Render Me Starless

♛ | Chapter 36 - "fire storm"

My eyes were shut tight as the warmth suffocated my skin, my lungs and my heart. Taylem's ring burns as his magic sweeps over the shadows, brushing them away. At this moment, with the ring scorching my skin, two things come to me. The first was the vision I had had of the ring burning me. The second was a memory.

"You want to take my magic away from me?"
The twins had nodded gleefully.

I'm chucked onto the ground, the king releasing me.

"And if you take my magic away, where will it go?"

"King Taylem will have the magic binded to a pendant."

My hands sting as I look up, the light becoming bearable. I glance back at Taylem. The magic binded to a pendant. A pendant. If they could bind my magic to a pendant, what difference was a ring?

"The bastard of a king decided he wanted to drain my magic for himself..."

It all made sense. The magic he was getting from the ring was from Queen Yerali. He was twice as strong as the normal mage. No mage should be holding this much power. So if my theory was correct, I had to get the ring off of the king's finger.

It was easier said than done.

I hastily stand, jumping off the stupid podium to reach Orion who had been knocked down. I reach him as he gets up and he instantly holds me to him. "Are you okay?" he whispers into my ears, the words barely audible amongst the screaming. I refrain from melting into my mate. Now was not the time. "It's the ring," I say instead, not wanting to waste any time. Things were already not looking good for us.

Orion lets me go to look at my face, his eyebrows slightly scrunched up. "What about the ring?"
"It's a source of power. It makes him twice as strong." I refrain from adding the little, 'I think' to the end of my sentence.
Thorin curses from besides us. "How didn't I know this? It all makes sense now."

"You all are fools."

We turn to face Taylem who now has Cole and Cullen on either side of him. His biting eyes turn to Thorin. "Especially you, son."
Thorin rolls his eyes. "Save it for somebody who isn't about to kill you, Taylem."
My eyes widen slightly. This prince seriously had no chill. I look back at the king and flinch when I find him already staring at me. He smiles and goosebumps reign my body in response as I take a step closer to Orion. "I want the girl," he says.

My heart drops. Cole and Cullen step forward. Orion grabs my arm.

The familiar shadows wrap around my body. "Close your eyes," my mate whispers and I do, trusting him. The familiar feeling of being transported by Orion's magic takes ahold of my stomach as he wraps an arm around my waist. I clench my eyes tighter as I restrain the bile that wants to climb up my throat. The distinct whooshes in my ear subsides as I hear a familiar yip. Opening my eyes, I realise we are back at The Night Throne in my mates room. Stella greets me with a lick and I groan slightly, the nausea still present.

"What are we doing here?" I ask Orion quietly as he helps me sit on the bed.
"This is where you're safest. Maxwell will be here soon. Let him in. I will return soon."
Before I can utter another word, he's gone, taking his shadows with him. "Motherfucker," I curse. "Did he seriously just leave me here while he's going to go fight Taylem?"
Stella slowly nods her head at my rhetorical question, her ears flattened slightly. I sigh, closing my eyes for a second to clear my head. I ruffle the puppy's head lightly once I've opened my eyes.

"Your daddy is a dead mage."

Orion's POV

She is safer at home. Don't go back. Astraea would want you to help Thorin. Don't go back.