Mina pulled all of the magic in the room toward her and let it flood her. She was furious and she wanted Teague to pay, but she wanted Jared to live more. She felt a guttural scream rip forth, and she forced all of the power through her and into the book. She flipped open the book to a blank page and turned it on Teague.
He was so sure it was the only way to save Jared, and she didn’t have any other choice. Jared had stopped moving on the floor.
A bright light burst forth from the book and shot straight into Teague’s heart, while another beam of light poured into Jared’s dying form on the ground. They both began to glow brighter and brighter. Teague began to laugh maniacally, his body slowly raised off the floor until he was floating in the air. Jared’s unconscious body lifted into the air and floated next to Teague’s. Mina could see the wound on Jared’s abdomen slowly start to heal itself. Teague was right. The book was healing them and not entrapping them within its pages.
She began to have hope and kept pouring every ounce of power she could into directing the book. She didn’t know what she was supposed to be doing, but obviously the Fae book did.
Jared groaned and opened his eyes. When he saw himself floating in the air and the beam of light going into his heart, he began to struggle and yell. “NOOOO, noo!”
It was only then that she questioned her choice. Teague had lied.
“Mina!” Jared cried out, and reached for her.
She dropped the book, but it never hit the floor. It continued to float and send vivid beams of light and power into the two brothers. But then something began to happen. The brothers began to be drawn closer together, and the light grew brighter and brighter. Threads of power wrapped around them, binding them, and then both Jared and Teague converged into one.
A retinue of guards rushed into the ballroom, followed by the Fates, the royal King and Queen. Queen Maeve screamed out No before falling to the ground in a faint.
A loud noise filled the room, and threads of magic lashed out in every direction, knocking anyone who was standing to the ground. It took Mina a few seconds to gather her thoughts, for she was blinded and couldn’t hear. She looked to the middle of the blast area where Jared and Teague were last. She could only see one body, and it was lying prone on the floor. The body moved and groaned, and Mina knew it was Jared.
Chapter 27
Mina ran to the body on the floor and flipped Jared over, and wrapped her arms around him.
“You’re okay. You’re alive,” she whispered, and ran her hands over his face. Jared’s eyes fluttered open, and she sat back on her heels in shock. The young man before her was Jared. It had Jared’s hair, face, body, but the eyes were wrong. They weren’t gray, they were blue—like Teague’s.
“What, no kiss?” he sneered, and pushed her hand away in disgust. He sat up and looked around the room, and began to laugh.
Queen Maeve, her dark raven hair stunning against her white dress, looked even paler from the distress of what she had just witnessed. Even King Lucian appeared shocked at what had transpired. He held onto his beautiful wife and spoke quietly to the royal guards behind him.
Teague turned to the Queen and said, “Well, hello, Mother,” and laughed when she took a step back from him in fright.
What had she done? Mina felt a hand pull against her arm and looked at a stricken Charlie. He kept pointing and dragging her away. She followed her brother to the other side of the room and couldn’t help but feel that she had just done the worst thing imaginable. She had destroyed Jared. Yes, he was now alive, but that person, that thing across the room was not her Jared.
Her feet were filled with lead, and she kept stumbling and tripping as they ran through the rubble. Charlie stopped by a still form and knelt down. Nix was still breathing! Mina grabbed his hands and felt a gentle squeeze back from Nix. His face was now almost unrecognizable from the swelling, and she could see he had almost stopped breathing.
“You are the bravest nixie ever. Thank you for choosing to not give in to your curse,” Mina whispered.
Nix could no longer speak, but he blinked back in response. A huge tear slid down his face.
Charlie handed Mina the seam ripper, and she didn’t hesitate for one second. She pressed the gem on the end, and a pop and crackle emanated from the tip. Mina quickly mimicked Ever and drew a large circle in the air. The seam ripper continued to pop and ripple as it cut through the planes, creating a door. The door wavered and then turned lucid. She could see something on the other side, and it looked like her world.
“Charlie, you go first!” she commanded, but he was nowhere near the portal. Instead, her silent brother was holding onto Nix’s arm and trying to drag him toward the opening. “Charlie, we can’t help him.”