Page 78 of Claim the Light
“Oh, but we were younger then.” The redhead gives a rueful smile. “Perhaps a little too proud for our own good. We didn’t help matters.”
“Proud.” The warrior nods. “And fearful of failing in our duty.”
“We had good reason to be afraid,” the redhead says. “But… if I could go back to that moment with what I now know, I would choose my actions more wisely.”
Now that the friction between the two women has come down a few notches, I clear my throat to catch their attention. It’s impossible to know what event they’re talking about and it sounds like it happened a long time ago, so I file it away and hope it has nothing to do with me.
What matters to me now is the information they can give me about Tyler and his power.
I’ve already deducedwhatthese women are. I just don’t know which is which.
“Okay, ladies,” I say. “Which one of you is the keeper of light magic and which is the elemental?”
The redhead turns her bright eyes on me. “I am the keeper of elemental magic,” she says, smugly tipping up her chin. “I carry the frost and the sunlight, the wind and the rain. I gather up the voices of animals and the bounty of the harvest. I safeguard the magic in the very air you breathe. I am of the fae and the good witches.”
“And you?” I ask the other woman.
The warrior quietly scoffs at the elemental keeper. “Sunlight and frost. Ha.” She draws her double-bladed axe from its scabbard across her back. “I am of shifters, angels, and, yes, it may surprise you that I’m also of humans. That is, the ones who have a trickle of magic within them. And as for what I carry, I havethis. The truest weapon of light magic.”
Now, the redhead—the keeper of elemental magic—rolls her eyes. “You mean a symbol of it. Animpressionof it. The actual weapon is lost on Earth somewhere.”
“Not lost,” the warrior snaps. “Carefully hidden. As it should be. Lest it tear civilization apart.”
“If you say so,” the elemental keeper replies.
As much as the elemental keeper intrigues me, it’s the other keeper who interests me the most. One day, when I breathe my last breath, she is the one who will collect my magic.
“Soyou’rethe light magic keeper,” I whisper.
The warrior steps closer, once again appraising me. “And you are the dragon who creeps through the cracks in our realms and brings life into dark spaces.”
“I need your help,” I say. “I need to know about the dark magic that’s being used against my friends.”
The keeper of light magic sighs. “Then you need the keeper of dark magic. We can’t help you with that.”
Fuck.
“Can’t you tell me anything?” Frustration billows within me when they respond with silence. “Well, then, how can I find him?”
The light magic keeper’s eyes widen. “How can you find a shadow?” she asks. “He is everywhere but nowhere. And I fear, now that he has somehow managed to step beyond the boundaries of his purpose, his form will have been irrevocably changed.”
My forehead creases as I eye her warily. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that the keeper of dark magic no longer exists.”
I’m startled. Suddenly frozen by what this could mean.
The elemental keeper is nodding at her counterpart, her cheeks pale. “If he were still in existence, we—that is, we keepers—would not have been able to enter his realm.”
“But if that’s the case, what will happen when creatures of dark magic perish?” I remember the warnings the silver-haired keeper of old magic gave me, the way she talked about chaos and said she kept her garden cloaked in white ash as a reminder of her purpose.
The elemental keeper edges closer to me. “I have felt the darkness that is growing in your world,” she says. “I sense the ash that fills the air and chills my soul. The dragon who wields this darkness will only grow stronger now that dark magic is no longer being tethered. With every death of a dark magic creature, his power will only increase. After all, darkness attracts darkness.”
I try to work through the mire of fear that threatens to bog me down. I came back to oblivion hoping for answers. I didn’t expect to find out that the situation is far worse than I thought.
Grasping at any possible solution, I ask, “Can a new keeper of dark magic be created?”
Both women pause for a moment, their heads tilted as if in thought.
