ICE

166. Luminescent Flowers

AN ENTIRE WEEK passed and the threat that Vyses posed grew exponentially. It crawled across the horizon line, ever slowly creeping closer like a cloud of death. Caelan checked his maps repeatedly throughout the day — each time reporting the numbers to Ravenna. Vyses managed to average about five hundred ice soldier clones a day.

The total amount of his ice soldier army now was intimidating, especially coupled with the royal Imperial guards who were forced to answer his every whim.

Neither Ravenna nor Caelan left the study.

Each day was spent with training, sparring, and searching for that blasted copy of the ancient spellbook.

"Tylat would definitely kill us if he saw what we were doing to his study," Caelan remarked. He was seated atop a nearby table, surrounded by mountains of books. Three glowing books hovered in the air surrounding him and slowly flipped their pages.

"No doubt about it," Ravenna answered, her tone somewhat glum. She carefully skimmed through the pages of her own book. "I mean, I never met the guy. But his assistant did try to kill me."

Caelan picked up on the hints of sadness embedded within her tone. He lifted his gaze to study her face, his brow furrowed. "What is wrong with you?" he asked her.

A sour expression marred her facial features. "There is nothing wrong with me," she told him. She stared intently at her fingers, which clasped the edges of the book in her hands tightly.

He arched his eyebrow at her.

She avoided his knowing gaze. A mixture of frustration and disappointment had brewed within Ravenna. The more that they practiced and sparred together, the more that she found it a bit harder to control her magic — almost as if she'd taken several steps backwards. It wasn't quite as hard as it had been initially, when she was first taught by Caelan. But she had lost some major progress without the talisman. It felt like she was relearning a basic skill that should be easy for her.

Caelan's stare seemed to intensify.

A heavy sigh escaped her. "It is just so frustrating," she told him with a small pout. She slid down to the floor, leaning back against a row of bookshelves. "I can't even create a basic dagger."

Caelan watched her, his eyes soft. "I know," he told her. "That talisman did a lot of the heavy work for you, as it controlled your emotions. Your emotions are the key to controlling your powers."

She grimaced. "Well that would explain why I constantly lost my temper," she muttered under her breath.

"It did not only control your anger," he said. "Any powerful negative emotion. Anger. Depression. Anxiety. It used those to manipulate your powers for you, as well as guide your own internal choices. You probably would not have reacted as you did or make the same choices without the talisman."

Ravenna slumped down a little further. Her arms crossed over her chest. All the mood swings, the murderous anger that she felt. The constant sadness and nauseating anxiety. It was all fueled by the talisman. Caelan was right. That also explained the huge release of emotions and the disappearance of the heaviness from her shoulders after the talisman was destroyed. Now that she thought about it, she genuinely hadn't experienced much anxiety since that night either.

She lifted a glowing hand and watched the tendrils of ice that danced around her fingertips. "I just feel like we don't have much time."

"We don't," Caelan admitted, his tone matter-of-fact.

She scowled at him. "Thank you. That's very encouraging."

"I may have been born in the shape of a human," he told her, his expression amused. "But I definitely do not sugar coat things like a human does. I simply tell you as I see it."

"I can tell," she muttered under her breath. She paused for a moment, frowning slightly. "If you were born a human, then how did you get your abilities to use magic?"

Caelan arched an eyebrow at her. "I said I was born in the shape of a human. Not that I am one."

Her frown deepened. "Care to elaborate?"

He chuckled. "I am but what you are now," he said, gesturing toward her. "The only difference is that I was born with magic while you were gifted your abilities later on. Some call us demons. Others call us wizards. We are simply our own kind. Human in shape, but monstrous inside."

"But you eat all the time," she said, confusion ringing clear within her tone. "Like a human does."

He blinked at her. "I like food."

"I thought you were a dragon," she told him. She leaned back further, ignoring the hard leather books that pressed into her spine. "You even alluded to it way back when I first met you."

"I prefer to be," he answered simply. "And at the time, I was very much a dragon. I had been in that form for quite a while. And when I met you, you only knew me from the rumors that you heard about a dragon. I did not feel that it was necessary to tell you otherwise."

"You are telling me now," she pointed out.

"I trust you," he said simply.

The words triggered a strange response from Ravenna's heart. It started to beat a little faster within her chest, like a royal drummer performing a lively tune at a feast. Warmth spread across her cheeks. "I see," she muttered and turned her attention away from him. She refocused her gaze on the massive tapestry that hung from the wall across from her. It depicted a beautiful scene: a meadow with bright, luminescent flowers, a flowing stream of turquoise water, and a horizon line filled with mountains. It reminded Ravenna of the scenery that she saw through the glass wall within the royal bedchambers.

In the right hand corner of this scene, however, Ravenna spotted a flower that somewhat stood out from the rest. It was a subtle difference and easily overlooked. The flower's petals still featured the luminescent coloring that the others did, but the very center of the flower had an added design, stitched in very faint thread.

An added design that looked similar to a book.

"Caelan," Ravenna said, her voice sounding distant to her own ears. She lifted her finger and pointed at the tapestry. "Do you see that?"

His head whipped around, gaze traveling upward to look at the tapestry. It took him a moment to spot the particular flower that she pointed to. He squinted. Then his eyes widened and a giant grin appeared on his face.

"Ravenna," he breathed. "You found the spellbook!"

~

hey friends! 

I hope that you are having an amazing week so far! ❤ Thank you so much for taking the time to read this chapter! I seriously appreciate you all so much ❤ I can't put into words just how much you mean to me!! 

Please stay safe, healthy, and happy! I hope you have an awesome weekend!!

ash ❤