyes, leaving behind a pool of black that reflected Corin’s own face. She saw the projection of what she told herself through her sister, the nightmares that tormented her conscience with reminders of their past. But accepting the pain of losing Elly meant accepting that they had loved each other too.
Corin couldn’t punish herself anymore. Not when they needed a better future.
“Come with me,” she said. “We can’t be together in the real world, but I promise we will be in this one.”
Ants dispersed from Elly’s face, the white clouds in her eyes parting in new clarity. Color restored to her skin, deep brown like fresh summer soil. Light gleamed in the dark pools of her irises as she grasped Corin’s hand. Their fingers interlocked in a tight squeeze, and Corin vowed to never let her go, even if her sister was only a memory.
A deep rumbling echoed over their heads, followed by screeches of a familiar voice. Panic struck Corin’s chest. She climbed over the landslide and helped Elly up. When they reached the top, the smell of burning wood struck her nose. Wildfires had spread throughout the forest. Trees burned to crisps and splintered like spiderwebs. Above, the skies glowed red. The air no longer had its frigid chill, but a suffocating heat that pressed onto the island.
A wide trunk split in half and crashed, sending another wave of heat. Corin motioned for Elly to follow her. They crawled over jagged roots as thick smoke muffled their violent coughs. Corin found cracks where the ground split open, the source of the earthquake that had nearly dragged her into oblivion. As she followed the fissure that trailed the earth like open veins, they led to a wider mouth in the center of the forest, a hole that spewed light and magic.
Dread curdled inside the pit of her stomach as she recognized the smell of blood. Surely the island was playing tricks on her. The earthquake and fires weren’t signs of intruders disrupting their dreams, but manifestations of her fears. The prince was not actually here, but a vision she conjured up again, an exhibition of her most selfish desires.
If so, she could not explain the three bodies littered on the ground. The faeries were face down, limbs bent, dresses swallowed up by flames. Elly ran to their side, attempting to put out the fires. She rolled over their bodies to face up and jumped back upon the sight of glass eyes and bloodied chests.
Their stab wounds were the size of her fist. The blood gleamed fresh, the faeries killed immediately upon arrival, as if someone had no use for them anymore once they arrived.
Corin and Elly fell back as the earth shook again. A monstrous scream split the sky, one that chilled Corin’s bones. Only one person could make that sound. Elly pointed above the line of trees, where she’d spotted the flicker of a tail, heard the echo of a dragon’s screech.
Corin grabbed Elly’s hand as they ran inside the sooty heart of the island. Burnt branches scraped their arms as they bounded through crackling woods. Corin refused to tear her eyes away from the sky, hoping she would catch a flicker of scales again, some confirmation that they hadn’t lost Malicine. The farther they ran, the farther the demon crossed off the path, stomping toward a rocky cliffside at the edge of the forest.
Corin yelled Malicine’s name. They didn’t hear it. The dragon had fixed their vision onto a stone figure at the base of the cliff. Scales shone in the flames, yet below, something burned brighter. A gleaming sword, an angry man. A walking nightmare.
Ezran hadn’t changed since the last time Corin saw him. White-blond hair glinted in the fire, as if he were a blinding ball of light, too bright to stare at closely. His ivory armor was impeccably clean despite the rainfall of ash, which dissolved upon touching his glowing sword. Weaponry aside, it was his features that intensified his wrath: the tight lock of his jaw, the narrowed slivers of his eyes. He possessed an anger that had been broiling for centuries.
With each step he took, ground crumbled beneath him. White fragments scattered in the trail of his shoes, bursting in flames and ruin. Everything he touched fell apart, as if the world couldn’t piece itself together under his ire. A swing of his sword and an entire row of trees sliced open, roots split as if struck by lightning. Heat sizzled the air as Malicine breathed a tidal wave of fire in retaliation. It wasn’t enough. He needed only a simple flick of the wrist to tilt his sword and send the flames ricocheting back.
Corin could barely comprehend magic, yet even she knew from the sheen of his blade that the faeries had enchanted his weapon. As he lifted his sword, the blade absorbed the flames and glowed a deadly light. Her eyes burned so bright she didn’t realize he lunged forward until the sword sliced the dragon’s throat.
Corin knew then that Ezran was real, for Malicine’s cry was worse than anything she could have imagined.
The demon plunged down the cliff. Corin let out a scream and raced to the bottom, trying not to spew her heart out of her chest. The base of the cliff had hollowed out into a jagged cave, where old rainwater filled the space and soaked her pants as she waded through. By the time Elly caught up to her, she found Malicine reverted to their regular form. The demon’s body had strewn across rocks, their wings covered in pine needles and dirt. Corin collapsed at their side and didn’t stop shaking them until they rolled over and retched into the water.
“You need to run,” they groaned.