Page 129 of The Starlight Savior

Ice exploded from where Niana stood, bursting in the sky. Her arms were raised as Niana continued to throw her magic into the air, higher and higher until it was taller than the tree.

“Signaling the others!” Niana cried. “You try too!”

With a nod, Saige outstretched her arms to the sky. In one palm, no magic formed. The light stopped at her wrist, right before the blisters. “I-I can’t do it!”

Cradling her wounded arm, Saige whirled towards the thin mist seeping through the cracks. For days, she had wished to practice upon something real. Now that chance sat right before her.

With her uninjured hand, she urged the stars above to flow into her core. Her body thrummed to life. An ache spread across her left arm, but she ignored it. Her right hand trailed across the mountain as she urged the mist to push back. But nothing happened. The mist lurched forward, sensing the magic pulsing inside her. Both her palms sizzled, the starlight dimming into her chest.

“Niana!” Saige shouted. Something was deeply wrong. Somehow her magic was repelled by the burns, but it still pulsed in her body. Her heart beat ferociously.

Niana’s breath was heavy as she continued to shoot up ice in the sky. “Conor knows this is my signal. He’ll see it.”

“He’s back?” Saige needed to see him. Needed to confess all the thoughts and fears flooding her brain. His presence was a calming anchor, the only thing that could help her work through the anguish forming in her body.

“Should be.” Niana grunted as another shot of ice sprung in the air, slamming into the branch of a pine tree and tumbling to the ground.

Saige’s head fell in defeat. The burn in her wrists increased by the second. It was so familiar, yet now foreign. Looking down, she saw light flooding the thin skin of her arm, but it couldn’t travel much farther. Blisters swelled hot and wet on her palms. An urge to release her magic tugged at her mind, but she couldn’t. Saige stumbled forward, falling to the ground with a cry.

Niana was at her side in an instant, hands resting on her back. “What is it?” she shouted in panic.

“T-The mist.” Saige held up her hands in explanation. “I can’t release my magic! It won’t let me!”

“Your skin is burning. We need to get you back.” Niana cursed under her breath. When her hands reached for Saige’s, she flinched and fell back.

“But the mist.” Saige groaned. Her tears were hot against her cheek as she dipped her head into the cool snow. Niana tugged her towards the small creek. Using Saige’s sleeve, Niana dipped her hands in the water. It immediately soothed the burns until the water around her began to bubble and steam. Tiny bloated fish bobbed to the surface.

“Oh Gods,” Niana breathed, using her own magic to cool the water again. But the heat would not relent, fighting back against Niana’s ice. “I don’t know what to do.”

“What’s going to happen to me?” Heat and light flowed across her skin, burning every piece of her body. Trying to find an exit point.

Niana hoisted her up, being careful to place her hands only where Saige was clothed. “Don’t worry,” Niana murmured against her head, moving her in the direction of the castle. “Just focus on walking forward.”

The path back to Athalos was long, as Niana and Saige had ventured deep into the forest. Regret shook her body as a wave of energy traveled through her, sending shivers down her spine. Niana’s grip on her waist was tight as she tried to quicken her steps. The forest blurred before her, a mixture of white, green, and brown fading and blurring. Any obstacle they crossed, Niana would urge her to lift her foot, climb over, go to the side, but Saige’s body didn’t feel like her own.

It belonged to the stars.

Her grasp loosened on Saige as she suddenly fell forward. She narrowly missed landing face first on the icy floor, instead grasping the wide trunk of a tree. Her body convulsed as her limbs teetered between overwhelming pain and unbearable numbness. Her fist flew forward, hand striking the base of the tree and splitting skin. A gargled scream escaped her lips as blood dripped from her knuckles. Her hand kept flying, nails breaking the blisters open and leaving sticky residue on her palm.

The distant feeling of Niana pulling her from the tree itched at her. But her mind and body were separate. Magic had completely taken over her flesh, begging to be released.

“Saige!” A deep voice echoed in the crevices of her head. She thought it could be General Zathos’s commanding voice. But the strong hands that pulled her back, holding her down upon the snow, were not the general’s, but his son’s. The only person who could bear the burn of her power.

“What happened to her?” Conor snarled.

Niana’s response was a flurry of words, her voice moving quicker than Saige’s mind could process. “—the mist burned her—” “—from the mountain—” “—never seen—” “—can’t expel her magic—” “—do we do?”

Conor’s grip tightened on her as Niana spoke. A sob burst through Saige’s lips at the feeling of his thumb over her back. “Niana,” Conor barked, “take Sebastien and his crew to the mountainside.”

“What about her?” Niana’s cool mask fell, voice shaking. “What’s going to happen?”

“I’ve got her.” Conor’s voice was close to Saige’s ear, a cool breath against the heat of her skin. “Always.”

Chapter 47

Saige’s head lolled to the side as Conor ran through the forest. Her hands were tight around his neck, her mind aching in defeat. The mist was right there. Saige was the lone magic-wielder to fight against the mist, and she failed. A low whimper escaped her throat. Conor tugged her closer against him, wincing from the heat of her body. The air shifted from the cool autumn breeze to the stuffy heat of the castle. Echoing voices morphed and faded.

“What happened to her?” a soft voice demanded. A hand reached to touch Saige’s arm, but they shrank back too. “Her skin!”