Before I Let Go (Skyland #1)(63)

It spoke of old fae legends. Legends I had never heard before. There were depictions of former fae kings, and the sacrifices they had made for their people. But it also spoke of power and a thirst for it that had become insatiable. The fae and the vampyres once lived side by side without a single thought of being enemies, but that greed had changed everything.

I quickly flipped through the pages as I found nothing of any use, and then tucked the book back into the shelf. Thalia had three different books laid before her, and she was quickly scanning over them.

I grabbed another book from the shelf and climbed up on the table and set it in my lap. I turned it open, and it landed somewhere in the middle, my attention snagged on a picture of a young Starblessed.

The text spoke of the first Starblessed that was ever noted in our history, a young girl by the name of Alyce, and the humans had feared her for the curse that laid upon her skin. She had been cast out, cast into the woods where the fae and the vampyres lied, and they had referred to her as the Stardoomed. Doomed by the stars, doomed by fate.

The young girl had been taken in by an elderly woman of fae descent, and she raised the girl as if she was her own. The text told of how the girl had been stolen by a vampyre, his thirst rampant and uncontrollable. He had taken from the Stardoomed. Fed from her for only a moment, but the taste of her blood on his lips had almost made him mad with power.

It was the first time either vampyre or fae had seen the power a Starblessed’s blood could hold. That power could be used as a weapon. Starblessed were hunted from the human lands and beyond, and legends of how vampyres and fae snatched humans from the world spiraled into the stories that were told today.

I looked up from the book and stared at Thalia. She was still deep in her reading

“Were your parents Starblessed?”

Thalia’s gaze jumped up to meet mine, and she slowly shook her head. “I don't remember much of my parents, but I know that neither were blessed by the stars.”

“So what? We’re just chosen at random? There's no rhyme or reason as to why some of us are Starblessed and others aren't?”

Thalia closed the book in front of her and turned to face me fully. “I read once that stars chose who to bless because they could see your fate before you were even in your mother's womb.”

I scoffed. “And you believe that?”

Thalia shrugged and searched my gaze. “I don't know what I believe. All I know is that the blood that runs in our veins has been blessed or cursed, however you want to look at it, and the blood that runs in yours can be our salvation or our damning. Evren is your mate. I know you can feel that down to your bones, and it's hard not to believe in some sort of fate when destiny like him waits for you.”

My chest tightened, and she was right. I was destined for him and him for me. “And what of you? What is your destiny?”

“I don't know.” She looked back to the book that lay on the table in front of her. “I was taken from my parents at a young age, and I knew very little of my destiny other than I was to belong to Gavril. It hadn't occurred to me that it wasn't the truth until Evren took me from there.” She took a deep breath, and I tried not to think about the memories I worried were bombarding her. “Take a look around, Adara. If I am destined for anything, it is to live a life defending my friends, fighting for those that I love. I can't imagine that I wasn't destined for this.”

“And Sorin?”

Her back straightened and for a small moment, her face fell. “What of him?”

“Do you believe that he is your fate as well?”

“Sorin deserves a lifetime of blessings, and that isn't something I can give him. Everything I had to offer has already been taken from me, Adara.”

I shook my head, but she continued.

“Sorin is fun, but the two of us will never be.”

“I don’t think he realizes that.”

“He does.” She stood and placed one of the books back on its shelf. “Sorin knows far more about me than I ever intended him to.”

“And you hate that?” I asked.

“Of course, I do.” She trailed her fingers over the books, and I wondered what she was looking for. “Like I said before, knowledge is power.”

I looked down at the book in front of me as I thought about her words. She was right. Knowledge was power, and fear consumed me as I thought about my own lack of knowing who I was.

My chest ached as I thought of my father. I was equal parts him and my mother, but the only parts of him I knew were due to seeing them through me. My stubbornness, my fight… I knew those didn’t come from my mother, and I could only assume I got them from him.

“In that other book you gave me…” I closed the book in front of me and looked back up at Thalia. “It talked about Starblessed being able to amplify their power through nature, to pull from their own supply of power somehow.”

Thalia turned toward me and leaned back against the shelf. “I have read of it, but I’ve never seen it done. It makes sense, though.” Her gaze dropped to her feet. “Our magic is like a well. If we use too much of it, we can drain it completely. Only rest and time can refill that well, but I’ve read that in great times of need, Starblessed have garnered strength from elsewhere.”

“Have you ever emptied your power?”