Our power is connected, but we see that power differently. And because we understand it differently, the power functions uniquely for each of us.
I see life. He sees death. Two sides of the same coin. Two halves that require the other to exist.
I imagine myself kneeling at the lake’s edge. Yet my eyes never leave him. Not even as I dip my hands into the water.
It’s not wet, as I would’ve thought. The water is warm and swirls around my fingers with a faint glow. When I take my hands from the lake, they have the same green shimmer on them.
“Little by little,” Eldas murmurs.
Does he see the same thing I do? Is this vision beyond my own mind? Is it actual, or just how I’m comprehending the shifting power that pulls between us like helpless tides trapped between two moons?
“The magic responds to you, Luella. You are its master. It is not the master of you. It exists to serve you and you are its sole commander; never think otherwise.” His hands leave my body and I bite back an inappropriate groan of frustration. My skin is flushed, hot under where he touched. “Open your eyes.”
I pry my eyes open as he walks around me. The light of the throne room is too bright. I blink several times, returning my mind to the here and now—the physical world.
“Was that real?” I ask.
“That was how your mind is attempting to comprehend your magic.”
“Did you see it too?”
He seems startled I’d probe for his experience. “I saw…something.” Eldas turns away from me, hiding the expression that accompanied those words. I take a step forward, drawn toward him as he moves away. He speaks before I can probe further. “Come to the throne.”
The gentle heat that filled my body vanishes. The redwood throne stands before me, tall and imposing. Threatening.
It’s softened only slightly by Hook’s presence. The wolf has curled up at its foot. His chin is on his paws and he looks up at me with golden eyes. Somehow, even the animal seems to expect something from me when it comes to this throne.
“You said I wouldn’t have to,” I whisper.
“This is your power,” Eldas says delicately. “You must commit to learning it. Especially if you want any hope of breaking the queen’s tie to the throne.”
“But…”
It takes only two of his wide strides for him to be before me again. Eldas slowly moves for my hand and I allow him to take it in his. Somehow, this touch is sturdy and reassuring.
“You can do this. You must.”
I shiver and force my body to move. It’s just a throne. A throne that nearly killed me the last time. Nothing to be worried about. Right. Maybe if I tell myself that enough I’ll believe it.
Eldas guides my palm to the throne, holding it just above the corner of the armrest.
“Just this, for now. Greet the throne and its might without giving yourself to it.”
I am frozen in fear.
“Are you ready?” he asks softly.
“Just one more minute.” My voice quivers slightly. He gives me the time and then some, standing patiently, holding my hand in his. When my composure is gathered, I nod and he presses my hand against the wood.
There’s a spark sizzling under my skin. Popping crackles my ears. But I stay grounded in my body. This time, I’m not pulled deep into the magical clutches of the redwood throne. I blink and breathe slowly. Hook lets out a low whine.
Eldas has unhanded me. I continue pressing my palm to the throne of my own accord. My connection with it is stable and calm this time. I can once more sense those deep roots fanning beneath me in the foundation of worlds.
“What do you feel?” he whispers. His hands are behind his back again and yet the ghost of them is still on my body.
“I feel it…stretching, reaching. I feel the earth, mighty and solid, coiled in the roots’ grasp. I feel…” Rock. A hard layer of rock that the roots can’t penetrate. Instead, they cluster just before it, around something, like a cage. I can’t tell what that “something” is. It’s a black spot in my awareness—a place where my limited senses go to die. I don’t remember it from the first time…but that whole experience is just a jumble of pain in my mind now.
“When you’re ready, close your eyes.”
I take a deep breath and do as he instructs yet again.