The Alcazar (The Cerulean Duology #2) - Amy Ewing Page 0,122
great sacrifice.”
“Greater than giving up her life?”
“Yes,” Elysse replied. “There is a way. I have seen it in the circlet—it has never been tried before but the idea is there, just waiting to be tested. The chosen one must be brave. She must be braver than any Cerulean in the history of our City.”
Wyllin swallowed. For a long moment, the two women held each other’s gaze.
“What would you have me do?” Wyllin asked.
“I would imbue you with my own strength, my own power,” Elysse said. “And you would keep your moonstone on you. You would survive the fall, though you would lose most of your blood along the way. But my magic can sustain you long enough for you to reach the ground, where your own magic will replenish. You can keep the tether strong. Keep the planet healthy. The planet is always at its strongest when a Cerulean is on it, remember? Keep us in one place, keep us safe. Could you do that, Wyllin? Are you brave enough, and willing? I know what I ask of you, my dearest friend. If I could do it myself, I would. But I cannot abandon my people, not now, not when hope is only just beginning to blossom in this City again. They need me, do you see?”
And Wyllin did see—this City was broken. To suffer the loss of its leader would be a devastating blow, one that it might not recover from.
“I see,” she said, rising and trying to find her courage. “And I accept.”
The scene dissolved and they were back below the City and Wyllin was dragging Elysse out of a stalactite, her prayer robe sticking to her skin, her breath coming out in shallow pants.
“Are you all right?” Wyllin cried. “Oh, Elysse, speak to me.”
Elysse opened her eyes, but it was not Wyllin’s face she gazed at.
“Look,” she croaked.
Wyllin turned and saw a golden fruit had blossomed among the green and pink vines surrounding the cone of moonstone. She gasped and the fruit fell to the ground with a plop.
“You must . . . eat,” Elysse said, her words faintly slurred.
“How much magic did you take from yourself?” Wyllin demanded.
Elysse’s smile was blurry. “Enough. My strength will return. I know it. Give me time.” She turned her head toward the fruit. “But you must eat.”
With trembling hands, Wyllin picked up the fruit and took a bite. A wild gasp escaped her lips—it tasted like blackberries and honey, like the sound of her green mother’s lute, like moonlight on the leaves of an apple tree. Wyllin felt herself fill with an exquisite power unlike any she had ever known and it thrilled her and terrified her in equal measure.
And then she was in the Night Gardens, standing on the glass dais, and Elysse was cutting the skin on the insides of her elbows with the ancient iron knife. Wyllin’s heart stuttered but she steeled herself. Her people needed her, even if they did not know it. She had taken her moonstone out of its setting and hidden it in the pocket of her robe so the Cerulean would not know she kept it with her. She was grateful for it, for its warmth, for its connection to the City.
“Good luck,” Elysse whispered, so that only Wyllin could hear. She turned, the blood flowing down her arms, and jumped from the dais.
33
Leo
THEY RETURNED TO THE PRESENT WITH A JOLT THAT SENT a shock through Leo, even though he hadn’t moved at all.
The courtyard was too bright after the dimness of the Night Gardens. Leo felt mixed up, so many emotions coursing through him, most of them not even his. He could still feel Wyllin inside his mind, her thoughts, her fears, her terror as her feet left the dais.
He turned to the others; Agnes looked winded, Sera dazed, but Leela seemed to be one step ahead of them all, and Leo felt like she was satisfied in some way, as if she had finally found a missing piece that completed a puzzle.
“So that is why she has lied all this time,” Leela said. Then she shook her head. “Her motives may once have been pure, but they have become twisted and rotten. She clutches her power now. She does not want to relinquish it.”
“She has been through so much,” Wyllin said, sinking to the ground as if her legs could no longer support her weight.
“So have you,” Leela pointed out.
Sera found her voice at last. “What is a planet-keeper?”