Eclipse: Time Thief (Romantasy)

17. Nothing is Free

I remembered the sun shining long ago on the day the world started to feel real again after I learned the truth, even though I'd been told since it was actually cloudy and cold. It was after I left the Sacred School. The first time Leif took me hunting. That day in the woods, I shot a deer I had to squint through the thick of trees and thickets to see. Leif howled, and danced, and lifted my arms in victory. That was the first time his family and neighbors had meat in a couple of weeks.

It had started with the jolt in my heart when Leif celebrated my shot. Later, when I saw him fill his toddler's bowl with venison stew, when chubby little cheeks broke into a grin, the jolt sparked into something I hadn't felt in a year. Joy.

Our world might not have been real, but we were, and our connections to one another were woven into the fabric of existence, as real, more real, than anything that had ever been.

"How do you feel?"

I stiffened at Nash's voice. He'd carried me away after I passed out and didn't seem to trust me when I told him my fainting spells were nothing to worry about. We sat on the leafy floor, quiet for the ten minutes that I'd been awake. I searched the green canopy overhead like I would find answers. I not only had to save my people from the Prophet of the Valley, but now from the Flatlanders.

"Max?"

A growl rumbled in my chest. "I feel like I abandoned my heart and soul."

Leaves crunched as he scooted closer. "You honored Leif's wishes."

I crossed my arms atop my knees and settled my head down, turning my face to the side to see him. His jaw was reddened where I'd punched him, swollen enough to notice with just a glance. "Is your face okay?"

"I can tell the world I narrowly survived a direct hit from the great Sharpshooter." He smirked and touched the spot. "I'm fine. But you hit a lot harder than I thought you could. You'll break your hand if you keep hitting like that."

I tucked my hand beneath my knees so he couldn't see it. It wasn't even sore. With that one hit, I'd somehow managed to accidentally draw more power than I had in a while. Still, it was nothing compared to what I'd once done.

"Tell me your plan, already." Nash tossed a pebble at my leg. "I know you've done more than sulk over there."

When I'd been exiled from the Sacred School, I only wanted my power back. Finding Leif's village and falling in love with the people there had come as a surprise. For the first time, though, I wished that instead of regaining my power, I could simply take it away from everyone. Humans could not be trusted with it and I could do just fine with my bow.

There was no use in thinking about the impossible, though. I was not going to strip the world of power. I needed to focus on saving my people from the Prophet. My only option was to find a way back to my power on the Mountain of the Gods. And perhaps to even reach Piercey in the Sacred School. If he had allies, we could amass enough power to take on the Prophet's forces, and likely Flare. I didn't trust her, at all. Which reminded me that I shouldn't trust Nash.

"I'll tell you my plan," I said. "If you tell me yours."

"Same as before. I want us to kill the Prophet together."

"Your plan is too simple." It was time to be honest about at least that much. "The Prophet has enormous power. More than the best demons."

I didn't tell Nash why that was. The Prophet was exactly like the demons, except that he'd trained at the Sacred School. That was the only difference between Prophets and demons. I saw that so clearly because I had lived as both. Even as a child, they called me demon because they feared my power. When the Sacred School took me in to help me tame my power, they changed how the world saw me. Suddenly, I was not a demon, but on the path to becoming Prophet. The only difference between those two versions of myself was that I'd been given an education.