Withering Rose (Once Upon A Curse Book 2) (26 page)

"And what are we going to do with her?" I
ask, changing the subject. I don’t want to think about my father,
not now, not when it's all I've been focusing on for days.

Cole doesn’t need me to clarify at all. Just
like my father occupies all of my spare thoughts, the faerie
occupies all of his. "I don't know," he murmurs quietly.

"I've been thinking," I tell him, twisting
ever so slightly so I can stare up at his face. My hands stop
caressing his chest and travel up to his cheek instead. Those
churning gray eyes find mine immediately. "I don't think moving her
will be a problem, because we'd be doing it to save her. The reason
Asher and Jade were able to get closer than anyone else, were able
to get past the wall and into the castle, I think, was because
their intentions were to save me, not to harm her. Everyone else
who ever came from the base was coming here to destroy the magic,
to destroy her, and that's why her magic killed them. But we're
moving her to protect her."

He smiles softly, but I can tell by the
storm still brewing in his gaze that he's already figured that out.
My words provide no comfort. His thoughts are further into the
future, focused on the riddle we still haven't been able to
solve—how to release his people's magic, how to wake her up and
restore them.

I don't let my thoughts linger too long on
that question.

My gut urges me to change the subject.

"Cole?"

"Yeah?"

I want to tell him I love him.

I do.

And I've known it for a while. But in these
past few days, every time I try to tell him, the words die on my
tongue. My throat closes, locking them away, because when they rise
to my lips, they sound too much like goodbye. Too much like a
concession instead of a promise.

I don't know why.

Or maybe I do. But I'm just not ready to
admit it.

"Thank you," I whisper instead.

"You don't have to—"

But I place my finger over his lips,
stopping him.

He nips at me.

And I realize I've inadvertently awoken my
beast.

"Cole!" I shriek, but it's too late. He's
already rolled over, pinning me beneath him, weight heavy enough to
keep me from moving, but I know it takes all of his strength to not
crush me. His muscles are flexed, holding him over me, and with a
low growl, he buries his face in my neck, kissing me until I'm
giggling and laughing and filling the air around with happiness
instead of sorrow. And when his kisses grow deeper, the mood shifts
again, and I know the time for talking is over.

Hours later, the sun blinds me painfully. I
roll away, turning in Cole's arms, grumbling. I'm not ready for the
harsh light of day, not ready to face a new dawn. But even in my
sleepy mind, a thought stops me.

Haven’t those curtains been closed for days?
Haven't—

Thunder silences my question.

The ground beneath us trembles.

An earthquake.

That same nightmare all over again.

"Cole!" I scream, shaking him awake.

For a moment the earth stills. And then
again, my world shudders. And I realize, it's not another
earthquake.

It's the bombs.

Two days too soon.

We're both awake in an instant, leaping from the
warmth of the bed into the cool morning air, shocking any lingering
sluggishness away.

The ground shifts.

I lose my footing, slipping sideways,
stumbling on uneasy feet until Cole's hands wrap around my waist,
steadying me. I latch on to him as though he's my anchor in this
storm.

"My father!" I shriek, trying to be heard
over the deafening roar of rock splitting apart.

"Go," Cole orders. "I'll get your father.
I'll get the faerie. Just start running beyond the wall, start
running toward the mountains, and we'll catch up to you."

"No!" I shout, shaking my head. I've spent
my life running. I need to help. I need to do something. And then I
get an idea. "I think I can buy us some time. Go. I'll meet you
outside the front gate as soon as I can."

"Omorose—"

But I cut him off with a kiss.

I know he won’t want me in harm's way, but I
can't just run. I can't just save myself and abandon him. I have
magic. I have power. I have strength. And I can fight to keep us
both alive. There's no way Cole will be able to move fast enough to
get my father and the faerie into sleds, no way he can pull them
both to safety before the mountain crumbles. We need more time. And
I think I know how to get it.

Before he can mutter a protest, I tear our
lips apart and sprint from his room. My father's life is in Cole's
hands now, and I know there is no safer place for it to be,
especially if I can keep the city afloat for just a little while
longer.

The magic surges to my fingertips before I'm
even outside. My mind is already diving deep, connected to the soil
and rock, sinking down the side of that cliff, searching for any
plants and any roots I can utilize. While my feet continue to pound
against stone, leading themselves forward, my thoughts are on the
mountain.

Grow
.

Right now, that simple command is the only
thing that matters.

Grow
.

Every plant within the range of my power
listens. Roots elongate, wrapping around stone, across cracks, over
and under and through in an intricate underground web. Ivy drops
over the city wall, twisting and turning, expanding over the cliff
face, crisscrossing into a net.

Another blast explodes.

The ground trembles.

But it steadies. It holds.

Wrapped up in the power, I feel the vines
expand and contract, fighting the pressure of the boulders that
want to break free, but the net holds.

For now.

I blink away the magic, using my eyes to
see, and realize I'm standing at the edge of the earth. Fear
freezes me, clenching all my muscles, shocking my system. Sky
stretches endlessly before me, and the ground is far, far below,
clouded by a morning haze. My cloak whips with the ferocious
breeze, flapping loudly. Coarse rocks cut into my palms, and I
realize I'm on the city wall, gripping the stones to keep my
balance as I stand over the edge of the cliff.

When the magic took control, I let my feet
lead me.

Why did they have to lead me here?

Another detonation shakes the ground.
Hundreds of feet below, a bulbous orange glow angrily stretches
into the air. Smoky tendrils stretch for me, reaching up to the
vantage point where I stand, trying to pull me under.

An electric fire pulses up my chest, a
scream I can't unleash, and my heartbeat runs rapid. My lips begin
to quiver. My hands too. Every single nerve in my body wants to
run, to hide, to cower in terror.

I've never been afraid of heights.

But then again, until this moment, I've
never been faced with the very real possibility of plunging to my
death.

Be brave
.

The thought pushes through the fear.

My mother's voice. The exact thing I needed
to hear.

With a deep breath, I charge headfirst back
into my magic, wrapping it around me and shrugging off the stifling
alarm. My focus returns to the ivy and to the roots, stretched so
far they're about to snap.

I grow more.

I am the earth.

I am nature.

Every time the mountain starts to slip away,
dropping one inch, then another, I hold tighter to my power, fusing
the vines through the cracks, holding every bit of rock that tries
to drop away. I'm stronger than the bombs. I keep together what
they break apart. For a moment, I truly feel invincible.

And then heat burns, flaring over my
senses.

I scream, crying out as pain tears through
me.

My hold on the magic vanishes as fire scalds
my skin, yanking me back to reality. I rub at my arms, trying to
push the flames away, but when I blink, the sky above me is blue.
The stone beneath me is cold. The hurt is gone.

My heart sinks.

I rise from my spot on the floor and peer
over the edge.

The cliff has become a wall of fire. All the
plants I've grown are little more than tinder, feeding the flames.
Already, the ground shifts the slightest bit more.

But it's enough.

I don’t need my magic to know the vines are
burning away, the ivy is shriveling, the roots are tearing
apart.

The mountain is going to fall.

And it's going to take me with it.

"Omorose!" Cole shouts.

He's far away, running across the city wall.
Before I can blink, he shifts into the black bear, charging toward
me on all fours.

I try to run to him.

But the earth shakes and I fall, tripping
over my own feet.

When I slam against stone, a different power
takes hold. Lava courses beneath my skin, lava followed by glaciers
that bury the heat, replacing it with a deep freeze. My body seizes
as the mix of fire and ice rakes through me. The world disappears
for a moment as I fall helplessly into the dark core of my soul
where the rose waits. Petals peel away, more than I've ever lost
before. And for the first time, the bud looks frail and fragile.
The bloom is no longer bright red with life, but a deeper maroon,
rotting at the edges. My magic is taking payment. The curse is
shredding time away, ripping it forcefully from me. And there is
absolutely nothing I can do.

A wet nose rubs my forehead, rousing me.

He growls softly, a sound of worry and
concern.

"Cole?" I murmur, reaching blindly.

My fingers brush against velvet fur and
latch on as he sinks down next to me. Every ounce of strength I
have goes into lifting my aching body from the stone and rolling
onto Cole's back, hugging my arms around his neck.

And then we run.

Cole's muscles coil and flex beneath me as
he carries us both to safety. Huddled against his warmth, I
gradually return to myself. The curse falls away. The magic falls
away. I breathe in the woodsy, wild scent of Cole, knowing
everything will be okay because I'm with him, we're together, so
nothing can go wrong. Then my eyes fall open, landing on the one
thing I never thought I would see.

The faerie woman.

In the middle of the main street.

Discarded.

"Cole!" I shout, gripping tighter.

But he doesn’t respond, doesn’t slow his
movements or growl or do anything.

"Cole!" I try again, thinking he didn’t
hear. "We have to get her. We have to save her. We don't know what
will happen."

But then he roars.

A deep, torn sound.

And I know.

He left her to come find me. He knew exactly
what would happen. He knew exactly what he was giving up.

I turn, peering over my shoulder.

The city has started to vanish. The ground
slopes down behind us, cracking and fissuring, as dust begins to
fill the air. A snap shatters the sky, and my eyes flick to the
castle. The stones have broken in half. I get the briefest flicker
of gold as the ballroom twists into view. Sunlight glimmers off the
chandeliers, and then the building sinks, slipping farther and
farther back, dropping away. Just like that, the only home I've
known in the past ten years disappears, falling out of sight, soon
to be a pile of rubble on the ground far below.

The mountain trembles so violently that my
teeth begin to chatter as we run.

Cole slips, but he doesn't fall.

Only his instincts keep us alive.

Every time I glance behind, more of the land
has disappeared. We run and run, but not fast enough. The edge of
the cliff is creeping closer. And when I glance back to the faerie
woman, she is no longer resting peacefully. The sled holding her is
sloped, slipping backward, sliding closer and closer to oblivion,
taking any chance Cole has at reuniting with his people with
her.

I lose sight of her golden glow when we
reach the front gate of the city. Cole leaps from the wall, not
even glancing behind, focusing only on the open wilderness ahead.
Without pause, he clasps his jaw around the rope attached to my
father's sled, dragging us both away from the growing precipice as
fast as he can.

"Cole!" I shout, trying to make him
stop.

But he's a bear.

And I'm a girl.

Not really a fair fight.

Suddenly, I understand what Asher was
talking about all those days ago. About sacrifice. About how
sometimes the people being sacrificed for might not want to live
with the guilt of what was lost.

I can't.

I won't be the reason Cole loses everyone he
loves.

A whole race of people.

An entire kingdom of innocent lives.

I won't let him make that sacrifice.

So I dive back into my magic, biting my lip
so hard that I bleed, ignoring the metallic taste rolling over my
tongue. The curse has depleted my strength. I'm spent. And reaching
for my magic is like tugging on a locked door, futile. Still, I
yank and pull with all my might until my fingertips start to tingle
with power. And it hurts. My body is so weak that even just
touching my magic has ignited the curse. My heart burns as more
time is ripped away before I've even done anything. But I clench my
muscles, fighting the pain, and reach out with my other senses.